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FeedbackCommunityMember
Inspiring
June 14, 2017

P: Deleting folder doesn't delete smart previews

  • June 14, 2017
  • 9 replies
  • 437 views

Add the ability to remove the smart preview from the hard drive. When I delete a folder from a library that I do not need, the smart previews remain on the disk.

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    9 replies

    B
    bob frost
    Inspiring
    June 30, 2017

    At various times over the life of LR, I have found that the previews become out-of-sync with the catalog. I just delete all the previews, previews database, and acr cache, and generate new previews.

    The only problem nowadays is that with the slowdown of rendering previews with time, it takes forever (or you have to keep getting up in the night to restart LR!!).

    Still, it makes Library nice and snappy again.

    As an alternative, you could just export all images with previews (not originals) and it should leave any superfluous previews behind.

    bob Frost

    Todd Shaner
    Todd Shaner
    Legend
    June 30, 2017
    Bob, if you're referring to Face Recognition I've never used it.

    Satish, I always have Optimize Catalog and Test Integrity checked when I do a catalog backup. I just added a little over 1,000 image files, did a LR Backup, and restarted LR. Here are the results:

    Previews Folder  37,531files
    All Photographs  33,229 files
    Difference             4,302 files (prior difference 4,285)
    S
    Adobe Employee
    SatishT13873224
    Adobe Employee
    June 30, 2017
    Todd, can you try performing optimize catalog operation via menu option 'File->Optimize Catalog' and share the results?
    This operation will clear any previews that may be leftover for deleted images.
    B
    bob frost
    Inspiring
    June 30, 2017

    You haven't got any face previews have you? They are separate from normal previews and add to the total.


    Bob Frost

    Todd Shaner
    Todd Shaner
    Legend
    June 30, 2017
    Satish, sorry for the delay in replying–I've been on vacation. Concerning the Standard and 1:1 Previews they do not always appear to be deleted...even after some period of time. I've been away from my LR desktop system for 12 days and I'm now showing 36,437 Previews files in my LR catalog and only 32,152 Photographs inside LR (4,285 Undeleted Previews). No new files have been imported over those 12 days. I typically delete about ~10% of my image files (10% 32,152 = 3,215)  so it appears none of the Previews are being deleted when images are removed.

    S
    Adobe Employee
    SatishT13873224
    Adobe Employee
    June 20, 2017
    Thanks for sharing the steps, I was able to reproduce the issue on my end. Deletion of smart previews seems to be broken in this workflow.
    You can delete the images by selecting them, and either
    • hitting delete key
    • using 'Remove photo' option in image context menu
    • using menu bar Photo -> 'Remove photo'
    'Delete from Disk' is not required, smart previews will be removed even if images removed from the catalog.

    Stanard/1:1 previews are not deleted immediately, to allow fast loading of previews if user wants to undo the delete operation. These previews are deleted after some time.

    @1654796, let us know if you see any difference in behaviour. 
    Todd Shaner
    Todd Shaner
    Legend
    June 15, 2017
    I can confirm this behavior on my Windows 7 system with LR CC 2015.10.1. If the files in the folder are removed first using 'Delete from Disk' the Smart Previews files are removed from the Smart Previews folder. I also found that the normal Previews folder (Standard and 1:1) did not have any files removed with either method.
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMemberAuthor
    Inspiring
    June 15, 2017
    I import the image into the library (I first enable the option to create a smart preview), I then process the images and export them. Then I delete the folder from the directory in the library section. However, smart previews are stored in the root folder with photos of the program after deleting the folder from the program directory.
    S
    Adobe Employee
    SatishT13873224
    Adobe Employee
    June 15, 2017
    Hi,

    I could not replicate this behaviour on my machine. Lightroom did delete smart previews when the image is deleted from the Library module.
    What is the version of Lightroom you are using?
    Also, what are the steps you are following? It can help us replicate the issue at our end.
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