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trialbomfunknumber2
New Participant
August 30, 2012
Answered

Images grayed out - can not import

  • August 30, 2012
  • 10 replies
  • 127949 views

Have seen other threads on this, but no answers. Stunning. This issue renders Lightroom completely useless.

I click a folder, see all images, then select "import".

Worked once, never again.

I am selecting a folder of images in the same subdirectory as the one I sucessfully imported, but all the images are grayed out.

Why?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer richardplondon

    Usually one sees this, when LR believes the images are already imported. You are certain that your Catalog does not already include them? On my PC, when I hover over one of these greyed-out images, I get a tooltip which (among other things) explains that "this photo has already been imported". Also if you change the selector at the top of the Import dialog grid from "all photos" to "new photos", if the thumbnail grid then becomes empty, that is your explanation. LR doesn't think these are new images.

    I believe that the "don't import suspected duplicates" option - which is turned on by default - will also reject images that appear to be mere extra renames of the same original camera file - due to showing the same original capture file name in the EXIF metadata.

    But in order for "don't import suspected duplicates" to activate, there have to be images present which these new ones would be duplicates of. So I would advise first checking for any LR filters, or other selective viewing that might be currently stopping you from seeing these if they are within LR.

    Repeatedly importing files is likely not the answer; once should be enough AFAICT.

    10 replies

    AlexColvin
    AlexColvin
    Inspiring
    July 11, 2023

    Lightroom Classic is useless. The ONE answer checked in this thread as correct is from 2012! (It's currently July, 2023) Let that sink in. I tried for two hours (while following Adobe's own video tutorial) to import a small set of 14 images as a test. I have thousands.  I  managaged to get ONE collection made and one set. The second time, using the exact same steps -- nothing worked. All I got was greyed out images and no way to undo it. I can find any image on my PC with the search field in the task bar. But I thought maybe I'd give LR a chance. Turns out, it's  a massive waste of time and nothing more an an Adobe organizing gimick with redundent features. Any app that requires so much effort and struggle is not worth my time. I uninstalled it entirely. 

    Rikk Flohr_Photography
    Community Manager
    Rikk Flohr_PhotographyCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    July 11, 2023

    You’ve posted to a very old thread. It is highly unlikely that the issue described in this thread, though not impossible, is the same issue which you are currently experiencing. Rather than resurrect an old thread that is seemingly similar, you are better posting to a new thread with fresh, complete information including system information, a complete description of the problem and step-by-step instructions for reproduction. 

     

    In the unlikely event the issue is the same, we will merge you back into the appropriate location. 

     

    Thank you!

     

    Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
    K
    KillerKey
    New Participant
    December 24, 2021

    Is there any fix for this issue in the new lightroom not lightroom classic...

    D
    dj_paige
    Brainiac
    December 24, 2021

     

    quote

    Is there any fix for this issue in the new lightroom not lightroom classic...


    By @KillerKey

     

    Please start a new thread and explain your problem in detail.

    R
    RickTucker
    Known Participant
    January 31, 2020

    As of Adobe Lightroom CC version 9.1 (as of January 2020), there are two different graytones shown in my Import view; one is for already imported images, and the other for suspected duplicates. Here's a screen shot. The lighter grayed-out ones were the suspected duplicates; the darker ones were already imported. When I disabled "don't import suspected duplicates", I could then successfully import the formerly "suspected duplicates".

    D
    dj_paige
    Brainiac
    January 31, 2020

    As stated many times above, importing suspected duplicates generally is not a good thing to do, it actually makes the problem worse. Now you have two versions of a photo in Lightroom, likely with different edits and different user-provided metadata. This causes confusion. The best solution is to find where the photos are in Lightroom, probably in the "wrong" folder, and use those (possibly after moving them to the desired folder)

    M
    mastix
    Inspiring
    April 3, 2021

    You are right that importing again makes the problem worse. And that is the big flaw of Lightroom. Once you backup your files to an external drive (with a proper backup application) your lightroom database is completely messed up and not worth the hassle anymore. Fortunatelly there are much better database programs that have a better user approach to the mess that Lightroom creates.

    MSphoto
    MSphoto
    New Participant
    September 30, 2019

    I had the same issue. I have colleagues send me photos from events to retouch and they usually name the folder something generic. I renamed the folder before trying to upload and that corrected the issue for me.

      troyb56600951
      troyb56600951
      New Participant
      December 23, 2019

      hey! this worked! change the  name of the SD card. boom. success! Tahanks MSphoto1

      connorand17
      connorand17
      New Participant
      April 8, 2018

      I've read the replies and suggested solutions.  They don't work.  Basically, this is an issue that Adobe refuses to fix.  There are brand new pictures I just took minutes before trying to import them and adobe will not load because it "thinks it's loaded them before".  I don't care what it "thinks", it's wrong.  If I uncheck "Don't import suspected duplicates", then all pictures should be available to import whether they have previously been imported or not.

      The only solution I've found is to create a new folder and move your pictures there, and then import.

      Adobe, FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!!"

      D
      dj_paige
      Brainiac
      April 8, 2018

      Hey connorand17

      You are wasting your time complaining to Adobe here. We are not Adobe. We are other Lightroom users. We can't fix it.

      You need to contact Adobe and tell them.

      C
      CK_BUIS
      New Participant
      April 2, 2018

      Exactly the same problem. I cannot import photos. And if I copy them to the folder and update using "syncronise folder", the photos do not even appear in the library.

      I just downloaded LR Classic two days ago. I never had a problem with my old LR 3.

      It is absurd that Adobe cannot give a reasonable solution answer to this crucial problem

      D
      dj_paige
      Brainiac
      April 2, 2018

      ck_buis  wrote

      Exactly the same problem. I cannot import photos. And if I copy them to the folder and update using "syncronise folder", the photos do not even appear in the library.

      I just downloaded LR Classic two days ago. I never had a problem with my old LR 3.

      It is absurd that Adobe cannot give a reasonable solution answer to this crucial problem

      Reasonable solutions have already been given, in this thread, which perhaps you might want to read and try. To summarize what has already been said:

      Greyed out photos are already in the catalog. That is also why Synchronize Folder doesn't work, it can't synchronize the photos that are already in the catalog.

      Search for the photo by file name, perform ALL FOUR (not one or two or three, but ALL FOUR) of these steps:

      1.   In the Lightroom Library Module, on the left, under Catalog, click on All Photographs

      2.   Turn off all filters (Ctrl-L once or twice)

      3.   Turn off all stacking (Photo->Stacking->Expand All Stacks)

      4.   Search for at least one of these photos by file name using the Lightroom Filter Bar

      M
      mdw8644946
      Participating Frequently
      January 2, 2018

      I have the same or a very similar problem and I believe this to be a bug in 6.10.1.

      The Lightroom import screen showed all photos in a certain folder as having already been imported and greyed out. That folder was not showing in the navigator at all however. So I searched All Photographs for one of the photos shown as already imported, by file name. It was found. I right clicked and selected Go To Folder in Library and all photos in the folder that had previously not been showing magically appeared.

      A folder adjacent to this one, which I had previously been able to see in the Navigator disappeared, however.

      Suspect my catalog is very corrupted or LR has a dreadful bug.

      D
      dj_paige
      Brainiac
      January 2, 2018

      If the catalog was corrupted, you would not be able to open it. So you do not have a corrupted catalog.

      If it is a bug, you are the first to report such a bug (that I am aware of).

      Could you please explain further this part ...

      So I searched All Photographs for one of the photos shown as already imported, by file name. It was found. I right clicked and selected Go To Folder in Library and all photos in the folder that had previously not been showing magically appeared.

      When you see the folder that had previously been missing, is it in the exact same part of your folder hierarchy that you expect it to be in and the exact same part of the hierarchy where other folder now magically disappear, or is it elsewhere in your folder hierarchy, where other folders would not be present? The symptoms you describe could match the case where you ​accidentally​ tell Lightroom to import to some other parent folder, somewhere else in your folder hierarchy, not realizing that you did this.

      In other words, tell us the full folder path of the folder found by this process (according to Lightroom), and the full folder path of the folder (according to your operating system) that you claim has disappeared.

      M
      mdw8644946
      Participating Frequently
      January 2, 2018

      It's in the LR hierarchy exactly where I'd expect it to be.

      I recorded my screen showing this happening.... it seems to be consistently reproducible:

      lightroom_problem.mp4 - Google Drive

      Matthew Cannon
      Matthew Cannon
      New Participant
      July 29, 2017

      Had the same issue when Importing from the Card. I transferred all images to my External drive then imported in Lightroom. Its a work around but Needs to be fixed for subscription based software.

      S
      sakurama
      Inspiring
      May 6, 2017

      This problem was resolved with the last update of the CC suite. I think given the improvement and resolution of the issue through the update that this wasn't an issue due to anything done by the user but was in fact a issue with the software. LR doesn't seen to be as well developed at Photoshop - in fact the different ways that similar tasks are approached makes me wonder if the two teams ever talk to each other.

      Regardless, the issue was resolved for me with the most current update. Unfortunately I have lost some original files due to the glitch.

      Gregor

      D
      dj_paige
      Brainiac
      May 6, 2017

      I am not aware of any bug fix to this issue, or problem being resolved, in the last update. Could you provide a reference?

      As stated above by myself and RichardPLondon, this is not an issue that needs to be resolved, as Lightroom is operating as it was designed to operate, the default being to not import duplicates. Furthermore, there was really no intention to have Lightroom and Photoshop behave the same way on many issues, as Lightroom is an independent design.

      S
      sakurama
      Inspiring
      June 16, 2017

      It's happened again today so I guess it's not fixed.

      Explain to me how this can be happening:

      A card is inserted into the laptop. The images were just shot, the card was formatted before. The images flow into the import window and all are clear and then, when the laptop has read them all half are suddenly grayed out - at random. They have not been previously imported because they were just shot. Why are some not grayed but others are grayed out - taken at essentially the same time.

      I'm at a loss. If I open the card and drag the images onto the desktop and then import them from there they will open fine.

      What could be the reason? Is it possible that the camera naming is duplicated from some previous import or a camera counter rollover or repeat? That shouldn't make any difference...

      Interestingly I can double click the grayed out images and they are there. I can right click the grayed out images and I am given a pop up menu that says "import this" with a check in front of it. If I click that it will import it singly.

      Somehow Lightroom thinks that these images are imported already but of course they aren't if this is the first time the card is introduced to the machine.

      Gregor

        T
        trialbomfunknumber2Author
        New Participant
        August 30, 2012

        All the images are there, in that folder. Why will LR not import them?

        R
        richardplondonCorrect answer
        Community Expert
        August 30, 2012

        Usually one sees this, when LR believes the images are already imported. You are certain that your Catalog does not already include them? On my PC, when I hover over one of these greyed-out images, I get a tooltip which (among other things) explains that "this photo has already been imported". Also if you change the selector at the top of the Import dialog grid from "all photos" to "new photos", if the thumbnail grid then becomes empty, that is your explanation. LR doesn't think these are new images.

        I believe that the "don't import suspected duplicates" option - which is turned on by default - will also reject images that appear to be mere extra renames of the same original camera file - due to showing the same original capture file name in the EXIF metadata.

        But in order for "don't import suspected duplicates" to activate, there have to be images present which these new ones would be duplicates of. So I would advise first checking for any LR filters, or other selective viewing that might be currently stopping you from seeing these if they are within LR.

        Repeatedly importing files is likely not the answer; once should be enough AFAICT.

          D
          Debdwhite1006
          New Participant
          August 31, 2016

          Turning off the 'do not import suspected duplicates' just gave me back so many photos I thought I lost. Thanks!

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