LrC photos Missing

[Ashley23934538shna]

I uploaded my raw photos into Lightroom about a week ago. For some reason, the last month or so Lightroom keeps telling me that my photos are "missing" when they aren't. The file and photo name are the same and they are located in the right place on my hardrive. 

I've noticed when I look under 'documents' and 'iCloud' where I keep my photos, a lot of the photos have been disappearing. Instead of a photo thumbnail, it has the LR logo and thats all. Under each of these photos is the "cloud" that has to be pressed to try to be downloaded. These are the photos that are "missing" in lightroom. Why were they there in lightroom now gone or "missing"? How do I get them back?

[Per Berntsen]

Lightroom Classic requires local storage of photos, they cannot be in the cloud.

I'm not familiar with iCloud, but use Dropbox, which works well, as long as "Save hard drive space automatically" is unchecked in preferences.  With this option checked, files will be uploaded to the cloud, and the local copy deleted.

You can also keep your photos in a regular folder on your hard drive, which should prevent any upload to the cloud and local deletion.

[Ashley23934538shna]

It's weird because my photos are stored in iCloud and in the document folder of my hardrive, and they are still just showing the LR logo and still says photo missing. 

[Per Berntsen]

 'iCloud' where I keep my photos, a lot of the photos have been disappearing. Instead of a photo thumbnail, it has the LR logo and thats all. Under each of these photos is the "cloud" that has to be pressed to try to be downloaded.

If I understand you correctly, the thumbnail for the missing photos has been replaced by an LrC icon, and there's a download button below it. This seems to indicate that the local copy has been deleted, and would explain why it's missing in Lightroom. I'm not even a Mac user, so I cannot give you any further advice about iCloud.

You can probably click the download button to restore the local copy, but you need to find out how this happened in the first place. Or stop using iCloud for your photos.

[JohanElzenga]

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@Ashley23934538shna wrote:

I uploaded my raw photos into Lightroom about a week ago. For some reason, the last month or so Lightroom keeps telling me that my photos are "missing" when they aren't. The file and photo name are the same and they are located in the right place on my hardrive. 

I've noticed when I look under 'documents' and 'iCloud' where I keep my photos, a lot of the photos have been disappearing. Instead of a photo thumbnail, it has the LR logo and thats all. Under each of these photos is the "cloud" that has to be pressed to try to be downloaded. These are the photos that are "missing" in lightroom. Why were they there in lightroom now gone or "missing"? How do I get them back?

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Lightroom Classic needs the photos to be on your local hard disk. It cannot work with photos that are in the cloud. Apple iCloud can store the original photo in the cloud, and only keep a link to it locally. That is what @Per Berntsen is trying to tell you. You cannot use this iCloud feature in combination with Lightroom Classic.

[Ashley23934538shna]

Thank you. I get what you are saying, but the photos are also stored in my local hard drive. They still have the LR icon. They don't even have the LrC icon. It's says LR.

[Per Berntsen]

The LR icon indicates that the files are associated with the cloud version of Lightroom which is named "Lightroom".

Lightroom stores photos in the cloud, whereas Lightroom Classic needs local storage.

[Ashley23934538shna]

Okay, that makes more sense. Thank you.

[Ashley23934538shna]

So maybe if I delete the folder in iCloud and keep the one in my local hardrive in documents, then it will be fixed? 

If it doesn't work, luckily I still have the photos on my sd card.

[Per Berntsen]

If you have copies of all the photos in a different folder, you can use this folder instead.

You will have to point LrC to the new location. If you have a parent folder that holds all the other folders, right click it, choose Find missing folder, and navigate to the new location. This should also fix all the other folders and files.

If the folder is not missing, right click and choose Update folder location.

See also https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-photos-missing-fix/