Participating Frequently

Question

Lightroom forgetting previews

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
October 22, 2024
3 replies
292 views

Hi All,

The issue has shown up for me since I updated to Lightroom 13.5 and still exits in 14. Whenever I quit lightroom and re-open it forgets all of the previews that are generated for the catalog. This means I have to regenerate the previews every time. The previews file exists in the same directory as the catalog, but for some reason isn't making use of it.

I have tried deleting the previews file and starting over but the same issue occurs.

Not sure if anyone has any ideas?

Lightroom 14.0.1 on Mac OS Sequoia 15.0.1

macOS

This topic has been closed for replies.

ppffpfAuthor

Participating Frequently

@Sameer K

I believe I can replicate the issue now (I made a new catalog and imported images from my main catalog) It doesn't happen when I close and reopen the catalog, it is when I "Export As Catalog" that then the previews become "forgotten". I also believe it only happens with large numbers of previews/export sizes as I can't replicate it with a few photos.

Steps:

-In a a catalog with 100,000s of Standard Previews already generated

-"Export As Catalog" with "Include Available Previews" checked a catalog of substantial size (20-30,0000 photos and previews)

-This will export fine and include the preivews

-If I then "Export As Catalog" another batch of photos, the previews are not exported as if they are not available

-After this second export I can still see previews in the library

-If I then quit and reopen lightroom, all the previews are forgotten (greyed out images)

-The Previews.lrdata file remains the same size, so the previews are still on the disk.

Lightroom_System_Info.zip

dj_paige

Legend

This sure seems like the problem I mentioned above (and gave a link to the solution)

ppffpfAuthor

Participating Frequently

I will give the preferences thing a try. The problem I have is iteratively try solutions is time consuming as it takes 12 hours to regenerate a couple weeks of previews. So I can at best try 1 suggested solution a day but I am still trying to get photos out the door ('tis the busy time for weddings around here).

I am definitely not opening another catalog. I only had one catalog on my computer until making a new catalog per @Sameer K 's suggestion.

dj_paige

Legend

First, I would reset preferences and see if that fixes the problem. https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

What do you see on your screen that indicates LrC is forgetting previews? Can you show us a screen capture? Use the "Insert Photos" icon to include your screen capture in your reply. Do NOT attach files.

In the past, on rare occasions, some people are thinking that they only have one catalog but they actually have more than one catalog and they didn't realize it and somehow they open a different catalog and things look different. So, how are you opening LrC? What are the exact steps? Do you ever use different steps to open the catalog?

Sameer K

Community Manager

Hey, @ppffpf. Welcome to the Lightroom Community. I'll need more information to help you figure this out. Please share the system information from Lightroom Help > System info > Copy and paste into a text document > Upload and attach here.

Where is the catalog stored? On the internal or external drive? Try these suggestions:

1 - As a test, create a new catalog from File > New Catalog & check if the issue exists.

2 - If the issue does not exist in the test catalog, go to File > Import from catalog > target your old catalog. Proceed with merging the old catalog into the newly made, internal storage-based catalog. For more help via video-based steps, check here. See https://adobe.ly/3NTC9Rv

Let me know how it goes. Thanks!
Sameer K

(Use '@mention' to tag me when you reply)

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