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david48lindsay
Inspiring
January 20, 2026
Answered

Lightroom 15.0.1 Catalog Photo Count

  • January 20, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 117 views

I import CR3 files in daily directories into my catalog.

 

I process the CR3 files then export them converting them to JPG

 

I then import the JPG files to put back into the daily directory they came from and to keyword them.

 

The counters on all the directories are set to zero after this import.

 

I have to exit and restart Lightroom to get the counters reset to their actual number of files in each folder.

 

If I delete the CR3's as no longer necessary the counter goes negative by the number of photos removed.

Correct answer johnrellis

[This post contains formatting and embedded images that don't appear in email. View the post in your Web browser.]

 

"I process the CR3 files then export them converting them to JPG. I then import the JPG files to put back into the daily directory they came from"

 

You can do this in one step by telling Export to export to the same folder as the originals and to add the exported files back to the catalog:

johnrellis_0-1768969624546.png

 

1 reply

johnrellis
johnrellis
Legend
January 21, 2026

I'm not able to reproduce that misbehavior, but I may not be doing the same exact steps.

 

Try deleting the Helper.lrdata folder:

a) Do Catalog Settings > General > Show to open Finder / File Explorer on the current catalog folder.
b) Exit LR.
c) In that folder, delete the folder "<catalog> Helper.lrdata".
d) Restart LR, and it will rebuild the folder.

The Helper.lrdata folder caches information about metadata, keywords, folders, collections, and other things to speed the performance of LR and it can sometimes get corrupted. In recent versions, LR has used it more heavily to improve the speed of displaying metadata, and there have been a fair number of bugs with it.

 

* * *

 

If that doesn't help, attach a full-resolution screen recording (not a phone video) showing the precise steps you're taking. (Make the LR window as small as possible to reduce the size of the video.)

https://www.descript.com/blog/article/how-to-screen-record-on-windows

johnrellis
johnrellisCorrect answer
Legend
January 21, 2026

[This post contains formatting and embedded images that don't appear in email. View the post in your Web browser.]

 

"I process the CR3 files then export them converting them to JPG. I then import the JPG files to put back into the daily directory they came from"

 

You can do this in one step by telling Export to export to the same folder as the originals and to add the exported files back to the catalog:

johnrellis_0-1768969624546.png

 

D
david48lindsayAuthor
Inspiring
January 21, 2026

Thanks - I will investigate further.

My reason for doing it the way I describe is that I convert to JPG, then
move the CR3 to a predelete folder within Lightroom so that any JPG that
end up with the dreaded circle error are still on hand to repeat the
export/import from the predelete folder.

Because I have all my photos sorted by file name order, ending up with
scores of JPG amd CR3 alternating in the folder makes removing the CR3 a
bit tedious, but I guess its easy enough to resort by type.


--

Cheers

David

[Removed personal information] (NZ)

Skype david.francis.nz

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