Missing folders

[Lorraine Addy]

A couple of days ago I noticed that I could only see two of the fifteen folders I have on the external hard drive I import my photos to. 

I then noticed that an update was needed so I did the update, hoping it would solve the problem and it didn't solve the issue at all. 

I've been trying to fix this myself through all the usual means, google, Youtube and Twitter and as far as I can gather it is a catalogue issue. I have now got to the point where I can see five of the folders but not the three I want to be able to see, and I can also see some other ones but in a seperate location, not where they should be and it is saying those folders are missing. I know this is something to do with moving the hard drive but it's not possible to keep an external hard drive connected at all times. 

I then contacted Adobe support directly, someone remoted onto my laptop but seemed to have no interest in fixing the issue and then disconnected. I realise they may not have disconnected intentionally but it's odd that it coincided with me trying to show them what my issue actually is and they were responding by saying there was no issue but there are ten missing folders and the folders that are visibke are missing most of the files too!

I am very much a Lightroom newbie so I would appreciate step by step advice, the only thing I can think of is uninstalling and re installing lightroom but that would mean losing my entire catalogue, having to start again and I really don't want to have to keep doing that every time an update is needed. 

Adobe Support have got back to me on Twitter but I'm not sure it will be very hekpful they seem to be very slow, though presumably several thousand people worldwide are trying to get their attention at the same time...

To be honest I have begun to wonder if it is worth paying out for Lightroom if these sorts of issues are going to crop up. 

[dj_paige]

A couple of days ago I noticed that I could only see two of the fifteen folders I have on the external hard drive I import my photos to.

Lightroom Classic is not a file browser like Windows Explorer or Mac Finder. It does not necessarily show you folders that exist in your operating system. It only shows folders that, according to the LrC database, have photos in them.

So, why doesn't it show these folders of yours if you import photos into it? Because you probably (accidentally) imported the photos into some other folder (by using Copy when you imported instead of Add). So LrC thinks the photos are somewhere else, it knows about the copies, and it does not know about the folder where you think they are.

You need to find these photos in Lightroom. Follow all of these four steps in order:

1. In the Lightroom Classic Library Module, on the left, under Catalog, click on All Photographs
2. Turn off all filters (Ctrl-L once or twice)
3. Turn off all stacking (Photo->Stacking->Expand All Stacks)
4. Search for at least one of these photos by file name using the Lightroom Classic Filter Bar

... the only thing I can think of is uninstalling and re installing lightroom but that would mean losing my entire catalogue, having to start again and I really don't want to have to keep doing that every time an update is needed.

Uninstalling/reinstalling does not fix catalog problems. However, you do not lose your catalog by uninstalling/reinstalling.

[Lorraine Addy]

I appreciate your advice but I definitely imported them to that hard drive. I checked file explorer & they are all there as imported but not showing on Lightroom. I will try your steps but I'm not hopeful.

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[dj_paige]

I appreciate your advice but I definitely imported them to that hard drive. 

But maybe your imported them to a different FOLDER, not hard drive. That's what happens sometimes to people if they (accidentally) choose the wrong import option.

[Lorraine Addy]

No they are all put into folders automatically and they are all in the hard drive, I already checked.

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[dj_paige]

As I said, it doesn't matter if you think the photos are in the right location, and it doesn't matter where Windows Explorer or Mac Finder shows the photos. It matters where Lightroom Classic thinks the photos are, and it doesn't think they are in the same location as you do. So you must investigate, as I described above.

[GoldingD · Accepted solution]

Some resources:

How to create and manage folders in Lightroom Classic

Lightroom Catalog a Mess? How To Organize all Your Photos in Lightroom

Finding missing or moved photos and folders

[Randy Hufford]

The usual issue is changing the name of hard drive or folders out side of LRC. All changes have to happen within LRC in order for the program to see these changes. 

[Lorraine Addy]

I know but I haven't changed anything.

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