How to move LR photos from one Pictures folder to a different Pictures folder

[MrhoniKeith]

Somehow in the last 3+ months, LR no longer was importing my photos into the Pictures folder on my external hard drive.  I'm finding my imports have been placing the photos in the Pictures folder of my user folder.

I figured out how to set an import preset for future imports to place the imported photos into the Pictures folder on my external hard drive.  I could find no other method to set that folder as a default and really feel that there was a method besides the import preset that I must have used in the past.

So, what is the proper method to get the photos from the incorrect Pictures folder to the correct Pictures folder.  All the photos are in LR in collections.  My goal is for each photo LR knows its new location and to be able to delete all the photos in the incorrect Pictures folder so I can free up my SSD space.

[JP Hess]

I suppose import presets could help. However, you are in complete control of where Lightroom imports your images. In the right-hand panel you can choose any hard drive and folder you wish.

Moving images from within Lightroom can be done using the drag/drop method. It is possible to drag a folder from one drive to another. A word of caution when doing that, however. Some have found that it's easy to drop the folder in a wrong or unknown location, and subsequently lose track of where the images are located. Then it becomes a challenge to get things linked all together again.

Personally, I prefer copying folders to new locations including new hard drives (Using Finder or File Explorer, not in Lightroom), and then using the library option to update the folder location, Directing Lightroom to the images in their new location. It's a good idea to keep the images in the same folder structure they were in previously. Then, after I have verified that Lightroom is finding Everything in the new location, I will use my operating system tools to remove the images in the old location. This will have no impact on your collections or any of your editing.

[GoldingD]

You move them in Lightroom, from the folder they are in to the folder you want them to be in. The collections are just place holders, leave those alone in this process.

[dj_paige]

Follow the step-by-step instructions (with screen captures) in this document under "Part 2 — Updating Folder Locations".

Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders

So, I am agreeing with JimHess​, don't move the photos inside of Lightroom; use the operating system to copy the files to the desired location and then point Lightroom to the new location.