Skip to main content
Z
zanein
Participant
February 28, 2020
Question

lightroom gray photos cant be deleted

  • February 28, 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 2530 views

I have some gray photos in my catalog and none of them can be clicked on/deleted, edited and its really frustrating ? How do I fix this ?

 

(Moving this to the LR Classic forum as I think the user is writing about the Classic version and not the Cloud version. All done by Mod JSM)

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

GoldingD
GoldingD
Legend
February 29, 2020

What is your OS?

 

R
Richard Wozniak
Participating Frequently
March 1, 2020
Hi David

I’m on Mac High Sierra 10.13.6, Lightroom Classic.

Regards

Richard
Rob_Cullen
Community Expert
Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 29, 2020

They are not 'missing' as is usually indicated by the [!], but the screen-clip and your description suggests "Ghost Images"!

Six months ago Rikk Flohr suggested a fix would be coming in a Lr-CLassic update:

https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/blank-thumbnails-showing-up-in-all-photographs-only?topic-reply-list[settings][filter_by]=all&topic-reply-list[settings][reply_id]=20261385#reply_20261385

Are you using Classic v9.2? If not do the update in the CC Desktop App.

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.0, Photoshop 27.0, ACR 18.0, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0 .
E
erikh93664650
Inspiring
February 28, 2020

You may be looking for "missing photos" where the underlying file has been moved or deleted.  In such a case LR doesn't know where it is so it can only show a preview.

Try right clicking and looking at file location, or try Library > Find All Missing Photos.

Z
zaneinAuthor
Participant
February 28, 2020

The thing is I can't right click on these gray photos. I just want to delete them. I know how to find the missing files and have found them but these gray photos won't go away 

Just Shoot Me
Just Shoot Me
Legend
February 28, 2020

Please show us a screen shot of what you are seeing on your screen.

 

Also what exact version of LR are you using? The Cloud Centric Lightroom or the traditional LR Classic and the exact version number.

You should also include the OS you are using and the exact version number of that too.

Z
zaneinAuthor
Participant
February 28, 2020

 

R
Richard Wozniak
Participating Frequently
February 29, 2020

I had this frustrating problem too.

The Rikk Flohr method described by WobertC is one way to go - but you lose your catalogue for a while which isn't practical for many people.

If you can identify the rogue files on your hard drive (not in the LR catalogue) there is a clever little app called Trash It! which may help. I tried to delete a huge number of files when making a clean start with Time Machine. Some files simply would not delete no matter how I attacked them. Trash It! gobbled them up in a couple of minutes. Give it a try. You have nothing to lose.

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices