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mcellenberger
Participant
November 25, 2022
Question

LR is bringing up a dialog box to select a catalog...

  • November 25, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 335 views

I am trying to open my Camera Raw photos from my external hard drive in Lightroom, something I have done many times.  However, this time I suddenly get a dialog box asking me to select a catalog.  This happens occassionaly but when it does, my catalog is available to select.  It is now missing from the menu.  When I select "Choose a different Catalog",  I can access the folders on my external hard drive, but when I open the folders to access my photos, they are grayed out and unavaible to select.  HELP PLEASE!! 😃

 

{Moved from Lightroom Cloud to Lightroom Classic Forum by Moderator} 

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3 replies

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
November 26, 2022

Find the desired catalog in your operating system (Windows Explorer or Mac Finder) and then double-click on it to open it. Once opened, you can set Preferences in LrC to open this specific catalog each time.

JohanElzenga
Community Expert
JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 26, 2022

Lightroom is asking you to select a catalog, not your images. That is why your image folders cannot be selected. It seems Lightroom has lost the connection to its catalog, otherwise the catalog would be listed in the dialog. So you will have to tell Lightroom where it is, by clicking on 'Coose a different catalog' and then go to the catalog folder and select the catalog file. That is a file with a .lrcat extension, so you could first search for it in the Finder so you'll know where it is when Lightroom asks you.

 

I don't know why Lightroom lost its catalog, but maybe you are not telling us everything. Did you upgrade Lightroom or MacOS recently? Did you do anything else that could explain this?

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga
GoldingD
GoldingD
Legend
November 26, 2022

1. In Preferences

 

In LrC. in the Preferences, in General tab, look at Default Catalog. Probably set to Prompt

 

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