P: Lightroom 14.1 & 14.1.1 stops showing metadata after 5 to 10min of work spinning wheel

However, I've installed retrospective versions of Lightroom (not simultaneously!) - my catalogue works perfectly in 14.0 but in all subsequent releases (including 15.0) the metadata/keyword problem remains.

While I'd like to be able to explore the new functionalities of recent releases, the functionality if 14.0 is fine for me until an easier to apply fix (i.e a working update!) becomes available.

Thanks for help and advice so far

I was over optimistic in my comments about running Lightroom by opening the lrcat-data file - it workds first time until I select any a single image in the grid view at which point all the keyword management screens become blank again...

sounds like a technique - except that I don't know how to go about runnning SQLite and I'm not even sure if I should / want to. Is there any sign of any activity by Adobe themselves to at least provide a tool to do this - maybe a script that could be run?

Hi all,

Unfortunately this issue persisted for me even on Adobe Lightroom Classic v15.

I investigated which data was blocking metadatahelper.db processing and used the steps below to pinpoint the problem.

1) Open SQLite read-only

For safety, work on copies of both the catalog and Helper folders. Make sure metadatahelper.db, metadatahelper.db-wal, and metadatahelper.db-shm are in the same folder when you open the DB.

sqlite3 "file:/workfolder/YourCatalog Helper.lrdata/metadatahelper.db?mode=ro&immutable=1"
ATTACH 'file:/workfolder/YourCatalog.lrcat?mode=ro&immutable=1' AS c;
PRAGMA query_only = ON;

2) Basic checks (is it stuck, and where?)

-- Total items waiting to be processed by the helper
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM AgImagesPending;

-- See which files sit at the head of the queue (oldest first)
WITH pend AS (
SELECT rowid, imageId
FROM AgImagesPending
ORDER BY rowid ASC
LIMIT 20
)
SELECT lf.idx_filename AS name,
rf.absolutePath || f.pathFromRoot AS dir
FROM pend p
JOIN c.Adobe_images i ON i.id_local = p.imageId
JOIN c.AgLibraryFile lf ON lf.id_local = i.rootFile
JOIN c.AgLibraryFolder f ON f.id_local = lf.folder
JOIN c.AgLibraryRootFolder rf ON rf.id_local = f.rootFolder;

・If the top 20 stay the same and the total doesn’t drop, the helper is likely stuck on that folder/path.

・A practical field fix: temporarily Remove that folder in Lightroom (doesn’t delete files), delete the Helper.lrdata folder, relaunch and let it rebuild—then re-add the folder in smaller batches.

Outcome (my environment):

After performing these steps, metadata became readable again, and Lightroom Classic continued to run without issues for several hours after metadatahelper.db was regenerated.

@Tony Tea, you System Info doesn't show anything amiss. 

By any chance, are you using Dropbox, Google Drive, Icloud, or other cloud service to sync with the catalog folder in Pictures/Lightroom Tests? That can interfere with LR's catalog.

Hello again, John

I've copied the system data for two conditions (both running 14.5). In one case keyword management functions and metadata show but appear to be readonly displays. In the other, nothing shows...

Hopefully they will help!

Kind regards

Tony

 Readonly keyword management fields filled...

Lightroom Classic version: 14.5 [ 202508061311-4cef2162 ]
License: Creative Cloud
Language setting: en-GB
Operating system: Mac OS 26
Version: 26.0.1 [25A362]
Application architecture: arm64
Logical processor count: 8
Processor speed: NA
SqLite Version: 3.36.0
Built-in memory: 16,384.0 MB
Dedicated GPU memory used by Lightroom: 141.7MB / 12,124.1MB (1%)
Real memory available to Lightroom: 16,384.0 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 1,121.7 MB (6.8%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 428,587.3 MB
Memory cache size: 6.2MB
Internal Camera Raw version: 17.5 [ 2318 ]
Maximum thread count used by Camera Raw: 5
Camera Raw SIMD optimization: SSE2
Camera Raw virtual memory: 13MB / 8191MB (0%)
Camera Raw real memory: 15MB / 16384MB (0%)

Cache1:
NT- RAM:0.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, Combined:0.0MB

Cache2:
m:6.2MB, n:0.0MB

U-main: 69.0MB

Standard Preview Size: 1680 pixels
Displays: 1) 3840x2160, 2) 4608x2592

Graphics Processor Info:
Metal: Apple M1
Init State: GPU for Export supported by default
User Preference: Auto
Enable HDR in Library: OFF
GPU for Preview Generation: Auto (S5_11)

Application folder: /Applications/Adobe Lightroom Classic
Library Path: /Users/tony/Pictures/Lightroom Tests/20251026 Catalog-test.lrcat
Settings Folder: /Users/tony/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom

Installed Plugins:
1) AdobeStock
2) Aperture/iPhoto Importer Plug-in
3) Flickr

Config.lua flags:

All keyword managment functions (and also metadata section) are blank

Lightroom Classic version: 14.5 [ 202508061311-4cef2162 ]
License: Creative Cloud
Language setting: en-GB
Operating system: Mac OS 26
Version: 26.0.1 [25A362]
Application architecture: arm64
Logical processor count: 8
Processor speed: NA
SqLite Version: 3.36.0
Built-in memory: 16,384.0 MB
Dedicated GPU memory used by Lightroom: 128.5MB / 12,124.1MB (1%)
Real memory available to Lightroom: 16,384.0 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 818.2 MB (4.9%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 428,598.6 MB
Memory cache size: 18.7MB
Internal Camera Raw version: 17.5 [ 2318 ]
Maximum thread count used by Camera Raw: 5
Camera Raw SIMD optimization: SSE2
Camera Raw virtual memory: 0MB / 8191MB (0%)
Camera Raw real memory: 2MB / 16384MB (0%)

Cache1:
NT- RAM:0.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, Combined:0.0MB

Cache2:
m:18.7MB, n:0.0MB

U-main: 77.0MB

Standard Preview Size: 1680 pixels
Displays: 1) 3840x2160, 2) 4608x2592

Graphics Processor Info:
Metal: Apple M1
Init State: GPU for Export supported by default
User Preference: Auto
Enable HDR in Library: OFF
GPU for Preview Generation: Auto (S5_11)

Application folder: /Applications/Adobe Lightroom Classic
Library Path: /Users/tony/Pictures/Lightroom Tests/20251026 Catalog-test.lrcat
Settings Folder: /Users/tony/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom

Installed Plugins:
1) AdobeStock
2) Aperture/iPhoto Importer Plug-in
3) Flickr

Config.lua flags:

@Tony Tea: "Which version of Lightroom should I do this for? 14.4, 14.5.0 or 14.5.1?"

Whichever is currently installed.

@Tony Tea, your screenshot has a very important clue (which is why I always ask for the entire LR window):

None of the metadata of the current photo is being displayed, and there's a spinning wheel in the upper-left corner of the Metadata panel.

This typically happens when there are problems with Helper.lrdata.  As a next step, please do the LR menu command Help > System Info and copy/paste the entire contents here so we can see exactly which versions of hardware and software LR thinks you're running and important LR options that are set.

"I have many hundreds of keywords - could it be that I need to wait a while before opening the newly installed/updated version."

No, LR is normally good at handling thousands and even tens of thousands of keywords. (I have 2K keywords.)

Sorry for my typo! I uninstalled 14.5.1 and reinstalled 14.4 (yesterday)

Today I've tried installing and reinstalling various versions (14.4, 14.5.0, 14.5.1). None of them seems stable. In some cases if I open immediately after update everything looks fine until I close and reopen them. In others where I open immediately after update the original problem is present until I shut down and reopen, after which things seem fine, so I'm totally confused.

I have many hundreds of keywords - could it be that I need to wait a while before opening the newly installed/updated version.

Anyway here's the screen grab from a failed opening in 14.5.1...

@Tony Tea, your screenshot didn't make it. If you attached it to your email reply, that won't work -- you'll have to come back to the web and attach it to a reply there.

"In the mean time I have uninstalled 14.5.1 and replaced it with 14.5.4"

Do you mean you rolled back to 14.5.0 or 14.4?

LR 15.0 is almost certainly due next week during Adobe Max, so let us know if/when you update whether the issue goes away.