Skip to main content
LiquidFractal
LiquidFractal
Known Participant
June 14, 2023
Answered

Permanently deleting photos in LrC, or: "to prompt or not to prompt? That is my question"

  • June 14, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 2365 views

I can't figure this particular thing out about Lrc:

One of the reasons why I previously asked about permanently deleting photos in Lrc is because sometimes, when I press DELETE with a picture selected, I get a popup window which asks me if I want to Delete From Disk, only Delete From Lightroom, or Cancel.

 

I like this window...except that I don't always get it when I press DELETE (or BACKSPACE, as I read in another thread).  For no apparent reason, the next time I hit DELETE it simply deleted the photo from LrC but not from my hard drive.  This is why I asked about permanently deleting photos, and while the answers were all Mac and not PC (so it took a bit to figure out the keys), I eventually got to the CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+DELETE hotkey.

 

This said, can someone explain the quirky behaviour of this window to me?  I did literally nothing to change configuration or settings - pressing DELETE for one photo brought up the window, pressing DELETE on the next photo did not.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer JohanElzenga

    The behavior differs depending on where you are and what the image is. If you have selected a folder or the 'All Photographs' collection, then you will (should) get that dialog when you hit the delete key. Unless the image you selected is a virtual copy, in which case the copy is deleted but the original is not, so no question about deleting from disk is warranted. If you are in a collection however, then hitting the Delete key will remove the image from that collection only. It will not be removed from the catalog and consequently again no question about deleting from disk is warranted.

     

    2 replies

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    June 14, 2023

    The behavior differs depending on where you are and what the image is. If you have selected a folder or the 'All Photographs' collection, then you will (should) get that dialog when you hit the delete key. Unless the image you selected is a virtual copy, in which case the copy is deleted but the original is not, so no question about deleting from disk is warranted. If you are in a collection however, then hitting the Delete key will remove the image from that collection only. It will not be removed from the catalog and consequently again no question about deleting from disk is warranted.

     

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
      LiquidFractal
      LiquidFractalAuthor
      Known Participant
      June 15, 2023

      Ahh, ok, yes, this makes sense.  Thanks to everyone for their helpful information!

      DdeGannes
      Community Expert
      DdeGannesCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 14, 2023

      Go to Lightroom Classic Preferences > General tab, towards the bottom there should be an option to Reset all warning Dialogs click on the option.

      Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices