P: loses connection with files after folder is renamed

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I've been using Lightroom for many years, and I've never experienced this problem until the last two updates to the application.

When I upload photos to Lightroom, the app creates a folder that is by default named with the date, in this format: 20210403.

I usually rename the folder, in Lightroom, with something more descriptive, just after the upload is complete. For example, 20210403_family-gathering.

Starting with the previous version of Lightroom, after I perform this action, Lightroom loses the connection with the files in the newly renamed folder. A question mark appears on the folder in the Navigation panel, and in Loupe view, every photo now displays a small exclamation mark in its upper right corner.

When I click on an exclamation mark, a dialog box appears, like the first one of three that I've uploaded.

1Lightroom_missingphoto-ccc406f0-67d4-4b3d-bff7-05c1c0834148-835634586.png

When I click on "Locate," another dialog box appears. For example:

2Lightroom_missingphoto_select-94760d8f-1b85-462b-b489-24b48e58a8c8-1771050602.png

The first file, which is highlighted, is the one that is missing (although at this point, Lightroom has lost track of all of the files in the renamed folder). When I click the "Select" button, this dialog box appears:

3Lightroom_missingphoto_alread-79fdfacb-e016-4610-aaba-6f295e7d4035-643118839.png

Lightroom is obviously confused, and the only way around this, in the current version of Lightroom, is to quit the application and re-launch Lightroom. After I relaunch Lightroom, it re-finds the files and the exclamation marks are gone. When I quit Lightroom after renaming the folder from the most recent upload, I back up the catalog. I don't know if this is necessary, but I back up the catalog whenever I quit Lightroom.

This is a bug, which never existed for me, until the last two updates of the app.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

@Alexander   I just imported three small batches of images into three separate folders, in one session. By default, the folders were named with the dates the images were captured (20210424, etc.). Before quitting Lightroom, I renamed each folder, and none of the folders displayed question marks. None of the images contained in the folders were lost; none of the image file thumbnails displayed exclamation marks. This is the first time, since the renaming bug has appeared, that I've imported images into more than one folder and renamed the folders, and Lightroom didn't lose the folders and files.

[GWSHARK101]

I just updated to Big Sur 11.3 in the hopes that this problem would go away.  It didn't.  Well, it worked for about a day.   

It seems completely random:  Sometimes renaming a folder works fine, sometimes it loses just a few files and they eventually come back if I click away from the folder, and sometimes every folder and file is lost and won't come back until I restart Lightroom, and anything in between is also possible.    Any scenarios can play out in different ways on the exact same folder of images every time I try to rename it.  I've seen no pattern to it.   Again, find missing folder/image does nothing when selecting it in the finder.   Only thing that works is restarting Lightroom.    BTW, I've noticed that Lightoom can successfully point to a missing image if I select "show in finder"  (or cmd+r) , so it seems to know how to locate it, but still shows it as missing.  

This issue is happening no matter where any catalog file is located, and no matter where any of the images are located, it also happens across operating systems.    I have 2 external single USB drives, 1 external 4 bay Raid 0 usb drive, and 3 external 4 bay softraid 0 drives, two are thunderbolt with SSDs.   Lightroom resides on my internal SSD.   I have also tried running Lightroom Classic from Big Sur OS residing an external SSD, same issue.    A few more things to try:  clean re-install of lightroom (via creative cloud) on external SSD.   Try a catalog file located on internal SSD.    New catalog files seems to work for a short while so I may not know if problem returns for a day or two...

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Sounds exactly as I described it. Really frustrating....

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hello,

I went through this thread and as is frequently the case, many people are stating the obvious solutions and the discussion is all over the place.  Since you know what you are doing I can cut to the chase.  I have the same problem.  I have a brand new macbook pro with the most current version of lightroom and all my images are on board the laptop.  My macbook pro has 64gb of memory and 8-core i9 processor. i have a 1tb ssd drive. So my machine certainly doesn't suffer resources. I am on Big Sur.  

I renamed a folder (IN LIGHTROOM) and Lightroom lost the connection to the files and I ended up in a vicious circle you describe above. 

It's a bug.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Indeed it is - and very annoying too

[heff66]

Following an import, renaming folders results in all contained images going "missing" even though the folder is online and even shows as available in LrC. It's a false error, though. The images are there and are being reported as missing.

In fact, if you try to find and reconnect any of the so-called missing images, you get a message that the file is already associated with "another" image in Lightroom.

Quitting and relaunching the program solves the problem but this is only a workaround.

Please address this bug ASAP. Being able to rename folders is a crucial basic function. I should not have to quit and relaunch after every import just to be able to rename a folder.

[heff66]

I have the exact same issue across several Macs. Always following an import. Renaming the folder results in the folder contents going missing even though they are present. Quitting and relaunching is the only workaround.

I have many users experiencing the same glitch.

[heff66]

@bill_3305731

No, that's not what users are experiencing in this case. It's a consistent and reproduceable bug with the latest version on macOS. Renaming a folder following import causes the contents of that folder to be falsely reported as "missing". They are not. And the filenames are unique. That's not an issue.

[heff66]

I can reproduce this bug consistently across several of my own and my client's Macs. I am running the latest version of Catalina and it is consistently throwing this error.

It is exactly as described. Following import, the renaming of a folder results in that folder's contents falsely reported as being missing. Any attempt to reconnect the images results in the error message indicating it is already associated with another photo in the catalog.

Quitting and restarting fixes the issue immediately.

Please address this bug. It is indeed repeatable. Happy to provide any data you need.

Current test rig:

iMac 27" Core i9
macOS Catalina 10.15.7

Lightroom Classic 10.2

Have done preference reset and more.

Have checked disk access permissions in Security and Privacy System Preference.

Bug remains.

[heff66]

Thanks Rikk. I can provide any data points you need regarding this issue. I have seen it across numerous client installations.

[PPz]

I Have the same problem with LR and MAC OS 10.14 Mojave.

[heff66]

@bill_3305731

This is a Mac only issue. Please stop weighing in with irrelevant comments about your Windows experience. You are muddying the waters.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

This thread is being merged into an existing authoritative thread for better tracking and response. Please review the official answer (if any) in the second post on the thread for more information. 

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Thanks, I will let the team know. 

[Lumigraphics]

Disconnect all of your external drives, remove all of your third-party LR plug-ins, and see if the problem persists. When I see external drives in a RAID, SoftRAID, etc- that's a big red flag.

[heff66]

Nonsense. The program works just fine with all of those drive types and configurations. Those aren't red flags at all.

This is a newer and very specific macOS bug.

[GWSHARK101]

I've noticed that after imports are complete, or after exports are completed, lightroom is still busy doing something in the background for several minutes, perhaps building previews or whatever, but there is no obvious indication of what it's doing.  All I know is that it gets slow/laggy for several minutes after importing images.   Renaming folders when this is happening tends to give me the lost files issue.   So I've had to change the way I do things:  I now import with import dialog selected, and choose minimal previews.   When I export images, I don't add them to the library until later, when it's a good time to bring them in and can wait for lightroom to finish whatever it's doing in the background.  I do this via syncronizing the folder I know they are in, and again, I use the import dialog and have minimal previews selected.   I've found that this speeds up lightroom considerably and now files tend not to get lost when I rename the folders.     I have also tinkered with Lightroom and Catalog preferences significantly lately, and also reformatted one of my hard drives that was having permission issues, so perhaps all of this together has helped fix the issue...fingers crossed.

[COBill]

For years we've been asking for more progress bars. Thanks for noting that you too are affected by this lack of info regarding background processes. Up voted. 

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

@Greg_White_Shark 

Not that you should have to change your workflow, but it's good that you've found a process that works for you and minimizes the hassle of dealing with this bug. I haven't noticed Lightroom becoming slow after importing images, but maybe I'm not paying close enough attention. In any case, even if I wait to rename an imported folder until the end of a post-processing session, Lightroom still looses its connection to the folder and its contents. For now, as I've previously mentioned, my workaround is to rename folders just before I'm about to end a session and quit Lightroom. That said, I've discovered another data point, which is probably irrelevant to the renaming bug, but it's interesting to me: if I import a bunch of photos into a new folder, select a group of them, and then create a new folder with a descriptive name, checking the option to "Include selected photos" in the dialog box, Lightroom moves the photos into the new folder and doesn’t lose track of them.

[heff66]

As far as I can tell. That's a separate issue. This thread is really focused on nailing down the "rename after import" bug that is impacting so many Mac users.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

*Logan31639 - that new folder is a really neat workaround and removes the need to quit. It seems to work well

[GWSHARK101]

I agree, creating a new folder with corrected name and move images into it seems to be the best/only workaround beyond quitting and restarting.  BTW, I'm still having issues with  missing files, even with my new workflow, but it's less frequent.

[Lumigraphics]

Except he is here reporting that it doesn't work fine. Hence, basic troubleshooting.

[GWSHARK101]

@lumigraphics 

That has all been tried already.  Problem exists on new catalogs without any external drives.

[GWSHARK101]

@heffSTL 

The other workaround (until this bug is fixed) is to create a new folder with the correct name and move images into that folder.   May take less time than quitting and restarting lightroom.    It does seem the common thread is Mac users on Mohave and Big Sur... perhaps Catalina too.