P: Synchronize Folder incorrectly shows photos as missing

[johnrellis]

Synchronize Folder sometimes shows photos as missing when they're not. To reproduce in LR 13.0.1:

1. Download and unzip this catalog folder:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rzpzmsn1cpc3xlg/sync-bug.2023.10.27.zip?dl=0 

2. Open the catalog in LR.

3. Uncheck the option Preferences > General > Treat JPEG Files Next To Raw Files As Separate Photos.

4. In the Folders panel, right-click "pics" and do Synchronize Folder.

5. Observe that the three photos in the catalog are reported as missing:

6. Click Show Missing Photos and observe that the special collection Photos Missing From Folder "pics" contains the three photos, and they are not marked as missing:

7. Right-click "pics" and do Synchronize Folder again, this time checking Show Import Dialog Before Importing, unchecking Remove Missing Photos From Catalog, and clicking Synchronize.

8. Observe that the three JPEGs in the folder are shown for import. Click Import, and they will be correctly imported and the HEICs will not be removed from the catalog.

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There have been reports about Synchronize Folder incorrectly showing files as missing since at least LR 6.0.1. There was a bug report in the old feedback forum that didn't copied over -- my email archives show it received at least 19 votes:

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Thanks for the reproduction steps. I've opened a ticket for investigation. 

[cf123]

Is there any update on this?  Seeing similar issues when I right click a folder and click syncronize folder it shows a number of missing photos from the catlog.  If I go to Library and select find all missing photos for the same directory it does not find anything.  If I go back to some of my early folders from like 2007 / 2008 when I first started using Lightroom I see a number of "missing files" under syncronize folder but as I get closer to 2024 the only ones I see missing are ones I have "exported" out of lightroom to a jpg from one of my raw files.  I export to different directories and purge those exports every so often.  It seems like LR is still tracking those somehow even though the exports were going to a directory completely outside of my images directory.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks

[kristianf58755272]

I have the same issue and also can reproduce it starting from version 13.0 or higher. Version 12.5.1 or lower are fine. It messed up my whole catalog file. The Import function have the same issue as the folder synchronization function. 

Until when can we expect a solution? Currently version 13 is not usable for me, went back to 12.5.1. 

[quicky2000]

I'm still facing this issue. Is there any progress regarding this? For me this topic is open for a few years now. Only a small no. of images are impacted, but the presist since a long time. It even survived a catalog-recreation and the move from Windows to Mac.

Thanks for an update on the status of the bug.

Best regards,

Oliver

[johnrellis]

Unfortunately, Adobe rarely indicates when a bug might be fixed. This bug has been extant since at least LR 6, so it's reasonable to conclude it might never be fixed.

The workaround is straightforward: Keep the option Synchronize Folder > Remove Missing Photos unchecked, don't use Synchronize Folder > Show Missing Photos, and use Library > Find All Missing Photos instead.