In the last year or so almost all of my photography has been focused on creating projects and collections. I share them by creating a pdf monograph in Lightroom Books and then store the pdf in Creative Cloud Files. Once the pdf is situated in Creative Cloud Files, it is simple to right click on it to create a url link that I can then share via email with whomever.
My problem. Adobe, in their infinite wisdom, is discontinuing Creative Cloud Files. Is there a simple, user friendly, low cost alternative? I am not very tech savvy, hence the user friendly part. I don’t need bells and whistles just a simple way to store in the cloud and create url links for sharing, a hyperlink would be even handier.
Anyone who can point me in the right direction would be my personal hero.
Dropbox is probably the easiest solution. They give you 2 GB for free, that might be enough for a while. When you install it there will be dropbox folders on your computer. Simply put the file in there, right click on it and copy dropbox link.
I would (and do) use Dropbox as well…
I find Dropbox inscrutable. For instance, I can’t figure out how to eliminate old files and pdfs to create more space. According to what I see on my screen I have deleted all old pdfs but it also says I’ve got 1.75 of 2.5 GB in use.
I use Google Drive. But as a certified computer nerd, I also find it inscrutable.
I use Google photo not Drive. Upload the photo’s, create an album and email the link. The down side is the file needs to be jpg.
So, Diane, here’s what I want to be able to do. Let’s say I create a pdf monograph, maybe 150 GB, in Lightroom Book. In the past, I would save that pdf in Adobe Cloud File. Then I could go into Adobe Cloud File, right click on the pdf in question and click on share link. At which point I would be assigned a link that I could then paste in an email that would allow access to the pdf/monograph to anyone receiving the email. I managed to download Google Drive. If I drag a pdf/monograph into Google Drive is there a way I can create a link as I did in Adobe Cloud File. Help : >)
On the main page where the list of files resides, click on a file and click the 3 dots to the right. You’ll get a dropdown – choose Share (which lets you grant access to the file) and hovering over it there is an option to Copy Link.
Thanks for this, Diane. I was able to figure it out in the end. I assume that I can send a link to anyone even if they don’t use Google File? The link itself is good but the format isn’t quite as sophisticated as Adobe Acrobat, namely it seems that with Google Drive you can only scroll from page to page rather than clicking directly from page to page. Other than that, it seems like a good, free service.
You’re just using Google Drive for storage, for a PDF you created elsewhere. You can send the link to anyone and they will see it just as you formatted it in Acrobat or wherever you created it. But the variable is that a PDF will open for them in whatever app they have set to open PDFs. Most people have Acrobat Reader but people with Macs may have Preview set as the default to open a PDF, which will give a different page scrolling experience.
When I open the pdf that was stored in Google Drive, it looks like Adobe Acrobat Reader except there doesn’t seem to be any way to click from page to page. I can only scroll through. When I have used Adobe Acrobat Reader in the past it was possible to use my direction keys on my keyboard to go from page to page but that doesn’t seem to work when I come in through Google Drive. Is that something you’ve noticed or am I missing something?
Strange – It should be the exact same file. Are you Mac or PC? I’m Mac and have the recent issues of Nature Vision and Elements on my desktop – if I open them in Acrobat Reader I can scroll through the pages with PgUp and PgDn keys.
BUT – NOW I SEE YOUR ISSUE! I have a Word doc saved as a PDF and recently posted on my Google Drive, where it linked from my web site. Opening it by clicking the link on my web site opens a view that seems to be through Google Drive. It is readable but as you say, the page scrolling isn’t neat. And if I click the “helpful” icon at the top to Open with Google Docs I get a real mess, with the number 4 embedded in a bunch of the words. And still no way to do page up/dn. There is some gibberish on the right about Adobe’s wonderful new pageless format.
And if I copy the alleged link and paste it in an email and send it to myself, when I open it I get that same page.
Now I see that all the tutorials on my web site are like this! It didn’t use to be this way!!!
WTF!!???
So now I also need to find a storage solution that actually works! I’m glad you alerted me to this – it is totally unacceptable, even for a simple Word doc. I’ll have to look into Dropbox. Google Drive is apparently a piece of s–t.
That sounds like a real mess. But in my case, everything is exactly like it always was except that I can only scroll through rather than click from page to page. That being said, I have found Dropbox to be beyond annoying. With the free Dropbox Basics, you only get a couple GB before it’s full. And then try getting rid of the files to make space - sheesh. I got rid of everything only to find that it was still full because it is backed up somewhere else, which I was never able to track down. But on top of that with Dropbox Basic (i.e., for free) you can only upload a maximum of 100 GB. My monographs generally run to 135 - 150 GB so that would mean upgrading to yet another monthly rental, which I’d prefer to avoid.
I used to use Dropbox and apparently never went over the free limit – I just use it for simple Word docs saved as PDFs. But at some point I switched to Google Drive (don’t remember why) and guess I never looked at the results, or else something has changed. Back to Dropbox! If I’ve gone over the storage limit as I’ve added a few docs, I’ll just pay for it. I’m too old and crabby to put up with the s–t that is Google Drive! That is a complete pissoff!
Some other options to try:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/onedrive/online-cloud-storage
Wow, thanks for this. I feel kind of dumb since I Microsoft 365 on my Mac and therefore already have One Drive cloud storage.
I just set up OneDrive and it’s great - clean, clear, and easy to use (even for me). I can click from page to page just as I could with Adobe Cloud and the link names can be whatever I choose so, it is actually better than Adobe Cloud. Thanks again David.