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GoodEyes
GoodEyes
Participant
January 18, 2019
Answered

Grey thumbnails that can't be deleted?

  • January 18, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 1008 views

Hi there,

I have some grey thumbnails showing up in my Lightroom Catalog that I can't seem to delete. When I click to remove them, nothing happens. When I click "show in finder" it says an Internal Error occured "?:0: attempt to index field 'rootFile' (a nil value)". Their file names indicate that they are some sort of duplicate of other images that I imported successfully. I have already tried disabling all plug-ins, and when I tried to import my photos into a new catalog an error occurs. I really want to avoid going to a back up file from before they appeared because I would lose a lot of edits that I have done on my actual photos in the mean time.

I am running Max OS 10.14.2 and the latest version of Lightroom Classic CC.

Please help!

Thanks

~M

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Rob_Cullen

A couple of things to try-

1. Go Menu > File > Optimize Catalog..

2. Shutdown Lightroom and in the Backup dialog check both [Test Integrity] and [Optimize]

3. When you start Lightroom- hold down the [Ctrl] key and in the Catalog choice dialog that opens- tick the [Test Integrity of this Catalog] box.

4. If others fail try exporting everything to another catalog-

  • Go to "All Photographs",
  • Expand all stacks,
  • Clear any filters,
  • Select ALL image previews EXCEPT FOR the 'Zombie' file/s that cannot be deleted, and
  • From File menu-[Export AS A CATALOG] . Remove check marks from the three options (Include negative files, Smart Previews, and Include Previews).
  • Open this new catalog and check for the problem preview files.

(If this does not work you can delete this 'new' catalog and revert to the problematic one. Hopefully an answer will come)

3 replies

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
January 18, 2019

There have been a number of reports of this happening recently. Please report it as a bug at Lightroom Classic CC | Photoshop Family Customer Community

Be sure to include a screen capture showing at least one of these grey thumbnails.

Rob_Cullen
Community Expert
Rob_CullenCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
January 18, 2019

A couple of things to try-

1. Go Menu > File > Optimize Catalog..

2. Shutdown Lightroom and in the Backup dialog check both [Test Integrity] and [Optimize]

3. When you start Lightroom- hold down the [Ctrl] key and in the Catalog choice dialog that opens- tick the [Test Integrity of this Catalog] box.

4. If others fail try exporting everything to another catalog-

  • Go to "All Photographs",
  • Expand all stacks,
  • Clear any filters,
  • Select ALL image previews EXCEPT FOR the 'Zombie' file/s that cannot be deleted, and
  • From File menu-[Export AS A CATALOG] . Remove check marks from the three options (Include negative files, Smart Previews, and Include Previews).
  • Open this new catalog and check for the problem preview files.

(If this does not work you can delete this 'new' catalog and revert to the problematic one. Hopefully an answer will come)

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .
    GoodEyes
    GoodEyesAuthor
    Participant
    January 18, 2019

    Thank you for your response!

    None of the Optimization methods worked, but building a new catalog minus the zombie pictures did! Thank you, thank you, thank you

    ~M

    GoldingD
    GoldingD
    Legend
    January 18, 2019

    First up, "latest version of Lightroom Classic CC." will not cut it.

    Please accomplish the following

    In LR, clcik on Help, clcik on System Information, clcik on Copy. Paste that into your reply.

    Oh and no nice well behaved Adobe Techs normaly here, just us grumpy old users.

    GoldingD
    GoldingD
    Legend
    January 18, 2019

    Now one possibility (be careful) but somehow I question if this is it.And this is a bit old.

    Lightroom error on preview cache or displays gray thumbnails

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