Skip to main content
L
Landesarchiv310588702v45
Participant
February 22, 2024
Question

How to delete a folder?

  • February 22, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 390 views

Hello!
LR distinguishes between "remove" (from LR) and "delete" (from Windows too).
While i can remove and delete Photos from LR, i can not do so with folders.
Resulting in the cumbersome task to first remove a folder in LR and secondly delete the folder in Windows Explorer.
Or do I miss something here? If not, I would move my post to the feature request section.
Thanks in advance!

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 22, 2024

    If you remove a really empty folder (so no other files that were never in the catalog either) from Lightroom, then it will be deleted from disk too (unless it's a system folder).

     

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
      R
      Community Expert
      richardplondonCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 22, 2024

      Interesting if a truly emply folder will delete when Removed - and a non-empty folder will not - but from the Catalog's perspective as a front end, one may not AFAICT even know which case would be, or had been, executed!

       

      Sometimes in Windows a (hidden) image thumbnail cache can remain behind even after all image files have been apparently deleted as the file-browser sees things. IOW "empty" may not be empty.

      R
      Community Expert
      richardplondonCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 22, 2024

      Folders are not really "there" inside the Catalog, except incidentally so as part of reporting particular image files' known locations.

       

      The knowledge that this folder exists, survives the removal (or the moving elsewhere) of the last IMPORTED image that it used to contain. When LRC is then told to remove (= stop remembering) the folder, that does not involve its actual deletion - IMO rightly so.

       

      Even if it reports 0 images (as seen within the Catalog's Folders panel) a folder may NOT be empty (as seen in the file system). There may be all kinds of other stuff present (unimported files, subfolders with unimported contents) which the Catalog knows nothing about.

       

      So any decision to delete that folder should be taken in an aware context rather than a blind one IMO. By viewing the file system itself (which has got the whole picture) and definitely as an optional separate step.

        L
        Landesarchiv310588702v45Author
        Participant
        March 5, 2024

        I get your point. I still would like to delete Windows folders in LR. I can do that in a thoughtfull way. It just takes me lots of time to remove folders in LR and delete them in windows explorer afterwards as a seperate step. In my experience LR doesnt delete empty folders either. Might be they still contain hidden trash files that prevents deleting. I still have to check manualy.

        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices