Participating Frequently

Question

Sixty-five hundred photos instantly disappeared

Forum|Forum|10 months ago
June 4, 2025
3 replies
977 views

Help. I "did something", I honestly don't remember what, and instantly all 6500 of my photographs became gray squares. I watched a course video in which the instructor said, don't worry, they're still there but he didn't say where!

macOS

dj_paige

Legend

Show us a screen capture of the entire Library Module screen including the gray squares. Use the "Insert Photos" icon to include your screen capture in your reply. Do NOT attach files.

G

georgef34613995Author

Participating Frequently

Sorry for attaching a photo. My new computer seems to be missed the Grab It screen capture app.

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

My first thought- You have deleted (moved, or renamed) the Previews cache file. <Your catalog name>previews.LRDATA

LrC would then show gray squares until it slowly re-builds the images in previews.

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/lightroom-gives-error-preview-cache.html?x-product=Helpx%2F1.0.0&x-product-location=Search%3AForums%3Alink%2F3.7.0

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .

G

georgef34613995Author

Participating Frequently

I followed the instructions in the link to the letter but the gray squares remain. Sadness. Can you think of anything I might try?

George

Noel Orridge

Community Manager

Hi @georgef34613995, Thank you for reaching out —I'm here to help!

To better understand your issue, please share a few more details. Specifically:

Which version of Lightroom Classic are you using?
What is the version of your Mac OS?
What steps did you take before the issue occurred?

As @dj_paige kindly suggested, including screenshots or a screen recording showing the problem would be beneficial. You can upload them to a public file-sharing service like Google Drive, WeTransfer, or any other platform you prefer, and share the link here.

Also, building on @Rob_Cullen's suggestion, look at the Folders panel on the left side when you're in the Library module. Do you see a question mark (?) or photos with a small exclamation mark (!) icon in the Library module folders? These symbols can help us identify if Lightroom has trouble locating your files.

Cheers!

Noel

D

drtonyb

Legend

@georgef34613995

Based on the scant information you have provided, no one here can help, except suggest you give more information.

Do you mean something in a course video that you followed made all your photos turn gray? If so, what video?

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded