(Mac) Folders and Photo Locations not Working after Import

[kbrask]

Let me preface by saying, yesterday I had the problem where after installing Mac Ventura 13.0, I was getting the Failed to Initialize Pixel Mask Storage message. After seeing the problem was related to using an external drive with Lightroom, I made a temporary copy on my internal storage and it worked in the meantime.

PROBLEM: Today, I updated to Lightroom Classic 12.0.1 in hopes of fixing that bug. It worked, I deleted the spare copy off my internal drive and went back to using the original catalog on my external SSD. 

1) Prior to Import, I right clicked on my Active subfolder (it's a subfolder to my overall parent folder) and Created a folder inside. From there I created another subfolder i.e. Images > Active > Shoot Name > Shoot Name RAW

2) I went to import new photos off of an SD card with the following settings

- Copy

- Don't Import Suspected Duplicates

-Rename Files

-Selected my already created subfolder, left Into Subfolder unchecked

3) The import bar started loading at the top of the screen. While I know the grid shows all new imports, I typically choose to click on the folder and watch them import from there so I am in the actual folder when the import is complete

- The number next to both my parent folder Shoot Name and subfolder Shoot Name RAW were still 0

- At the same time a new folder with the identical name Shoot Name RAW popped up OUTSIDE of my Images folder where every single one of my folders and photos always goes. This folder showed the import number beside it.

-I did not do anything different in the import screen than I ever have before, and I definitely selected the subfolder in the import menu.

4) My first thought to fix this was to just select all the photos from the wrong folder location and drag them into the correct location, the one with the 0 next to it.

I got a message saying There was an error copying files to the destination you selected (as seen in the attachment). 

5) I tried closing Lightroom and reopening, still the same problem

6) I went into my external drive through Finder and found that the photos ARE in the correct location and that the duplicate folder outside of my parent folder does not exist outside of my catalog. 

7) My workaround was (at the file location in Finder) to move the correct subfolder out of the other subfolders and into my Images folder, go back into Lightroom where both the real folder and bug folder said MISSING, click on the real folder, Find Missing Folder, and select the new temporary location. 

8) Then I did the same with the bug folder and a message popped up saying the subfolder already exists and asking if I want to merge. I clicked merge and it worked, leaving the real folder and getting rid of the bug one.

9) After, I moved my subfolder back to the original location that it should have been in.

9) When I had to import more photos to the same subfolder from a second SD card, I had the same problem. I followed the same workaround steps up to step 8 where after hitting Merge it told me not all photos could be moved because there were some duplicates; so it did not get rid of the bug folder but the correct number of photos is in the real folder. 

10) Closing Lightroom again, I went back to Finder and moved the folder back to my desired location. Reopening Lightroom, I hit find missing folder again, and after selecting it, I was was again asked if I wanted to Merge. This time it did not work and the bug folder stayed where it was, so I repeated step 7 followed by dragging the subfolder back to where it belongs in the catalog.

TLDR: Imported photos not going to the correct location in the catalog despite being in the correct folder location on my external drive. 

Found a work around to trick the bug into letting me fix the problem and match the subfolder location in both catalog and external drive

[JohanElzenga]

This sounds like the Capitalization Error. https://www.lightroomqueen.com/capitalization-catalog-error/

[kbrask]

Hi Johan,

While the solution in the link you sent is similar to my workaround, it's unfortunately not a Capitalization Error. I created the folders through Lightroom and both the computer folder and catalog one have the exact name down to Capitalization and emdash. 

Thank you for the suggestion!

Kat

[JohanElzenga]

Hi Kat, I must admit I am getting a bit tired that each time somebody has this problem, they refuse to believe it because they don't see two folders with diferent capitalisation. The point is that you never see two folders in the Finder. And in Lightroom you often do not see any difference in capitalisation between the two folders either. That's because the problem folder is almost always not the folder you are looking at, but a folder further up in the folder path. It could be (and actually often is) as far up as your user name, and normally Lightroom does not display that folder. But if you still don't believe me, then that's fine we me.

[kbrask]

Hi Johan, I've checked every folder that I can visibly see in both. Also, this has never been an issue before until I updated my Mac M1 Pro to Mac Ventura 13.0 and updated Lightroom Classic to 12.0.1.

Also, Lightroom is recognizing that it has an identical name and wants to merge the folders, but after my workaround, if I were to synchronise the folder it returns to the same problem. 

I appreciate you trying to help me. I am typically able to get to the solution of technological problems with some digging, but this problem seems to be an oddity. 

[JohanElzenga]

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@kbrask wrote:

Hi Johan, I've checked every folder that I can visibly see in both.

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That was my point, wasn't it? You usually don't see the problem folder. You will never ever see it in the Finder, and you very often don't see it in Lightroom. But like I said, don't believe me. You have found a workaround, so everything is fine.

[kbrask]

Johan,

I followed the instructions in the link you shared with me to a T, just to humor you. Thankfully, I used one of my Lightroom backups as following those directions made it even worse. 

Kat

[JohanElzenga]

Kat,

You said in your initial post "At the same time a new folder with the identical name Shoot Name RAW popped up OUTSIDE of my Images folder where every single one of my folders and photos always goes. This folder showed the import number beside it."

All I can say is that is the classic symptom of the capitalization error. Another thing I can say is that you would not be the first person who makes a mistake trying to follow the instructions on how to solve this error. And that is all I'm going to say.