How do I permanently delete photos from Lightroom Classic?

[Mokey D Luffy]

I swear that I have followed all of the different methods, tutorials, videos, and threads.  Yet, every time that I delete a photo from Lightroom Classic, it remains on my Hard Drive.  Sometimes, even when it specifically asks me if I want to delete it from the disk, it is still there.  This ends up with me doing a tedious cross referencing to figure out which photos need to be deleted from my Hard Drive, and which ones need to stay.

Please, if someone knows exactly how to make Lightroom delete photos from all parts of Lightroom, and my hard drive, please explain it to me as if I have no intelligence at all.  I appreciate your help.  Thank you.

[Mohit Goyal]

Hi MokeyDLuffy,

We're really sorry for all the hassle. Please refer the below video tutorial which can help you removing images from Lightroom catalog only Or deleting the images from the hard disk using Lightroom.

Deleting Photographs in Lightroom - YouTube

Let's us know if that helps.

Regards,

Mohit

[Mokey D Luffy]

I watched that video before, and I am certain that I followed the instructions. 

[Rob_Cullen · Accepted solution]

how to make Lightroom delete photos from all parts of Lightroom

In the LIBRARY GRID view- Select file/s in the Grid you want to delete, Press Keyboard [Delete], click [Delete from Disk  {D} ].

Note: You cannot delete files from the Hard Drive if you are viewing photos in a Collection. (Delete here only removes them from the Collection. They remain in the Library catalog and on the hard-drive)

delete it from the disk, it is still there.

Possibly you have Imported the photo from the hard-drive using "Copy". And the file that remains on the Hard-drive is not the same one you deleted with Lightroom.

[Mokey D Luffy]

WobertC, I will try to follow yours more closely.  These were imported from an SD card, so not from my hard drive.  I will say that I was attempting to do it while inside a collection, so I guess I need to try to grab them from All Photos?

I am also marking photos as Reject first, which I thought would make this whole process a lot easier.

[Rob_Cullen]

I am also marking photos as Reject first, which I thought would make this whole process a lot easier.

Yes it does, for two reasons-

1)  You have a chance to review all the files marked with the 'Reject' flag by filtering to be sure they are the ones you want to delete.

2)  One keyboard shortcut will delete all rejected photos. Windows: [Ctrl+Backspace]  Mac: [ Command+Delete]

I guess I need to try to grab them from All Photos?

Yes, All Photos grid view, or a selected Folder (in the Folders panel)

[Mokey D Luffy]

Thank you.  The keyboard shortcut will really help, but I think that the biggest issue was that I was inside of a collection.  Knowing that I can only permanently delete from "All Photos" is a very important part of the process.

[samcooke777]

This came up on a duck duck go search while i was trying to remember this hot key i searched for years ago.

I see jonw77 JUST commented (6 hours ago) after signing into my adobe account to respond to you. indeed, CMD + Option(alt) + shift + delete totally removes it from LR without prompting and moves the file(s) from your disk to the trash/recycling bin. It can be done from collections. I just tested it. 

[jonw77]

Shift+Option+Command+Delete (Mac) will send it to Trash even in Collection....

[Rob_Cullen]

This keyboard shortcut works, but not recommended for 'beginners'. Be aware- It would be possible to not knowingly have many photos (even the whole library) selected and this shortcut will 'wipe' them out - no questions asked, no dialog "are you sure?".

[Renold24207841m60q]

LR has become a time consuming road map for non-pro's who don't have the time for this pile of useless whatever this is. Buy a Mac and use the built in OS. We are cancelling and outta here. Rediculous.