Participating Frequently

Question

LIghtroom BREAKS its link with original folder location when RENAMING

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
December 13, 2020
9 replies
1333 views

In reorganizing photos (as one does from time to time), I've come across a really horrific bug. Simply by renaming my folder (yes, in Lightroom, I always do everything from Lightroom), the link to the folder where the photos are located breaks and there is no way to fix it other than moving the photos to another drive and moving them back. It's a nightmare. Not even removing the folder from Lightroom (thereby removing all of your edits if you made them) and reimporting the folder fixes the problem--all photos in folder still show up with the dreaded exclamation points. When you try to locate, LR tells you the photo is alrady in the catalogue. When you ask it to show in Finder (I'm on a MacBook Pro) the photo already in the catalogue, it shows the exact location where it already is. Completely unacceptable in my opinion. There have been bugs before, but nothing that would force a workaround so destructive. I'm hoping someone in this community or from Adobe can explain why this is happening for some users (if not all) and how it can be fixed. Thank you.

This topic has been closed for replies.

M

madwills

Participant

I indeed see a similar fault.

Photos are imported from card / camera into a folder strucure Pictures/YYYY/MM/DD on my Mac HD.

New folder is then opened in Lightroom and photos edited, then I give the folder a new name to reflect the photo I will be choosing for my daily journal.

So I right click on the folder, type in a new name and press Enter

Folder in the Folders panel displays the new name but now has a question mark against it and all the photos have an exlcamation mark against them - as if I have renamed the folder outside of Lightroom...which I clearly have not.

HOWEVER....the folder has been renamed on disk (as shown in Finder) but Lightroom seems to have got itself confused.

Furthermore...if I click away from the renamed folder and then back on it again Lightroom corrects itself and displays everything correctly.

This process has worked entirely smoothly before - so there has been a bug introduced somewhere.

I am running LR v10.1 on MacOs Big Sur 11.1

johnrellis

Legend

Please see @madwills other post on this issue:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic/problems-with-rename-in-lightroom-classic/td-p/11952937

Michael J. Hoffman

Community Expert

Hi Rox,

I do see a couple of oddities, maybe we can explore this further and get to the bottom of it. I notice in your screen shot here, two things - First, there is a top-level folder that is the same name as the volume name. Second, it looks like your entire folder heirarchy has no images:

I wonder (going back to one of your earlier posts), can you show the higher level folder structure for this screen shot?

I am suspicious that your top level folder was moved and the entire catalog has become disconnected as a result.

dj_paige

Legend

I think @Michael J. Hoffman is on to something, and this may be something called the capitalization bug, which can be fixed via these instructions: https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic/catalog-same-photos-same-location-but-shown-twice/td-p/9989122?page=1

Michael J. Hoffman

Community Expert

Hi Rox,

I see that you've posted photos of what happened *after* the renaming process, but it would be helpful to see the steps your're taking before and during the renaming process. As GoldingD requested earlier, please make sure the folder list is visible up to the Volume/Drive information, so we can see the starting path all the way down prior to the renaming process.

Something like this:

RoxSpiegelAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks, Michael. Much appreciated. I cannot screenshot exactly as you have, but here is the Volume/Drive info.

dj_paige

Legend

I've come across a really horrific bug. Simply by renaming my folder (yes, in Lightroom, I always do everything from Lightroom), the link to the folder where the photos are located breaks

I cannot duplicate this problem in Lightroom Classic.

the link to the folder where the photos are located breaks and there is no way to fix it other than moving the photos to another drive and moving them back.

However, even though my links don't break, your links do, the above is not correct. There are ways to fix this without moving the photos to another drive and moving them back. The instructions are here: http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm

Lastly, I disagree with In reorganizing photos (as one does from time to time),

Not everyone does this, I don't, my photos go into a folder named by capture date straight out of the camera and never move again (Exception: if you have to move photos to a different disk or a different computer, then you move them). So in my workflow, there is never a renaming of folders, or a moving of photos from here to there. In my opinion moving photos from folder to folder, or renaming folder, or indeed any type of folder based organizing, is not an efficient use of Lightroom Classic. All of my organizing is done via keywords and other metdata and changing a keyword doesn't cause photos to become disconnected.

RoxSpiegelAuthor

Participating Frequently

Forgive me, but we are not all perfect. YES, I am moving from one disk to another (from a bunch of separate external drives to a new bay of larger drives actually). I decided to rename the folder before I moved it because it is a long, difficult process, and renaming the folder helps to keep track. Also, I am not a full-time photographer. When I have time to keyword I do, but this is not always possible, especially when I am travelling. Regardless of whether there is a better way or a more consistent workflow--that was not my question on how to solve the current issue, which should absolutely be fixable. I have followed all the directions in the link above, I have located missing files before, it's not working as it usually does.

GoldingD

Legend

Also, always best to include Sys Info, folowing is my SOP on that

____________________

Please post your System Information as Lightroom Classic (LrC) reports it. In LrC click on Help, then System Info, then Copy. Paste that information into a reply. Please present all information from first line down to and including Plug-in Info. Info after Plug-in info can be cut as that is just so much dead space to us non-Techs.

RoxSpiegelAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks, GoldingD. I think I've provided the relevant info above except Graphics and Plugins:

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB

Plugins: Topaz Studio 2, all Topaz AI plugins except JPG to RAW, Dxo Nik Collection, Exposure X5. More plugins in PS (TK7, Infinite Tools, etc.)

Thanks, again.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

I cannot reproduce what you are saying. I can rename a folder just fine, and Lightroom does not have any problem keeping the folder linked when I do that. Can you please explain step by step what you did? Also please mention the version of Lightroom and your OS.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

RoxSpiegelAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks to those trying to help.

LR 10.1; 2017 MacBook Pro 13", 16GB; MacOS 10.15.7

I've inserted photos as suggested.

All I am doing is right-clicking on the folder and renaming the folder (adding an underscore and location to the date name already there). As soon as the new name shows up, the link breaks. Below in the photo, where it is showing the "previous" location? That is the location the photos are still located. For some reason LR is no longer seeing them.

Thank you.

GoldingD

Legend

In the Folders Panel for that particular drive, scroll up/expand, so the parent folder, the drive is visible. Any issues shown?

Any ? marks on folders above

GoldingD

Legend

I see that you are new to the community page.

One thing newbys do is attach photos, DO NOT DO THAT. Use the insert photo button instead. Many members do not trust attachments. And attaching is uniffecent. Just in case you add screen shots.

GoldingD

Legend

List your workflow, step by step. Be very wordy. Pictures will help.

1. I launch LrC

2. I enter the Library module

3. I move my mouse to the Folders Panel

4,

5.

etc,

Yes step by step, Short sentances, not paragraphs.

Just Shoot Me

Legend

Quote:

In reorganizing photos (as one does from time to time),

End Quote:

No I put image files in the folders I want them in during the import process and leave them there.

Moving images, folder or whatever is IMHO a Terrible workflow.

RoxSpiegelAuthor

Participating Frequently

No I put image files in the folders I want them in during the import process and leave them there.

Moving images, folder or whatever is IMHO a Terrible workflow.

This is not a helpful reply. What does it mean that you are an Adobe Community Professional? Is this the kind, respectful response of a professional associated with Adobe? If you have an actual answer the question, great. If you feel the need to cut someone's process down--it only reflects poorly on you. Of course, people have reasons to reorganize their photos. People update their drives (to better, higher volume drives) or reorganize their photos for any number of reasons all the time. I have been using Lightroom (and Photoshop) for decades--I've never seen this issue before.

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