P: Develop history missing from all photos

[MIFKAP]

I just updated to Lightroom Classic 14.0.1.  All develop history on edited photos is missing.  Is there a way to get the history back?

[KR Seals]

More info is required:  Windows? What Version? Mac? What Version?

Computer specs?

I'm not seeing that on LrC V 14.0.1 on my standby Win 10 machine. 

[MIFKAP]

MAC, OS 14

[GoldingD]

Was this an update from LrC v14.0, or an upgrade from LrC v13.5

[MIFKAP]

I'm guessing 14 as I keep up with the upgrades whenever there is a new one available.  It did rebuild the catalog when I opened the app for the first time.

[GoldingD]

I'm guessing 14 as I keep up with the upgrades whenever there is a new one available.  It did rebuild the catalog when I opened the app for the first time.

By @MIFKAP

Did you use LrC yesterday?

[dj_paige]

I have 14.0.1 on Windows 11, I do not see the problem you mentioned.

It did rebuild the catalog when I opened the app for the first time.

Do you mean it upgraded the catalog?

[MIFKAP]

Upgraded.

M. Kapolka

[GoldingD]

Sometimes during an upgrade the wrong catalog gets upgraded. Check for a different catalog.

[till213]

For the record, I don't seem to have this problem either, checked with a few selected photos (as far back as as 1988) in my catalogue, all have their history (called "Protokoll" in my German Lightroom Classic). And I can select the various edit steps just fine, the changes done in those steps are properly reflected in the selected photo.

This is with Lightroom Classic 14.0.1, as just upgraded from 14.0.0, on macOS Sequoia 15.0.1 (24A348), on an Intel iMac 27" 2020.

My catalogue was originally created with Lightroom 3.x and migrated ever since then. It now contains 120'000+ photos, coming from all sorts of cameras (various iPhones, scanners, various Pentax DSLs, other cameras, ...).

For what its worth...

[C.Cella · Accepted solution]

@MIFKAP I had the same problem 

Upon upgrade a copy of you old catalog was created in a folder called "Old Lightroom Catalogs"...it is located in the same folder of your current LrC 14 catalog.

Keep that safe...move it to a safe location if you prefer but you can keep it there.
Now copy the old catalog (I said copy, do not move it) back to the location of your choice., for instance where the current LrC 14 catalog is.

If you have NOT not renamed your catalog after upgrade then copying the old LrC 13 catalog the same location of the current LrC 14  will overwrite it so be careful

Upgrade again the LrC 13 catalog (it will be copied again a second time in a nearby "Old Lightroom Catalogs"), the date appended in the name will differ so you can identify them.

E.g

CatalogName_2024_10_dd_1235
CatalogName_2024_10_dd_2345

dd = day

After upgrade verify your new LrC 14 catalog size is in line with the old one...this will be indication tha the upgrade this time carried over history.

In my case I got a successful catalog upgrade at my second try

Original Catalog 29.55Gb
First LrC 14 upgrade 19Gb

Second Catlog upgrade 29.52Gb

There is a 30Mb discrepancy and the Adobe team has not explained it to me...yet.

I have been able to work normally after the second upgrade.
.

[MIFKAP]

This is great information!    I just spent an hour online with Adobe support and they have escalated the issue to a senior level.   I have a call with them tomorrow  and will take that call.  It'll be interesting  if they do as you recommend.   

If not, I will proceed as you recommend. 

Thanks so much!!

[C.Cella]

@MIFKAP You cannot get history back in any other way.

You could do "Import from Another Catalog" BUT in this case that catlog is LrC 13 so the process will demand the Update of that catlog anyway.

So simply re-upgrade your old LrC 13 c6atalog and hopefully this second time it will go well.

I also suggest to rename the catalog appending the version number.

E.g

CatalogName v14.lrcat or CatalogName v14-1.lrcat 

You can rename by doing File > Catalog Rename

Your exiting side folders will be renamed accordingly.

CatalogName v14 Previews 

.

Renaming used to be possible upon Upgrade but it was removed...leading to catlaogs with identical names BUT in different versions.

[till213]

.

There is a 30Mb discrepancy and the Adobe team has not explained it to me...yet.

This is most likely simply "deleted data".

You see, the Lightroom catalogue is an SQLite database. Essentially a "single user, file-based database" (capable of executing most SQL statements).

Like in most databases deleting records simply marks the corresponding data blocks as "free" - but does not (necessarily) give them back to the file system). So from a file system point of view those data blocks are still in use.

Or simply put: a database file generally never shrinks - it just grows.

Of course the database itself knows about those "free blocks". So when there is the opportunity it will re-use those "free blocks" and they become "in use" again.

Of course when you migrate a database to a new structure you do not migrate the deleted data (the "free blocks" - after all that data has "gone for good", from a database point of view). Hence your 30 MB discrepancy (most likely).

By the way, this is also what "optimise your catalogue" does (among other things): it gives back those "free blocks" to the file system, by re-aligning the used data blocks (which is an expensive operation; hence the "free blocks" concept in the first place).

Does that make sense?

[C.Cella]

@till213 thanks for the insight.

Please understand that after loosing 20Gb of histry I am now on the edge for even discrepancies of 20Mb.

You know 10 histry steps less, or a Virtual Copy less, or a Snaphsot less somewhere might still do some damage.

What is alarming is that during the upgrade LrC didn't detect any anomaly, didn't verify the upgrade was done properly.

30Gb in > 19Gb out 

20Gb less should have immediately triggered a warning.

.

[MIFKAP]

C Celia.  

Your suggestion corrected the problem!!  Thank you SO MUCH!!

It was a bit more complicated than hoped:

When I did some reviews of the catalog file sizes, the catalog files were the same size. so, I started looking into the backup history of older backups.  From about a week ago, the backup file size was twice the size of the current one.  So, I copied and renamed the LRCAT and LRCAT/DATA files from that backup as you suggested to include the new version number of Lightroom -  "14-0-1" .   I copied them both over to the Pictures/Lightroom folder, and then started Lightroom.  Lightroom asked about rebuilding the catalog and I let it do so.  Upon reopening, all edit history was restored!!  I lost one week of photo's in lightroom, but was able to import them again.  Edits on these files were gone, but the edits made were minor so I will be able to address this issue quickly.

One thing I did notice was that around the same time a file was added to a "Corrupt Catalogs" file, so perhaps that event caused the issue?

Alll in all, I'm back up and running again.   Thanks Again!! 

[C.Cella]

@MIFKAP  glad to hear it worked.

It is strange that rhe latest catalog prior to the update to LrC 14 (I.e. the one in the Folder Old Lightroom Catlaog) was so much lighter than the previous ones, weeks older

Save your edits in the XMP, this will ensure that even if the catalog gets lost (or corrupted) the edits are alongside the files and you can see them after import.

Save in XMP only for the valuable files.

.

I personally backup every day, at the end of the day OR after a long editing session.

I delete the backups older than 3 days.

.

[MIFKAP]

When you say “save in xmp”, is that a file format?

M. Kapolka

[C.Cella]

If you save your files the edits and metadata are saved into the sidecar, which is in XMP

If you use DNG then the edits are saved inside the DNG.

You said "edits on these files were gone" so I guessed you didn't save the edits and they were only in the catalog.

If you had saved them they would have been seen by the catlaog and by reading metadata you would have gotten them.

[ds art]

thanks, it was very helpfull and works.

[barbara_1114]

After updating catalog for 14.0.1, many (but not all) images have lost the pointer to the history setting in Developer mode.

In Library mode, the thumbnail only indicates that it is in a collection.  No Crop or Adjustments icons

When I go into developer, I can see all the edits in the history pane, but none are selected.  Here's what the Library pane looks like when entering Developer mode (I've trimmed out the middle, but non of those wer selected either)

Normally an item shows as being selected (the one that was selected the last time the developer mode was open).  Like:

Is there any way to find images that have edits, but with none being applied?

I tried using a Smart Collection, but filtering on Has Edits = TRUE, only finds images with edits (beyond the inital import) that are being applied..

[christinef58502318]

I have exactly the same problem!

[GoldingD]

Some members are reporting after update to 14/0/1 that their History is missing all together. One member advised a workflow in recreating the catalog update:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/lightroom-classic-14-0-1-develop-histor...

[christinef58502318]

Thank you for acknowledging this issue GoldingD!  These issues also pre-date v14 so I have just done a new post summarising the issues faced by both myself and other users:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/problems-with-lost-edit-history-corrupt...

I hope there will be a solution!

[DdeGannes]

I up dated to LrC from 14.0 to 14.0.1 today on my PC and have no problems with my history records.