Keep Adobe from tracking how you edit in Lightroom!

Let me start by saying this was a blog post from November 2015 on a different site I maintained.  I am pushing it here because it is still relevant today even though Adobe has announced the new Creative Cloud (subscription only) Lightroom options recently.

Now on to the post.

My digital image workflow has always included Adobe Photoshop and Camera Raw.  I have used this process for years (ever since I started using a digital camera).   I have tried other workflows and quickly have gone back to what works for me.

When Adobe announced their plan to go to SAAS (Software As A Service, disguising it with a fancy name “Creative Cloud”) with a monthly subscription fee, I was very discouraged.  This has now become a problem due shooting Raw with cameras not supported by my version of Photoshop. Now the hunt is on for a new Raw Editor.  While there are many Editors out there, I still can’t find anything that is as robust as Photoshop and Camera Raw.  This is also a problem because I earn part of my income selling photographic work.

What to Do When You Have to Adjust Your Whole Workflow For Your Business

For this reason, I purchased Adobe Lightroom 6 desktop version reluctantly giving Adobe any of my money.  I figured it is my last Adobe option that does not require a monthly subscription. While I just downloaded the software and have not imported an image, I am less than impressed and disappointed.  First I had to create an account on Adobe’s website just to download the software from a disk I purchased.  I don’t want Adobe to have any of my information, especially since they have proven to not care if they expose said data in security breaches in the past.  Next even worse, I had to change my computer permissions to Read/Write for Administrators for Adobe.  I did this reluctantly because this gives Adobe the ability to get into my computer for “monitoring”, but to use the product I had no choice.  If you are downloading the software Adobe should tell you this before you pay for the software given how invasive this is so you can choose before you can’t return the product for a refund.  I don’t want to be tracked in the name of being able to market to me in a more precise way later.

Next was a box that popped up that said I could turn off Adobe’s tracking, but there wasn’t any real directions as to how.  After about an hour I finally figured out a way to do it.  Hopefully the information below will help you turn off the Adobe’s  attempt to get free information from you as well.  I’m sure there are other ways to do this, but this worked for me after I could not find any information on it searching the web.

How to Get Into The Account

Open the app and go to the “Lightroom” button in the upper left hand corner of the application, go to the Lightroom mobile tab.  Once there you can click on the “More Account Info Online”.  This will open your browser and ask you to log into the account you opened.  Go ahead and log in.  For me I had to verify my email address.

Adobe Lightroom turning off default tracking

How to Get to Turn Off Adobe Tracking

Once you have logged into the account click on the Security & Privacy Tab.  Uncheck the box that says “Yes, I would like to share information on how I use Adobe desktop apps.”

Adobe Lightroom turning off default tracking

As I learn more about Lightroom, I will post and share information.  Hopefully my experience with the app will improve, or some other Raw Editor will compete with Lightroom.

Don’t forget to look at the images on my site in the galleries starting at: https://mjvphoto.com/the-art/.  Hopefully you find some of them inspirational for your own photography adventures, or maybe you find an image you want to call your own.  If you find this useful please leave comments, or share.

Learn more about the Histogram by checking out my How to Adjust a Histogram post.

I often get questions from friends and acquaintances based on articles read on the internet and them becoming more confused.  That said, if anyone has a question about something written here, please leave me a comment with the question.  Maybe that will turn into a different post or maybe it will be a quick answer that clears it up.  Also, it might help me learn something new.