how do I fix using copy as dng by mistake instead of add

[IanPNNZ]

Your help would be appreciated! ... here is my older workflow.

I copy photos from my camera card onto my D: drive under a folder name (for each event).

I then used to import those photos from that D: drive folder using "import as DNG"... because I was a newbie!

When doing this LR (classic) has doubled up by saving copies of the files in D:/users/Ian/pictures/lightroom/2024 (eg)

I NOW know its better to "add" from the folders in D:

I have deleted 820Gb of files/folders out of that D:/users location but now have lots of "missing photos" etc.

Is there a way to consolidate all the edited pics I have in LR and is there a way to tie my edits back to the original files in the D: folder(s) in line 2 above?

cheers and thanks for reading!

[AxelMatt]

It seems you have delete the files directly in the file system. So you have "missing files" in your catalog.  It's recommend to do this directly in Lightroom. So the file on your hard disk will be deleted and also the appropirate entry in the catalog.

How to manage photos within folders in Lightroom Classic (adobe.com)

There's no way to tie edits from the dng files to the correspondending RAW file automatically. The only way is to import the original RAW file in the catalog and tie the editings manually from the DNG to the appropriate RAW. I think that's not practicable.

My suggestion is to make a cut to a definite date and begin then with the "new" workflow. 

[IanPNNZ]

thanks AxelMatt,  I tried creating a whole new catalogue this afternoon without any success, then tried merging catalogues but everything was doubled up which initially I thought I could live with but it's taken up huge disk space so I'm gonna go back to the original catalogue and just re-edit as I need to.

Thanks so much for your input!

[john beardsworth]

So is the key problem that you have DNGs which have edits, but which are now shown as missing in LR, and you want to apply those edits to the corresponding raw files (from line 2)?

Assuming you've not made big changes to the filenames, you can use my Syncomatic plugin (from here) to sync edits between files. You would add those raw files to the catalogue, so you have both the missing DNGs and the added raws in the catalogue, and it'll copy metadata and adjustments from a missing DSCF123.dng to DSCF123.nef, etc.

[IanPNNZ]

Correct John, although 80% will be jpg's and the balance RAW's

[john beardsworth]

The plugin will be fine with any combination of file types. You can test it with small numbers of files without buying it.

[IanPNNZ]

cheers mate, will give it a whizz in the morning, TY!

[IanPNNZ]

heya @john beardsworth , been crook for the last few days, now my heads not mush, have just looked at your page, where is the free trial?... keen to buy anyway.

Also are there steps to guide me through the process?...was thinking the match capture date/time would be the best option?....and would I do one folder at a time or could it work by just selecting the "master" folder.

you can contact me directly on ianmoss.nz@gmail.com ...cheers!

[IanPNNZ]

(just paid)