Smart Collection Sync

A Lightroom Classic plugin that mirrors smart collections to regular collections, enabling synchronization with Lightroom CC/Mobile/Web.

The Problem

Smart collections in Lightroom Classic cannot be synced to Adobe's cloud. Only regular collections can be synced. This means your carefully curated smart collections (like "5 Star Photos" or "Portfolio Candidates") aren't available on your mobile devices or the web.

The Solution

This plugin automatically creates and maintains "mirror" collections that stay in sync with your smart collections. When photos are added to or removed from a smart collection, the mirror collection is updated accordingly.

Features

• Automatic background sync - Runs at a configurable interval (10-300 seconds)
• Manual sync - Trigger immediate sync via menu command
• Two-way mirror - Both additions and removals are synced
• Develop module awareness - Option to pause sync while editing photos
• Clean organization - All mirror collections placed in a dedicated collection set
• Persistent settings - Configuration survives Lightroom restarts

Installation

1. Download or clone this repository
2. Place the lrc-smart-collection-sync.lrplugin folder wherever you like (e.g., your Lightroom catalog directory or Pictures folder)
3. In Lightroom Classic, go to File > Plug-in Manager
4. Click Add and navigate to the lrc-smart-collection-sync.lrplugin folder
5. Click Done

Usage

Configuration

1. Go to File > Plug-in Extras > Smart Collection Sync...
2. Select which smart collections you want to mirror
3. Configure the destination collection set name (default: "Smart Collection Sync")
4. Set the auto-sync interval
5. Enable auto-sync if desired
6. Click Save or Sync Now

Menu Commands

Command	Location	Description
Smart Collection Sync...	File > Plug-in Extras	Opens configuration dialog
Sync Now	File > Plug-in Extras	Triggers immediate sync

Options

• Enable auto-sync - Automatically sync at the configured interval
• No sync while in Develop - Pause syncing while editing photos to avoid disruption

How It Works

1. The plugin scans all smart collections in your catalog
2. For each selected smart collection, it creates a regular collection with the same name inside the destination collection set
3. Photos are added to/removed from the mirror collection to match the smart collection
4. The mirror collections can then be synced to Adobe's cloud using Lightroom's built-in sync feature

Requirements

• Lightroom Classic

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Author

Donncha O Caoimh https://inphotos.org/

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Support

If you encounter any issues or have feature requests, please open an issue on GitHub.