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Valerie28372282fu37
Participant
March 30, 2023
Question

I deleted my LR Library and now LR can't find my device folders at all!

  • March 30, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 213 views

Hello, whizkids,

 

I have LR for mobile on my Chromebook and I guess I had set it up to automatically load any images it found on the device.  Because I was on a big trip, it went and grabbed more than 5000 photos and that didn't work for me; I wanted to be more selective about which photos to edit.  Foolishly, I now realise, I deleted the LR Library.  I imagined I could then go and upload the photos I wanted to edit, but...

 

Now LR doesn't show my any of my device folders.  It's a total disconnect and I don't know what to do next.  Can anyone help?

 

Thanks!

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1 reply

Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
Rikk Flohr_PhotographyCommunity Manager
Community Manager
March 31, 2023

Referencing: "I deleted the LR Library"

How exactly did you do this? Can you describe your exact process?


Subscribed users who do not pause syncing should have their images in the cloud. Deleting them locally also deletes them in the cloud but their is a 60 day window in which they can be restored.  Are you subscribed? Were you synced?

 

If neither of those is true, it comes back to exactly how you performed the "I deleted the LR Library" operation. 

 

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
V
Valerie Adler
Participant
March 31, 2023

Hello!

 

I am subscribed and I was synced, yes!  I am using a Chromebook.  There were over 5000 photo previews visible and I was overwhelmed as I couldn't easily sort them, so I looked for a way to get rid and import only those images that I wanted to edit.

 

Now that I've done that, I can't see the option I selected, but as I recall, it said, "delete library."  It may have said, "delete catalog."  I had googled around for this, and it said I would be deleting previews in Lightroom, but not the images themselves in their original locations.  So I hit delete and all of the previews disappeared.  So did access to the folders.

 

I've since experimented, and if I create a brand new folder, LR finds it.  If I put an image in that folder and then delete the preview, LR doesn't "see" it again when I go to that folder, so it seems that a preview is a one-time opportunity.

 

By putting my selected images into the folder for LR, I guess I can solve the problem, but is it really the case that either I sync everything or I don't?  Why can't I simply use LR to browse my folders?

 

I'm hoping I'm just being a novice user and that you can tell me how to revisit folders...

 

Many thanks in advance for your assistance,

 

Valerie

Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
Rikk Flohr_PhotographyCommunity Manager
Community Manager
March 31, 2023

The files are likely available offline on our systems at this point. The assets can be downloaded to you by links that we provide. Your previous organization however would be lost. 

 

To start the process, we would need to verify your Adobe ID and get your permission. The Links would then be sent to you for you to download to your local machine. Does that sound like it would help?

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
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