Imported photos are not in correct Folders Panel location

[paulf8594100]

I am running Lightroom Classic on a brand new Macbook Pro M1 Max with 64GB memory.

i am trying to import photos into an existing lightroom Clasic directory. The Directory exists and has photos in it, i.e. /users/me/pictures/lightroom/Oregon/2020/2020-07-01/Extra.

I import 3 pictures and set the Import instructions as follows..."Organize" set to "Into one folder", the "Into Subfolder" is not checked. I select the following directory /users/me/pictures/lightroom/Oregon/2020/2020-07-01/Extra. I press the "Import" button.

The 2 piuctures are imported. On the "Catelog" panel, in the "Previous Import" item. The imported images are there. Under the "Folders" panel, I have a new entry under "Macintosh HD", I have a folder "Extra", In this folder I have my imported images. If I right click on an image in this folder and ask it to "Show in Finder", it shows the file in the /users/me/pictures/lightroom/Oregon/2020/2020-07-01/Extra directory. When I select the /users/me/pictures/lightroom/Oregon/2020/2020-07-01/Extra directory in Lightroom, my newly imported files are not shown. If I try to move the files from where the "Folders" panel says they are ( /Extra), to the place where they really belong, It says the files aready exist at this location.

Why am I getting a directory listing that is equal to the Lightroom location when in actuality the directory is under Lightroom? it seems the "Folders" panel is not placing items in the correct location.

[JohanElzenga]

This sounds like the 'capitalisation problem'. Basically, what happens is that you have two different folders, one called ‘XXXX’ and the other one called ‘xxxx’. In other words, the names are the same, except for the capitalisation. Because MacOS and Windows are case-insensitive, your OS sees those two folders as one and the same folder and so it deals with this without you even being aware of it. You will only see one folder in the Mac Finder or Windows Explorer. But Lightroom is case-sensitive, so Lightroom does see two different folders.

Here's how to fix the problem. Let's assume that 'XXXX' is the folder name you see on the hard drive, and 'xxxx' is the (extra) folder you see in Lightroom:

1. Backup your catalog.

2. Create a folder directly on the root of your internal hard drive, call it whatever you want, say "Capitals Fix". Note: do this in Windows Explorer/Macintosh Finder, not in Lightroom.

3. Right-click on the “xxxx” folder in the Lightroom Folders Panel and select "Update Folder Location". In the file browser that then opens, browse to and select the "Capitals Fix" folder.

4. Don't be alarmed as the ‘xxxx’ folder will disappear from the Folders Panel, "Capitals Fix" will appear but all the sub-folders that were listed under ‘xxxx’ will now have "?" marks.

5. Now right-click on "Capitals Fix" in the Folders Panel, and again choose “Update Folder Location". This time browse to and select the “XXXX” folder. You may get a "Merge" dialog box, select "Merge" and everything should resolve itself.