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ctsnowfighter
Known Participant
November 24, 2025
Answered

Delete Photos from - disk & catalog

  • November 24, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 490 views

2 parts -

1.  Is there a way to "syncronize" (match)  the LR Catalog with the Folder.  Catalog has different number of images vs the folder -- I believe I have "deleted" from the catalog but they were not removed from the folder.

 

2.  I have spent a serious amount of time marking photos in a catalog - rejected, picked, unmarked.  I can in Grid View - Edit - Select by Flag - Rejected resulting in those rejected files appearing in the Catalog.  When I select Grid View - Photo - Delete Rejected Photos - I have one option - DELETE FROM CATALOG - 

165 files are marked - I want them gone from the Disk too.   (In Folder - Grid View- I show no files selected by flags.  So my work is for naught.  

(I chose another catalog - Grid View - Select by File Type - chose RAW File extension -,  I then went to folders - same folder as the catalog and those Raw files show as selected.  I then was able to Delete from Disk and Catalog - done.)

This raises the question I am struggling with - why can I not remove the files selected by rating from the Catalog and Disk at the same time when in Catalog - Scott Kelby in his Lightroom Classic Book - pg 42 shows this as an option but I can not make it happen as the Grid-Edit-Select by flag- Delete - does not give the option of from Catalog and Folder.

 

Am I missing something?

Thank You

 

Correct answer Rob_Cullen

Thank You - 

For my better understanding - in Collections, even though marked as rejected, the only portion that is removed is the "image" shown in the collection and not the "Data File" that would be found in the original folder.  I do understand the Catalog and Collections - (thumbnails) are not the file but an image of that file.

Thanks Again

 


Just a slight clarification to your post- "in Collections, even though marked as rejected, the only portion that is removed is the "image" shown in the collection and not the "Data File" that would be found in the original folder."

Marked as 'Rejected'- Does only that and nothing else. The rejected photo can still appear in Collections and Library views, but it will show as darkened with the reject flag.

It is when you [Delete] an image in views, other than collections, that you see the dialog to [Remove- from the Catalog] or [ Delete from hard Disk].

 

 

2 replies

A
Anonymous
January 21, 2026

Can you make your statement a little simpler? Sorry.

Rob_Cullen
Community Expert
Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 21, 2026

@47510017   Maybe ask what it is you do not understand. The overall theme of this thread, I believe, is to understand-

You cannot [Delete FROM DISK] when you are viewing a Collection of images. You need to be in a Folder view to Delete from Disk.  When viewing a Collection you can only (delete) remove an image from the Collection.

 

 

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.3, Photoshop 27.5, ACR 18.3, Lightroom 9.3, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.3 .
dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
November 24, 2025

Regarding your question 1 — LrC does not have to match what you see in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder. There is no way (other than manually) to force this to happen. In some cases, Synchronize Folder will do this, in other cases it does not do this.

 

Regarding your second question — Is it possible that you are trying to delete from the catalog a photo(s) with an exclamation point icon indicating the photo is missing? See the exclamation point icon in Figure 2 here.

C
ctsnowfighterAuthor
Known Participant
November 25, 2025

No exclamation points - 

Have tried several other collections -  all with the same results.

Tried to mark two "pictures" in a lightroom cc collection as rejected, then following the steps to Delete, only option shown is from the collection - not from the Disk and Collection.

Windows 10, all current updates from Adobe in place.

Sometimes in "folders" I can delete from both Folder & Collection 

 

 

I should be able to "delete" all 165 files from disk and collection - in this particular batch, even in Folders - rejected files do not show.   

thanks

 

 

 

Rob_Cullen
Community Expert
Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 25, 2025

No, you cannot [Delete from Disk] when you are viewing a Collection of images.- [Delete] will only Remove the image from that specific Collection.  (Collections are like a document list of your music CDs and deleting from the list does not trash the CD. )

To [Delete from Disk] you need to be in Library Grid view, Loupe view, or the Develop module .

A better method to use is to Flag images as [Rejected], making it easier to filter for Rejected photos in Grid view and press [Backspace] for [Delete from Disk].

 

To remedy and permanently delete from disk a large number of photos- [Removed] from the catalog but remaining on the hard-drive is this (counter-intuitive) method-

1) Import photos from a Folder with the previously removed photos,  (Minimal or embedded previews- faster)

2) Immediately Grid view the 'Previous Import' list in the Catalog panel. 

3) Select all  [CTRL+A]   (or be selective about which photos you really want to delete permanently. )

4) Press [Delete] and [Delete from Disk].    Or Flag [Rejected] and [Backspace] later.

 

 

 

 

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.3, Photoshop 27.5, ACR 18.3, Lightroom 9.3, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.3 .
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