Importing edited LR files from external HD

Question

I have edited a number of images in LR Classic on my laptop and saved them to an external HD. I now want to transfer these edited files to my desktop and have LR recognize them as edited. I have tried IMPORTING them via LR from the external HD,  but what I get are the unedited files. And I've tried COPYING the files from the external HD to my desktop with a file manager and then Importing them with LR, but LR doesn't "see" them via IMPORT, and Synchronize doesn't see them either. Your suggestions are appreciated.

dj_paige · Answer

The proper procedure is to move the photos to an external HD, but do not remove them from LrC. Then they remain recognized as edited in LrC.

You can drag and drop to the external drive all in the LrC interface, or follow these instructions: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/move-photos-another-hard-drive-leaving-catalog/

If you have removed the photos from LrC, then I think you are stuck with unedited photos in your process.

Advice: just put the photos on the external drive straight out of the camera and leave them there. With LrC there's really no need to put photos on one drive and them move them to another drive as a regular part of your workflow. (The exception would be if you are running out of space on one drive, then you could move some photos)

Importing is never a part of the process, and is completely the wrong thing to do.

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