P: Blank thumbnails showing up in All Photographs only

Report · Oct 08, 2018

Ligthroom Classic 7.5 Windows10 32 gig of memory

All Photos is showing 4 gray thumbs that I can't delete. The thumbs are not in my folders, which shows a count of 4 fewer photos than all photos does. When I try to delete the 4 empty thumbs it prompts this error message: an internal error has occurred: ?:0: attempt to index field 'rootFile' (a nil value). Also, the thumbs show no metadata, and a right click to locate in the folder in library returns no results.
I have disabled all plugins, no change, synchronize photos, no change, find missing photos, no change. I searched the forum, and the web andhave not found a solution. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Bob

Report · Oct 08, 2018

@robert Leggett: We will look into this issue. In order to solve this problem, we need to look into your catalog. One of our Engineering Members will contact you for the same. Please share catalog in case you can do so.

Report · Oct 08, 2018

Thank you!

Report · Oct 08, 2018

I have also intermittenetly have this occur with LR Classic 9.5, Win 10 w/32 gig.

Report · Oct 10, 2018

We could reproduce this issue in Robert's catalog.
We are investigating.

Thanks,
Sunil

Report · Oct 24, 2018

FYI, I updated to V8 but the issue wasn't resolved, I still have the blank thumbnails under all photographs.

Report · Nov 02, 2018

Sunil,

Any updates on my issue?

Thanks,
Bob

Report · Feb 01, 2019

I have the same problem but with 268 empty pictures.

Windows 10 and Lightroom 8.1.

Report · May 10, 2019

I've been having this issue in Lightroom Classic today and today only. Updated Lightroom, updated graphic settings. Deleted the folders. Did everything adobe suggested and several forums, and nothing has changed.

it's not every picture, or every file transfer, but I can't delete the blank images and have to redo the import entirely.

Report · May 21, 2019

I am getting the same problem with LR Classic 8.3.

Report · Jul 24, 2019

In the last days I somehow ended up with ghost images in my Lightroom Classic CC 8.0 catalog. Please see the following links for examples. When I right click and click [show in explorer] I get an error message: "An internal error has
occured: ?:0: attempt to index field 'rootFile' (a nil value)".

https://i.imgur.com/4m1SUb5.png

https://i.imgur.com/MSLWTnM.png

Please let me know how to remove these ghost images.

Report · Jul 24, 2019

Robbert Langezaal we will communicate with you on this issue. We will probably request for Catalog.

Report · Aug 01, 2019

I have the 'ghost image' problem too.
Would someone from Adobe please contact me to resolve this?
I am on LR 8.3.1
Thank you.

Report · Sep 02, 2019

I have the same problem with LR Classic 8.4.No way to discard of the ghost images. Tried all of the above.
Please assist

Report · Sep 03, 2019

The bottom line is that at the moment, there is no fix unless you know how to get into the algorithm. That rules me out.
I contacted Victoria Bampton (LR Queen) as a member and she arranged a contact with an Adobe engineer. This came to nothing the reason being that Adobe are aware of the problem and have a fix in the pipeline for the next update of Lightroom.
We shall see....

Report · Sep 03, 2019

Another report of similar symptoms, blank thumbnails with no metadata that can't be deleted:
https://forums.adobe.com/message/11235954#11235954

Report · Sep 03, 2019

For those on this thread with the issue of a few 'ghost' images in their catalog that show as blanks and are not deletable by any method, a fix will be coming in a future version of Lightroom to prevent this occurring and hopefully clean up any ghost images left behind. There is no ETA on this.

That said, I do have a process to remove these from your catalog, for those who cannot wait.

Procedure:

Make a copy of your catalog.
Zip it to reduce its size.
Post it to your Creative Cloud Folder.
Set it to share and copy the link.
Email the Link to:

As I receive these I will run the repair procedure and send you back a link to download a corrected catalog.

Note: While I am working on your catalog you should not do any additional Lightroom work.

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org

Report · Sep 03, 2019

Why is there no ETA?
A lot of people have this problem and want it fixed.

Report · Sep 14, 2019

I, too, am having this issue. The photos show blank, metadata won't load (I just get the spinning dots next to the preset dropdown), and I can't delete the photos - returns a nil value like others report. I'm not comfortable with sending my library off to someone I don't know for a fix (I wish he'd share his fix so we can all replicate it on our own). I am using the latest Lightroom Classic update v8.4

Report · Sep 15, 2019

Rikk works for Adobe, so you're safe to send it to him. I've known him for many years, he's a good guy. Otherwise the fix will be coming to a future version, but we don't have a timescale yet.

_______________________________________________
Victoria - The Lightroom Queen - Author of the Lightroom Missing FAQ & Edit on the Go books.

Report · Feb 28, 2020

Another user with this issue.
https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic/lightroom-gray-photos-cant-be-deleted/td-p/1095189...

Report · Mar 14, 2020

Count me in as well. Two grey catalog items that I can't interact with or delete. Just happened. LR Classic 8.4.1 for Mac. Any progress on this at all since it was reported a year ago?

Report · Mar 15, 2020

Please update to 9.2. No further work will be done to 8.4.1

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org

Report · Mar 15, 2020

Thank you. I updated to version 9.2 and the extraneous items are gone.

Report · Apr 07, 2020

Might as well add my statement, too. Seems this has been going on for various members long enough for Adobe to have looked into it and given us some kind of update on their progress in resolving it. Come on, guys ~ we love your products and, more importantly, RELY on them. Help us out soon, OK?? MTBirder (running the latest version of CC and ALL my apps on Mac OS Catalina.)

Report · May 13, 2020

Hello Rikk,

I have the same problem with Lightroom Classic: 9.2.1. and nearly 4000 ghost pictures.

I sent a post here : https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom/0-attempt-to-index-field-rootfile-a-nil-value/m-p/11123717?... and someone answered to me, suggesting to come here. Indeed, it seems to be exactly the same problem.

I see your post is 8 months old : can I send you my catalog according to the Procedure ?

If yes, could you explain how to post to my Creative Cloud Folder, because I tryed to do it with the Creative Cloud App, but I have an error message saying that this kind of file (zip) is not accepted. Maybe I do not do what I am supposed to (I do not use the Cloud usually).

Thank you
Best regards