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michaelb93376913
michaelb93376913
Participant
January 8, 2017
Answered

Lightroom catalog

  • January 8, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 303 views

I moved all my photos to new external drive, then imported again in Lightroom.

Now it looks like I lost all the changes made to photos as well as keywords.

Can I restore it from back-up catalogs??

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer dj_paige

    IMPORTANT CONCEPT: Never import a photo a second time. When you import a photo again, Lightroom thinks it is a totally new photo, and this is why your keywords and edits are gone ... Lightroom thinks it is a new photo that is has never seen, never edited, and never had keywords assigned.

    So, if you have a recent backup, you can open that. To do this:

    1. If the backup file is zipped, then unzip the backup catalog file.
    2. Copy the backup catalog file to a totally new empty folder.
    3. Double-click on the catalog file to open it in Lightroom
    4. Re-link the photos in Lightroom to their new location on the external drive. To do this, see Figure 4 and associated text in this document: Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders .

    Again, I point out, there is NO Importing in this process. If you are Importing, you are doing it wrong.

    2 replies

    michaelb93376913
    michaelb93376913Author
    Participant
    January 8, 2017

    Thank you, appreciate help

    dj_paige
    dj_paigeCorrect answer
    Legend
    January 8, 2017

    IMPORTANT CONCEPT: Never import a photo a second time. When you import a photo again, Lightroom thinks it is a totally new photo, and this is why your keywords and edits are gone ... Lightroom thinks it is a new photo that is has never seen, never edited, and never had keywords assigned.

    So, if you have a recent backup, you can open that. To do this:

    1. If the backup file is zipped, then unzip the backup catalog file.
    2. Copy the backup catalog file to a totally new empty folder.
    3. Double-click on the catalog file to open it in Lightroom
    4. Re-link the photos in Lightroom to their new location on the external drive. To do this, see Figure 4 and associated text in this document: Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders .

    Again, I point out, there is NO Importing in this process. If you are Importing, you are doing it wrong.

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