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margrets97187591
margrets97187591
Inspiring
March 8, 2018
Answered

Lightroom 5 - folders are empty - no "?" just "0". Any idea what might have happend?

  • March 8, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 753 views

Hi, I use Lightroom 5  and have for several years. I never had a problem. From one day to the next, most of my folders show 0 and are empty. I do not have a duplicated catalogue. I do not have a “?” showing and all the photos are in “All Photographs”. It does not give me a “find folder option”. Adobe support could not help, as they no longer support 5 and I could not find the answer in the general forum. The photos are on a internal drive and I have not moved folders or changed the names. I closed it down one evening and the next day they were gone 😞

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Jim Wilde

    If the correct number of images are showing in All Photographs then they are not gone, Lightroom still thinks they are in place.

    A couple of things:

    1. Check the setting in the Library menu bar for "Show Photos in Subfolders" to make sure it is checked. If it's not, check it and look at the Folders panel again.

    2. If it is still checked, use the Library menu command to Find All Missing Photographs. Report the result back here (give us the total for All Photographs, and the total for All Missing Photographs).

    2 replies

    Jim Wilde
    Community Expert
    Jim WildeCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    March 8, 2018

    If the correct number of images are showing in All Photographs then they are not gone, Lightroom still thinks they are in place.

    A couple of things:

    1. Check the setting in the Library menu bar for "Show Photos in Subfolders" to make sure it is checked. If it's not, check it and look at the Folders panel again.

    2. If it is still checked, use the Library menu command to Find All Missing Photographs. Report the result back here (give us the total for All Photographs, and the total for All Missing Photographs).

    margrets97187591
    margrets97187591Author
    Inspiring
    March 10, 2018

    Hi Jim, I followed your advice and BINGO!!! All my photos are back. As I have a large numbers of older photos on an external drive, I always have photos shown as missing until I connect to the external drive. "Show Photos in Subfolders" had not been checked and once I checked it, all the photo became visible :-). How it got unchecked, I have no idea.

    Thanks heaps, Jim. And Alex, if all would have failed, I am sure the backup would have worked as well, though this was less painful.

    Cheers Margret

    AxelMatt
    Community Expert
    AxelMattCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 8, 2018

    It's possible that you catalog is corrupt. Please take a look here:

    https://www.lightroomqueen.com/catalog-corruption-cause-prevention/

    I'll think the only way is to restore a backup of your catalog

    https://www.lightroomqueen.com/disaster-strikes-corrupted-catalog/ 

    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
    margrets97187591
    margrets97187591Author
    Inspiring
    March 8, 2018

    Thanks Axel for your quick reply. I read your two links, and I had a blackout. Not sure if Lightroom was open. It says that if the catalog is corrupted that I would get a message telling me that it is corrupted. Further, the link says that there is an option to fix a corruption. Are you saying that this might not be the case and the best would be to restore?

    Your message shows a Correct Answer star, any idea who placed it? I am not saying that the answer is not correct, I am just wondering as I am not aware that I clicked the button and I at this stage I have not tried to restore the backup.  I would appreciate if you could get back to me once again. Thanks Margret 

    AxelMatt
    Community Expert
    AxelMattCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 8, 2018

    Normally you get a message when the catalog is corrupt and you can try to fix it in Lightroom as in one of the links is descripted.

    But I'm not sure that you get in all cases a appropriate message.

    So try to repair you catalog as described.  To restore the catalog from a backup is the fastest to solve your issue.

    Another point that you can check is that you open the correct catalog file. It could be that you're open an empty catalog or Lightroom has create a new one. Where is your catalog file with all photos saved? When it is stored on an external drive, is the drive connected?  Try to search in the Windows Explorer or Mac's Finder after .lrcat files.

    The "Correct Answer" is a button and is automatically in every post. With this button you can mark the appropriate answer as an correct answer and at the same time your question was marked as "Answered".

    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
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