LrC does not respond to the 'create collection' command.

[LuisPita]

My Lightroom Classic has been giving me problems for a few days now. It does not respond to the 'create collection' command. I have to close the program and reopen it to let me do it.
I have 6481 photos in these collections. Is this too many? Should I start deleting folders?

[JohanElzenga]

No, that is unlikely to be the problem. Start by resetting the preferences: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

[LuisPita]

Good afternoon. I finally tested today if the reset had worked and unfortunately I have to say that it did not. The problem persists. I cannot 'create a collection', in the 'Collections' option in the vertical menu on the left of the desktop.

[JohanElzenga]

Your catalog may be corrupted. Try this: Create a new catalog, then choose 'File - Import from Another Catalog'. Select your old catalog to import. Import all images, but do not move them. This will create an exact duplicate of your catalog. Try if you can create a new collection in this catalog. If so, then keep using this catalog and trash your old catalog.

For the record: 6481 photos is nothing to Lightroom. My catalog contains 200,000+ photos, and there are photographers that have a catalog with a few million images.

[LuisPita]

Hi Johan, my catalog...? OK... But what catalog? I'm sending you a screenshot of my folder...

Thanks for your patience.

Luis

[JohanElzenga]

Most likely your current catalog is the last one; "Lightroom Catalog-v13-3", the rest is old catalogs. You are the only one that can verify that, however. Launch Lightroom and check the catalog version in Catalog Settings - General.

[LuisPita]

Johan, I did what you initially told me and I had to readjust all the Lightroom settings when I reset it, which took me several days. Your current suggestion to duplicate my catalog is complicated and risky for me and I think it's going to bring me more problems.

Isn't it assumed that if I am paying for Lightroom it should work correctly and if it doesn't, the system should fix my problems. If my catalog is corrupted as you say, although I don't know why, shouldn't there be a protocol to fix it?

[JohanElzenga]

Why do you think the method I described to duplicate your catalog would be risky? This is a designed method to merge two catalogs, not some hack. People use it all the time without any problems, and because you make a copy, there is no risk that it does something bad to your current catalog. There is no 100% guarantee that this will fix it, but many people before you have successfully solved catalog problems this way.

Lightroom Classic does have a built-in method to fix corrupted catalogs, but like everything else in this world there is no 100% guarantee. There is no guarantee that Lightroom Classic always detects the corruption (it apparently does not if your catalog is indeed corrupted) and there is no 100% guarantee that Lightroom Classic would be able to fix the corruption even if it did detect it.

[LuisPita]

Dear Johan, thank you again for your patience and your time.

I will explain my position with an analogy. I have been driving cars for almost fifty years (quite well, I can say) but I have never in all that time put my head under the hood, simply because I don't know what's going on in there. The same with Ps, with LrC and a few other programs I drive. If something doesn't work I ask someone to fix it for me (paying, most of the time) for the simple reason that I have absolutely no idea how they work.

I'm a photographer, not a computer expert, and that's the way it's going to stay.

[JohanElzenga]

Don't shoot the messenger. I do not work for Adobe so there is nothing I can change. The only thing I can do is try to help you solve your problem. If you don't want help but rather want to bark at Adobe, that's fine with me but then leave me out of that.

[LuisPita]

I am sorry if you misunderstood me. English is not my native language. I wasn't trying to shoot the messenger, just explaining what my situation is. Thanks anyway.

[LuisPita]

By the way, English is not my native language, but I know I'm not barking. I am speaking to you with courtesy and kindness. Something you have stopped doing with me.

[JohanElzenga]

English is not my native language either, so maybe that word was ill chosen. My point is that you seemed to be more interested in expressing your disappointment with Adobe ("Isn't it assumed that if I am paying for Lightroom it should work correctly and if it doesn't, the system should fix my problems. If my catalog is corrupted as you say, although I don't know why, shouldn't there be a protocol to fix it?"), than in solving your problem. That is your choice, but that means my contribution to this discussion has to end, because I don't work for Adobe so I can't help you there.

[LuisPita]

Done. I don't have time to test it now. I hope this works. Thank you very much.