cleaning up catalog folders

[ipanema451]

Hello, I am wanting to do some spring cleaning of my catalog folders.  My actual images IN lightroom are well organized using collections and keywords etc...  Non I my images show as "missing", and all are in collections.  However, my actual folders and files outside of lightroom are a bit of a mess.  Example: In the catalog folder, I have a folder labeled "2018" containing both folders with year/month/day names, and another folder also labeled "2018" inside the first "2018" containing a folder with year/month day names… (there is some overlap between year/month/day folders (ie: there is a 2018-11-19 folder in both the 2018 folder AND the 2018/2018/ folder.  What I would like to do is move and create folders IN LIGHTROOM (not finder) So that I have an "image" folder in the catalog folder with year/month/day folders all in one higharchy.  If I create/move the folders IN lightroom will they retain all link info and data etc...?

     Also, in the catalog folder, there is a folder called “old files” that has old lightroom .lrcat, .lrdata files, ect...from I beleive, when lightroom has updated catalogs over the years.  There is also a folder called “old lightroom catalogs” with a zip file in it, and a “backups" folder with lots of dated folders containing zip files.  Is it safe to delete these folders and files?

Thanks in advance,

[AxelMatt]

Hello, I am wanting to do some spring cleaning of my catalog folders.  ...

If I create/move the folders IN lightroom will they retain all link info and data etc...?

By @ipanema451

Yes. 

Here you'll find articles with a lot of informations about:

How do I rearrange existing photos into a new dated folder structure? | The Lightroom Queen

How do I reorganize my Folders panel? | The Lightroom Queen

...

     Also, in the catalog folder, there is a folder called “old files” that has old lightroom .lrcat, .lrdata files, ect...from I beleive, when lightroom has updated catalogs over the years.  There is also a folder called “old lightroom catalogs” with a zip file in it, and a “backups" folder with lots of dated folders containing zip files.  Is it safe to delete these folders and files?

Thanks in advance,

By @ipanema451

You don't wrote about which version of Lightroom do you use. I assume that you're using the latest versionof Lightroom Classic (14.2). Without any screenshot of the appropriate location is a little bit difficult but after reading your description twice, you should be able to delete everything except:

• all files and folders which name startet with Lightroom Caalog-v13-3 
• the folder Backups

BTW: You have an folder named Backups with several zip files inside. It seems you make backup on the same drive as your catalog is stored. This is very risky. In case of a hard drive crash your backups are already gone. Backups should be stored on a seperate drive, better still on an external drive.

Please note: Before you're starting your reorganization you should do a complete backup on a safe place (ex. on a external hard drive). So you can in case of something goes wrong restore the initial state before you started.

[dj_paige]

Non I my images show as "missing"

This sentence does not have an obvious meaning to me. Are there typos? Are there missing words? What does it mean?

My actual images IN lightroom are well organized using collections and keywords etc...

If that is the case, I wouldn't bother re-arranging the photos into a different folder structure, that is a nightmare. You can find the photos you want via collections and keywords, and LrC knows what folder they are stored in so that you don't have to know what folder the photos are stored in.