Lightroom CC folder panel not aligning with Finder

[jshakoor]

I am using Lightroom CC on a MacBook Pro running OS X Mojave.

Recently I've noticed that when I select a photo in LR and then edit it in Photoshop using 'Edit in Photoshop', and then click Save, LR saves it in the right folder as shown in Finder but on the LR folder panel the file appears in a folder with the same name but in a different location. To give an example, I have a file in a folder called 'Negatives copied' inside another folder called D810 photos which itself inside my Pictures folder. When I save an edited file in the Negatives copied folder it appears to create another Negatives copied folder in LR at the same level as Pictures and shows the edited file there, despite the fact that the file is shown as correctly saved in Finder. When I try to drag the file to the correct folder in LR it gives me an error message saying the file already exists there.

As far as I remember this problem did not exist before I upgraded to OSX Mojave. Could it have something to do with that? Would be grateful for help in dealing with it.

Thanks in advance

Javed

[dj_paige]

Most likely the Capitalization Problem. Even if that's not the exact cause, it can be fixed via these instructions: Re: Catalog - same photos, same location but shown twice

[jshakoor]

I'm afraid this brought me back to the same situation as before. As you will see from the attached screenshot when I save the two edited files to the 'Negatives copied' folder, this folder (with these two photos only) appears outside the Pictures folder, as shown in the screenshot below.

As you can see the two photos in question are now appearing in a separate folder with the same name but outside of Pictures and at the same level as Pictures. Also, after saving these two photos, the number of files in Negatives copied remains at 91. The two saved files appear to have gone to another folder called 'Negatives copied'!

This seems to be only happening with the 'Negatives copied' folder. I am wondering, should I create another folder in Finder, with a new name and copy all the contents of 'Negatives copied' into it (still in Finder). Then delete the original 'Negatives copied' folder, both in Finder and in the LR folders panel. And then import the new folder into LR in the right location. Do you think that would resolve the problem?

Thanks for taking the time to respond

Javed

[dj_paige]

Well, this has worked for other people. I really can't say why it didn't work here, and I would ask that you try it one more time.

[jshakoor]

I did try it twice; with the same result. What do you think of the method I am suggesting at the end of my last post.

[dj_paige]

Importing photos again is NEVER recommended, as you will lose your edits and user-supplied metadata.

However, if it is just 2 photos, you can probably edit them again in less than a few minutes; but I don't want you to start thinking that re-importing photos is a long-term solution that will apply in all cases, it it was 200 photos, re-editing them would be unpleasant. The long-term solution, in my opinion, is to avoid this bug/Capitalization problem by organizing using keywords and other metadata; put new photos into default folder names by capture date; and then this folder problem (as far as I know) doesn't happen.

[jshakoor]

I’m sorry, can you be a little more specific about what I should do. This problem is really driving me up the wall. I want to stack the original negative with the edited version and I can’t do that because two cannot be put in the same folder in LR.

[dj_paige]

If the capitalization bug solution does not work for you, then I don't have any other answers.

[jshakoor]

Where does the Capitals Fix folder you suggested have to be created? In Finder (outside of LR) or through the folders panel in LR. Sorry to keep pestering you.

[Rob_Cullen]

No deleting. No Importing!

The fix for the 'Capitalization' problem requires these steps (as posted by experts- Jim Wilde, Johan Elzenga, and others)

1. Backup your catalog.

2. Create a folder directly on Macintosh HD, using Finder. call it whatever you want, say "Capitals Fix".

3. In Lightroom: Right-click on the out-of-place "Negatives copied" 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 errant "Negatives copied" folder will disappear from the Folders Panel, "Capitals Fix" will appear. (If sub-folders were listed under 'Negatives copied' they would 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 correct "Negatives copied" folder (under D810...parent folder). You may get a "Merge" dialog box, select "Merge" and everything should resolve itself.

[JohanElzenga]

First try this (you may get an error message). Right-click on the wrong 'Negatives Copied' folder in the Lightroom Folder panel and choose 'Show Parent Folder'. If that works, look carefully at the new 'D810 photos' parent folder that has appeared. Does if have a different capitalisation, like 'D810 PHOTOS'? If so, this is the folder you need to fix. If not, try 'Show Parent Folder' again. Like I said, you may get an error message when you try, but that is pretty harmless. Backup your catalog anyway before you try.

The reason why this problem may come back is that the 'Negatives Copied' folder is not the folder with the capitalisation problem. As you can see, both folders have identical names in every way, including their capitalisation. That means that the problem folder that you would like to fix with the above method is a parent folder. It could be the 'D810 photos' folder, but more likely it's the 'Pictures' folder. If you can get Lightroom to show this in the folder panel, then you can use the method on the capitalised Pictures folder to fix it more permanently.

[jshakoor]

I think you have hit the nail on the head! When I follow the 5 steps given by WobertC it simply creates another 'Negatives copied' folder at the same level as 'Pictures', as before. Doing a 'Show Parent folder' on this gives the following

But when I do a 'Show Parent folder' on the 'D810 photos' folder shown on top I get the following error message

I get the same error when I try to do a 'Show Parent folder' on the 'Pictures' folder.

Digging deeper I checked the path shown for the 'Negatives copied' folder in the LR folders panel is:

/Users/JavedShakoor/Pictures/D810 photos/Negatives copied

But the path shown for the 'Negatives copied' folder which is in the wrong place (i.e. above) is:

/Users/javedshakoor/Pictures/D810 photos/Negatives copied

From the above it looks like the name for the Home folder (javed shakoor) has somehow been capitalized in the LR panel. What do you think is the best way of correcting this? I am hesitant because it's the Home folder we are talking about. The error message seems to indicate that maybe something is wrong with the catalog (lrcat) file.

Sorry about the long post but I couldn't think of any other way to explain the problem.

Thanks a lot

Javed

[JohanElzenga · Accepted solution]

Yes, the problem is indeed your Home folder name. The good news is that you can still fix it by following the instructions carefully. Do it with that second ‘D810’ folder (the one that appeared when you selected ‘Show Parent Folder’), because that is as high up as you can get. The bad news is that this is like taking an aspirin when you have a headache. The pain may subside, but because the underlying cause is not cured it may come back anytime.

By the way, this is not a problem that is created by Lightroom. It is something at the OS level. Basically, what happens is that you have two different home folders, where 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 version. But Lightroom is case-sensitive, so Lightroom does see two different folders.

[jshakoor]

I'm sorry, but it again simply created a 'Negatives copied' folder outside of Pictures. I really don't know what to do about this.

Do you think I can re-create my catalog and will that get rid of the problem. I'm saying this because the error message seems to be referring to the catalog.

I'm really sorry to be taking up so much of your time.

Javed

[jshakoor]

Can I go into the OS and delete the offending Home folder, or can I change the capitalization in the existing Home folder?

[jshakoor]

Just wanted to let you know. I tried it again on D810 folder (the second one which showed as the parent of the misplaced 'Negatives copied' folder) and this time it came up with a Merge dialog box and when I clicked on merge it worked!

Thank God for this. It was really getting me down.

Javed

[jshakoor]

Thank you very much for all the time you spent on this.

[JohanElzenga]

Glad it worked! If you want to know the best approach for the future: forget about organising your images by folders. Folders are just physical storage places, not a good organisation method. Use collections and smart collections to organise your images, then it becomes irrelevant in which folder they are stored. And so the capitalisation problem becomes irrelevant as well.