Skip to main content
P
parisadele
Participating Frequently
June 10, 2023
Answered

Accidentally Renamed LRC Catalog Name

  • June 10, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 704 views

Hello,

I have accidentally renamed my LrC Catalog. I have tried searching the forum but can't find a solution and now frozen with fear.

 

If I search on my Mac and external HD for lrcat, the new name comes up but of course it is empty and the old name doesn't appear at all. My images are on an external HD and I can see all the images and folders.

I think the answer to the question is going to be no but is it possible to rename the catalog back to what it was to bring everything back? 

 

It also looks like a lot of images are jpegs rather than RAW.

 

I would really appreciate some guidance please.

 

thank you

Adele

 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer DdeGannes

The images and folders are there and under what appears to be my original catalog name, however when I click on Develop mode, it only shows one image and then I have to go back to Library mode to see the rest of the images in a particular folder. My edits seem to still be there.

 

I think this is good news, so far!

 


In the develop module you will only see one image file at a time. If you do not see the thumbnails of other images at the bottom of the window there is a very small triangle at the bottom of the window, click on it to display the images.

There are many free videos tutorials for the use of Lightroom Classic. See the link below.

https://jkost.com/blog/lightroom-training-videos

 

2 replies

Ian Lyons
Community Expert
Ian LyonsCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 10, 2023

The problem with leaving it as it is now is that the previews folder and others will not match. When they don't match LrC will recreate them from scratch. So, best rename lrcat file back to the original name using the existing name for the lrdata previews folder as guide. 

    P
    parisadeleAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    June 10, 2023

    thanks Ian, 

    does it mean that because I have opened it a couple of times it has now wiped the old information? Do I click on the default or do I select exisiting and then change the name back to the old name/location?

     

    DdeGannes
    Community Expert
    DdeGannesCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 10, 2023

    If you can share a screen capture of the contents of the Folder that contains your Catalog files and Previews, and other support data file, using the list view so other users can view details of the files in the folder, other users can then advise how to proceed.
    By default that folder would be located at Users > (your user name) > Pictures > Lightroom

     

    Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
    B
    Community Expert
    Bill SpragueCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 10, 2023

    Renaming does not change the contents of a file.  If all you did was change the name, you can open the file an all should be well!   What did you use and how did you rename the file?

    P
    parisadeleAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    June 10, 2023

    Thanks for responding so quickly Bill.

     

    I will show the upmost stupidity now. I hadn't used it for a while and wanted to create a new 'folder' still not sure if that is what it is called and it didn't seem to work and thought maybe it is called 'catalog' and that is when everything went bad. 

     

    When I try to open LrC without my hard drive connected (with the files) it prompts me this : 

    The catalog at location (/Volumes/MY NAME/NEW CAT NAME/NEW CAT NAME.lrcat) could not be found.  Would you like to locate an existing catalog or use the default one?

     

    Up until now, when I opened it to copy the prompt for you, it was telling me it couldn't find my old catalog name but has now moved to the new catalog name (if that makes sense). I have clicked anything because I am affraid to do more damage than I have already done. 

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices