Participating Frequently

Question

how to add removed photos back to catalog

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
June 3, 2020
3 replies
3755 views

I inadvertently "removed" a few photos from my catalog and would like to add them back.

1) The originals are in the correct location on my hard drive.

2) I have expanded all stacks, turned off all filters, selected all photos under catalog and search by file name. They are not found in any other folder.

3) If I use import, identify the source as the folder on my hard drive where they are located, select "all photos", I can see them exactly where they should be...but the images are grayed out.

4) If I pass my cursor over them I get the message "this photo has already been imported"

5) Everything I have found on this problem says to just re-import them, but when I try that nothing happens...regardless of whether the "don't import suspected duplicates" is on or off.

6) Syncchronize folder also does nothing to recover these photos

Most threads I have found about this diverge into recovering deleted photos or restoring editing or finding lost folders/images (moved)...I just want to add the photos back to my catalog. I'm pretty sure this is what happened: I was removing flagged photos and these photos were inadvertently flagged...not paying close enough attention, so they were removed when I hit delete > remove. Is it possible to add them back? If so, how?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Randy Hufford

Community Expert

Are you sure you have turned off "Don't Import suspected Duplicates?" On The import dialog?

mew70151735Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Randy--

Yes. See the attached screen shot. I played with this a little, and verified the images between the import dialog and my catalog. What appears to be the case (new to lightroom, so believe me when I say "appears") is the following:

1) I don't know if you can see it but, for example, images 4573 and 4581 were 2 images I had removed from my catalog and they are available to be imported.

2) The images I'm interested in, and that are missing from my catalog, are 4574-4580, and they are not available to be re-imported.

3) They are behaving just as the photos in my catalog are, e.g. 4571 & 4572. So, they must still be in my catalog somewhere and I just cannot find them?

4) I think I may not properly understand the "do not import suspected duplicates" feature. It doesn't seem to make any difference if I check that feature or not, the same photos are available. Does it matter when that box is checked during the process? Is it ever possible to import photos that are already in your catalog? Maybe I'm not understanding how Lightroom defines duplicate.

dj_paige

Legend

The thing you need to do is to figure out why Lightroom is saying that these photos are still in your catalog, and then once you know that, you can fix the problem. As suggested above, do the search for one of these files by file name following the four step procedure, and then show us a screen capture of the ENTIRE Library Module screen.

dj_paige

Legend

"2) I have expanded all stacks, turned off all filters, selected all photos under catalog and search by file name. They are not found in any other folder."

Show us a screen capture of the entire Library Module screen of this search.

"5) Everything I have found on this problem says to just re-import them, but when I try that nothing happens...regardless of whether the "don't import suspected duplicates" is on or off."

Terrible advice. The thing you need to do is to figure out why Lightroom is saying that these photos are still in your catalog, and then once you know that, you can fix the problem. Importing the photos again doesn't solve the problem, and usually makes it worse.

mew70151735Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you dj_paige. You're definately onto something. Need to figure out why...

gary_sc provided link for further investigation.

gary_sc

Community Expert

Hi Mew,

How did you "remove" them in the first place? What process did you do?

If you deleted the images from your catalog, then LR should not be showing them grayed out

However, if you've "Rejected" the images (X key), they would show up gray. If the image has been Rejected, you can "Unreject" it by simply clicking on the little black flag in the upper right corner.

Let us know if this solves the problem

mew70151735Author

Participating Frequently

Hi gary_sc. Thank you for your questions. I apologize for the delay in responding.

I guess I have been thinking about this incorrectly, and perhaps what I did is considered deleting them from my catalog.

I cannot replicate exactly what happened, as it was only after the fact that I noticed they were gone. However, I was deleting other photos that I had rejected using the x-flag and did not notice they were among the group selected for removal. I did this by hitting the delete button. The confirmation dialog box asks "Delete the selected master photo from disk, or just remove it from Lightroom?" I hit remove, hence I've been considering this act as removing from my catalog. They are still on my disk, right where they should be.

I would like to add them back to my catalog. There are only about a dozen of them and there is no editing metadata associated with them yet. The only advice I've been able to find about how to do this, from a general google search and Adobe Lightroom guide books, is to re-import them. I have tried this using the following steps: identify the source as the folder on my hard drive where they are located, select "all photos". I can see them in the import window exactly where they should be...but the images are grayed out. If I pass my cursor over them I get the message "this photo has already been imported". The "don't import suspected duplicates" is off, and I can verify that because all the other photos that are in my catalog become available for re-import as I click that option off. These photos, remain unavailable to select for import.

I appreciate any advice you may have to offer.

gary_sc

Community Expert

Hi Mew,

Ha! Curiouser and curiouser.

Let's try a couple of things. #1 take the name of one of the "removed" items, go into the Grid view in Library mode. On the top is the Library Filter. Click on "Text" then "Name" and for "Contains": [then enter the name of the file you are searching].

What do you get? If nothing, than proceed to the next attempt.

Right-click on the images in the Grid and select "Show in Finder/Explorer." Collect all of the "missing" images and place them in a folder on your desktop. Now take that folder and drag it over the Grid view in Library mode. You should see a plus (+) as you hover over the LR window. Now let go.

You SHOULD have LR switch to import mode with those images selected for import. On the right side select where you want them to be imported to, and click Import.

Did this work?

Let me know

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