Missing photos

[ed_anderson@mac.com]

I'm looking to save myself from being in Library Hell and hoping someone can point me in the right direction.  I seem to have hundreds of missing photos, and then hundreds of sync issues too.

 I tried to see which I preferred (as a new user) Classic or LR cloud based. - In the end I chose Classic as it served my purpose better when I am not able to be online. - I don't know if this is where the conflict started, or why my LR cloud based version has hundreds of sync errors. Or if it's why LR Classic is missing photos.

I'd like to basically start over and am looking to see if I can find the best way forward in doing so. - I am guessing there would be some way to export all the photos (that don't have a missing symbol) to a drive and then delete libraries etc and start with a fresh install and import everything again... however that seems like a lot of work to go and re-edit all my images etc... hoping there is a better way to perform some open heart surgery and solve this matter.

Appreciate any advice given - thank you in advance!

Ed

[Rob_Cullen]

First, turn 'off' syncing in Lr-Classic ('Pause' on the CLoud icon) and then fix the "Missing" photos problem. Then worry about syncing later.

"export all the photos"  NO.  Don't. This is not the way to fix problems.

"import everything again." NO. Don't. This is not the way to fix problems.

Follow the information in these links to re-establish the Catalog connection with the 'missing' photos.

MISSING FILES & FOLDERS (Lightroom Queen)

MISSING FILES AND FOLDERS-(Computer Darkroom)

Rule No.1 in LrC:  Never- Move, Rename, Delete, any Folders or photo files with any app (eg. Mac Finder) other than Lightroom-Classic in the Catalog.