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CraigT54
Known Participant
May 6, 2024
Question

Missing Files

  • May 6, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 601 views

I've relocated my studio and in getting reset up with computers I have a Missing File problem with the question mark on the folder. . I proceed with Find the File and I can locate the file but when I select it LR  removes all the files in that folder from Lightroom.  It now shows the folder I was trying to locate but with zero files. I can go to the folder on the hard drive and see them there but can't get them to show as in my folder on Lightroom (where it previously showed).

 

 Next I went to look for the folder to restore all photos and it says you already have that folder - do you want to merge. If I merge then it starts a second hard drive folder in LR and puts the photos there. Now I have a second hard drive folder on LR with the correct files but my original hard drive folder still shows empty. I've got about thirty folders I need to get coordinated but instead I've got TWO hard drives listed in LR - the original shows question marks and the new one shows empty folders (except for the test folder that "Merged".)

 

Help me get back to my original folders and remove the question marks.

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1 reply

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
May 6, 2024

I proceed with Find the File and I can locate the file but when I select it LR removes all the files in that folder from Lightroom.

 

It does not remove files. It moves the files to the new location that you specified within the LrC folder panel. You have to find that folder that you specified within the LrC folder panel.

C
CraigT54Author
Known Participant
May 6, 2024

Thanks, DJ, but I'm not following. I say find the file and locate it on the hard drive. I select the proper photo and expect them to acknowledge each other and agree the file has been found. That's the way it worked before. Now when I select I want to find the file it removes them from LR. I didn't tell it to go somewhere else, I told it to say the missing file in LR is in this hard drive.  What am I missing here?

 

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
May 6, 2024

LrC does not remove files. Yes, you did tell it to look somewhere else for these photos, that's why you had the ? icon and the need to locate them with "Find Missing Folder".

 

If the photos were located in (drive/folder) such as (for example) Drive 1/ABC before you made the move, and they are now on Drive 2/ABC or Drive 1/DEF or somewhere other than Drive 1/ABC, then you told LrC to look somewhere else for the photo, it obviously found that somewhere else because it MOVED the photo location within the catalog to a different folder, to their new drive/folder location. If the photos were still in Drive 1/ABC, the folder would not have a question mark on it, and you wouldn't have to go through this procedure.


Nevertheless, go to "All Photographs" in the Library Module (its on the left, under Catalog) and search for one of these photos by File Name or capture date. There it is. Right-click on the photo, select "Go to Folder in Library" and then you will see the folder highlighted in the Lightroom Folder panel (you may have to scroll up or down to find the highlighted folder). Your photos are now in that folder.

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