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Lost everything after trashing a plist file.

New Here ,
Apr 29, 2023 Apr 29, 2023

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Hi all,

 

I am desparately looking for help. I have lost my folders and hashtags created over many years in Adobe Lightroom Classic and I would appreciate if someone could help me retrieve it.

 

Context:

I have recently returned from a Safari trip and have been working on editing hundreds of new photos that I synced from my camera. Then, a few days ago when I tried accessing Lightroom to continue editing the pics it just would not open. I would just see the rainbow-colored spinning wheel.

 

I was reading online what to do and came across this article (cannot open lightroom classic), which said I should delete the two plist files. I ended up trashing the plist file com.adobe.LightroomClassicCC7.plist, and while I was able to open LRC after I trashed that file, all of the folders on the left-hand-side, and all the hashtags on the right-hand-side are now gone. I got scared and immediately put the file from the trash back to where it was, but the effect remained.

 

I have no idea what to do. Could anyone please advise me how I can regain years of work? Did I just lose everything? What is the best way to go about this?

 

My Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic version is 12.2.1, on iMac running masOS Ventura 13.2.1.

 

Please help 😞

 

Best,

Jacob

 

WhatsApp Image 2023-04-01 at 08.09.49.jpeg

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LEGEND ,
Apr 29, 2023 Apr 29, 2023

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You have opened the wrong catalog file (probably opened a new empty catalog). Please use your operating system's search feature to search for all files whose name ends with .LRCAT; the largest is probably the one you want to open by double-clicking on it.

 

PS: Don't you have backups of everything? It sounds like you don't, which is not a good situation to be in.

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New Here ,
Apr 29, 2023 Apr 29, 2023

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I have all the photos saved on Google Cloud, which are there, however all of the named folders and hashtags I previously had within LRC are gone.

 

It is years of work I am talking about, many folders and many hashtags that I created over the years.

 

I am not sure I am following your advice on what to do. I would be eternally grateful if you could explain in layman terms what to do.

 

The big question is - can I retrieve what I had or is it all gone? 

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LEGEND ,
Apr 29, 2023 Apr 29, 2023

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What part of what I wrote is not clear or understandable?

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New Here ,
Apr 29, 2023 Apr 29, 2023

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What do you mean by "you have opened the wrong catalog file (probably opened a new empty catalog)"? I deleted the plist file I mentioned and then opened LRC. 

 

"Please use your operating system's search feature to search for all files whose name ends with .LRCAT" -- I am away from the said computer, but I will do so tomorrow and will let you know what is the result of this action.

 

"PS: Don't you have backups of everything?" I am not sure whether I do or don't. I would appreciate any advice on how to create that once I am able to resolve the primary issue.

 

Thank you so much for your prompt response.

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New Here ,
May 01, 2023 May 01, 2023

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Hi there,

 

I did what you recommended, opened the largest / latest .LRCAT file, and it has been semi-successful. I have been able to see catalogs from 2014-2019, but nothing from 2019 onwards including my latest trip photos, which I was working on when the incident happened.

 

Any advice on how to proceed?

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LEGEND ,
May 01, 2023 May 01, 2023

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Then this catalog, which is the largest one, isn't the right catalog file either. You need to find all of the .LRCAT files (seems like you already did that) and then open each one of them until you find the catalog showing the photos you want.

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New Here ,
May 01, 2023 May 01, 2023

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Thank you very much.

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