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JillHarrison1
Participant
December 18, 2022
Question

Missing Photos showing up in Lightoom not LRC

  • December 18, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 162 views

I have recently bought a new Mac and got a hub as my external hard drives didn't have the USB C connections. Everything seemed to be ok to begin with but I now seem to be having a lot of "missing photos" I thought this could be to do with loose connections but have discovered the following. 

 

If I search for the photo by name on the hard drive, and then click on the photo, it automatically opens it up but in Lightroom, which I don't use. When I then go back to the photo in Lighroom Classic, the photo isn't missing. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to what's missing and what's not. Any help appreciated. Most of my photos are stored on an external hard drive. 

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2 replies

J
Community Expert
Jao vdLCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 18, 2022

The interesting thing that is probably happening here is that the action of double clicking it in Lightroom (cloudy version) is uploading the image to the cloud (this is what happens if you import an image into Cloudy). Then when you open Classic, it automatically now downloads the image again from the cloud onto your local hard drive (this is what Classic does for all cloud images if syncing is enabled) and it is no longer missing now but only that image will be recovered. What you should do instead is in Classic to select the folders (as top level as you can) in the left side bar in Library view that are missing (they will be greyed out) and select "find missing folder" from the contextual menu popup (right or control click) and point Classic to the current location of this folder. It will refind all the images in the folders and subfolders of the folder you relocated. 

You will run into some problems with the images that you imported into Lightroom Cloudy as they will now be out of sorts depending on how you set up the sync destination in Classic.

    J
    JillHarrison1Author
    Participant
    December 18, 2022

    Thanks. As you may see from my reply to Johan W, I turned off my computer and when I turned it on again, all this missing photos were not missing any more. It's all very odd. However, your explanation is really helpful and I know where to find it in the future if I have problems. Thanks for taking the time to help.

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 18, 2022
    quote

    If I search for the photo by name on the hard drive, and then click on the photo, it automatically opens it up but in Lightroom, which I don't use. When I then go back to the photo in Lighroom Classic, the photo isn't missing.  


    By @JillHarrison1

     

    If you double click a file, then MacOS will launch an application that it has connected to that file type as the default application, so that does not mean anything (except that Lightroom is not the most logical application). What you say about Lightroom Classic first showing the photo as missing and then after this action it is no longer missing may point to the following:

     

    Apple changed the security requirements in MacOS Monterey and later. Go to MacOS 'System Settings - Security & Privacy' and add Lightroom Classic to "Full Disk Access". Click on the lock icon to unlock the settings, then click on the plus icon to add Lightroom Classic if it isn't already listed. If it is listed, then just enable the checkbox. See also Quick Tips: How to give Full Disk Access to Lightroom Classic on macOS

     

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
    J
    JillHarrison1Author
    Participant
    December 18, 2022

    Well this was really odd. I tried turning my computer off and on again and everything was there. No missing photos. I've absolutely no idea why this should happen, when everything was working fine before. 

    Thanks so much for your help. I have since been into allowed full disk access for Lightroom as per your instrucions. Many thanks again. 

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