Metadata is corrupted with the little exclamation mark in upper right corner of thumbnail

[david_0898]

I don't know how this works.  I need to talk to someone!!!  This kind of support is awful!!!   Apparently Adobe no longer wants to talk to anyone and doesn't want anyone to report bugs.

I'm running LR Classic version 14.3.1.  I moved some photos from one directory (folder) to another.  That worked.  But now when I try to rate them with stars, for example pressing "3" for 3 stars, it complains that metadata is corrupted with the little exclaimation mark in upper right corner of thumbnail.  It has options to repair (like copy from disk), and none work.  The only work around I found is to remove from LR,  delete the sidecar file, import back into LR, and edit it again in the new directory. 

I did not have this bug until I upgraded from a previous version to 14.x couple months ago.  I ran into this bug a in earlier version of 14.x, but couldn't figure out what happened, so upgraded to 14.3.1 and same bug.  I need to talk to someone.  Couldn't find phone number, chat, or any way to report problem.  This support was hard to find and confusing.  I have no idea what happens next.  Does Adobe get back to me??  How does someone contact me??    

Super frustrated.  Have used LR classic for years, no problems until now.  Software quality has dropped across the board.  I've been seeing bugs in recent versions of a lot of software from many different companies this past year.

[Aleke]

Hi @david_0898, welcome to the community! 

Totally understand how frustrating this must be, and I’m really sorry that getting in touch with support hasn’t been smooth.

Quick question—when you moved your photos, did you do it from inside Lightroom or through the Mac Finder? Lightroom works best when all folder changes happen within the app itself—otherwise, it can lose track of where your files are.

Here’s a helpful guide you can follow to try and locate your missing photos: https://adobe.ly/3GSSd5p

If that doesn’t do the trick, could you share a screenshot of the error message and the Library module where the missing photo icon shows up? That’ll help us get a better idea of what’s going on.

Thanks so much!
Alek

[david_0898]

I'm experienced LR user.  I rename, move, delete, etc is all done within LR.  I know you have to do this to keep catalog/database in sync with files.   I've done this same procedure many times in the past with absolutely no problems.  I only started having problems with version 14.x.x     I know where the photo files are.  They are still there and ok.  Sidecar file is still there.  But LR doesn't know it.  It has lost track somehow after the move and if you change rating (or maybe do something else to the photo) it can't find the file, even though Mac Finder show it's there.  This is a bug!  It used to work fine.

[dj_paige]

@david_0898 

Is this the exclamation point icon you see in Figures 1 and 2 of https://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm. Or is it a different exclamation point icon?

[david_0898]

This help report is if I did something to the file outside of LR.  No...I do everything inside LR to avoid problems like this.  I always have.  I've been using computers/software from 1970s, so am not stupid about this.  I wrote engineering analysis software back in the day, so know a bug when I see one.  I've been using LR for quite a few years, between 5 and 10.  I've renamed, deleted, edited files many times, thousands of photos.  Only ran into this problem with version 14, doing the same thing I've been doing since starting LR.  I've been extra careful after seeing this bug a couple of weeks ago, but ran into it again today with some new photos.  Every thing appeared ok even after I moved the files  to a different directory.  LR didn't complain until I tried to set rating on a photo in the new directory.  I did not experiment to see any other changes would cause problems.  I just stopped working on LR for today, and recovered the files in LR by removing, deleting sidecar, re-importing, and re-editing.  Note that the files were there all the time.  It's just LR lost track of them for some odd reason.  I believe it was the move that did it, but not sure.  That was enough wasted time.  It seems like I fixed the problem/catalog with workaround, but not sure.  Don't know how much to trust LR now.

[KR Seals]

Have you tried resetting LrC preferences? It's a good idea to try that when LrC starts doing strange things.

Also, I wonder if a "Synchronize Folder" would help.

Like you, I'm a long time user, but moving image files between folders is not in my usual workflow. I did try your steps, but did not have the issue.  Win11, LrC V14.3.1.

[david_0898]

Have not tried resetting preferences/settings.  Also have not tried sync folder for this.  I have used it once or twice in the past, but didn't think about trying it.  I also decided I can just put the camera files into the "final" directory I want them in to start with, and thus, avoid moving photos to different directory.  There's something strange going on in LR, and I don't think I've isolated the problem/bug.  Some little something I'm doing is corrupting the metadata or catalog.   It's not obvious at all.  But every time it's happened it's involved renaming files, moving them to another directory and setting a star rating.  I've always edited photos, renamed them, and sometimes rate them in LR in a nikon transfer directory.  Then move them to a "final" directory.  A lot of times I wait to rate them until in the final directory, which is what I did this time.  I've been doing it this way for years, and it's always worked.  But that seems to be when the bug happens, however, it's inconsistent.  The first time it happened, I thought it was when I renamed the files, but just doing that works fine.  It's some specific sequence of steps that causes the problem.  Easiest for now to try and avoid moving the photos around to different directories, but it has certainly given me doubts about LR.  I'm sure locked into it though...like everyone else I assume.  

[Rob_Cullen]

Following your problem in this thread hoping you get an answer- I have two comments-

1)   The exclamation mark on thumbnail borders-  is the one in a black circle?

If so it might indicate a hardware problem.  A failing hard-drive, etc. Copying (or moving) files uses the operating system (even if you do it within LrC.)

2) You mention "Nikon Transfer".  In the past this was a known corruptor of NEF files.

NIKON IMAGE REPAIR

[david_0898]

No I don't get this error message.  I use Nikon Transfer, have the latest version, it works fine.  The raw files are fine.  The problem is somehow the filenames or directories LR is looking for get lost or not updated after moving photos to different directory/folder and/or renaming them.  It's a problem with the metadata getting corrupted.  I have not been able to isolate exactly what causes the problem.  To me it has appeared randomly.  All of a sudden the metadata is corrupt and it can't find the file it's looking for.   I have changed my work process to avoid moving photos to different directories.  I haven't had the problem since I started doing that, but it's really too soon to say that solved the problem.