P: AI Masks Require updating and/or disappear

[Shelemiah]

Hello,

I recently had a call with Adobe support with no luck. I have found some threads on this but nothing presents a solution and it seems hard to find what the actual issue is.

If I edit a client gallery and use any healing brush tool or AI masking tool, the mask or healing brush/generative AI will get a red dot underneath after going back to the start of the gallery, my AI edits are gone....

I also noticed this happens 100% of the time when I quite and reopen lightroom, I can fix the mask, update ai settings but it just resets each time I open lightroom.

We tested a new catalogue, we tested a bunch of things with no luck. 

We really need a fix on this Adobe it is killing workflow, not sure what broke this setting. I can't revert to an old version because I have lots of photos (I do 1 catalogue per year) and can't go back weeks of client work.

Also this catalogue was started at the begining of 2025 so there is no version 13 of this catalogue to revert to and test.

PLEASE HELP ADOBE!

[klauiv34864771]

I am having the same issue and have troubleshooted literally every option and nothing is fixing it. 

[defaultilnq9gz5eofj]

also have the same issue going to try this

[GoldingD]

You are attempting this in batch?

[brendardzphoto]

Hi! I am not editing things out in batch, no. I check and edit every single picture out individually, including removing people several times for similar pictures like the one shown in my second comment! However, I am exporting into Pic-Time in batch, if that´s what you meant.  Hope this helps 

[Herman38347346n04d]

I'm running into the same issue. We used the AI removal tool to remove a whole bunch of tapes in the background with 2 days worth of shots. After moving the catalogue files and exporting them, all the remove settings need to be updated, and there is no way to update all. The update AI function in Library mode only updates the masks, but not removals... so I'm painfully cliking them one by one this moment, and gonna be here for hours until Adobe fixes this.

[Alyssa36245323287g]

Did you ever find a solution for this? I'm having this problem currently and it's driving me insane!

[klauiv34864771]

After going back and forth with customer service and them troubleshooting a ton, the customer service guy basically  created a copy of my current catalog to create a new one, and all of a sudden it was working! 

[johnrellis]

@Alyssa36245323287g,

These symptoms can occur when LR can't write the .lrcat-data file for some reason, either because LR has corrupted it or there is a permissions issue. LR stores computed AI settings in that file. Try these steps:

1. Do the menu command Help > System Info. If you're not on the latest version (currently 14.3.1), do Help > Updates.

2. In LR, do Edit > Catalog Settings > General > Show. That will open Windows File Explorer / Mac Finder on the current catalog folder.

3. Exit LR.

4. Move the file <catalog>.lrcat-data to the Desktop.

5. Start LR.

6. In Library Grid view (not Loupe view), select all photos and do Photo > Develop Settings > Update AI Settings. That will recompute all the AI masks, which could take a while.

[klauiv34864771]

Yea i had done this, and it still wasnt working!

[terencew23591293]

I'm now finding that the generative AI tool is not working at all.  After trying multiple times with multiple images I give up...  It seems to be a waste of time trying.   

[czlowiekadrian]

I have the same problem. It stop working.

[JohanElzenga]

Check the opacity settings of the brush. It seems the update sometimes sets it to (close to) zero. Set it to 100.

[Photogerson]

I just had this same problem and it has been driving me crazy for a week.

I had my Catalog Settings to Automatically write changes to XMP.

I thought this would be a good backup to have in case the catalog ever corrupted.

Once I unticked this box it seemed to fix the problem.

[D&E Photography]

I cannot believe I am still plagued by this issue. It adds hours and hours of repetative work. I am on windows, tried building a new catalog, same issue. Tried deleting the lrcat-data file and rebuilding but once again that was only a temporary fix and the issue came back. Just can't believe such a critical bug can just be sitting out here for over a year without a single official response & solution.

[jessicab62786296]

i have the same exact issue and sometimes it will work to delete the lock and sometimes not. i even rewrote the backend of my coputer to try and figure this issue out. 

[feitenphotography]

I got mine to finally work by building a new catalog! So weird that
isn't working on your end.

[Pypphotography]

Anybody else having issues with Lightroom after the update my masking gets shown while I'm doing the editing and then it kind of reverts back to the original image not allowing me to export it with the masking done. I am on MacBook M3 Pro shooting with Sony  raw files it gives me a message to update. I'm asking and I do that and then it shows the image as I want it to be after I've edited the masking but then after a few seconds or sometimes a couple minutes it basically takes the mask away I go back into the masking  and it gives me the AI update to rent to the file I do it. It goes back to the way I want it, but when I export it does not, and it keeps reverting back to the normal photo. I'm trying to do some product photography where I make the background a lot darker. and then also even if the mask seems to be working and then export the file, it exports it how it was previously with the lighter background. These are several different photos, but they've all done the same thing where I turned them dark and then when I  export there bright making the mask void ..  when I go back into the Lightroom, it says I have to like I said update the mask. I do it a darkens it again but anytime I export it doesn't.. And after a few minutes, it'll brighten back up again and then I click on the masks and they say that they're still in effect but they're not working! 

the other issue I'm having is with the new Denoise when I click it. I keep getting these error messages. And it doesn't work

[Pypphotography]

my apologies that came out a little bit of a mess. I was typing in a hurry, but it'll say, I need to update the file to render it or update the mask to render it. I click update it renders it back to the way I wanted it too, and then it reverts back after a couple seconds or sometimes a couple minutes, but even if I export it right away, it doesn't show in the export. I believe it's a bug

[Aleke]

Hi @Pypphotography, welcome to the community! Sorry to hear you’ve been running into issues with Lightroom Classic.

Let’s take it one issue at a time so we can get to the bottom of this. You mentioned you're seeing an error about needing to constantly update your AI masks, right? Lightroom Classic stores AI masks and Generative Remove patches in a file called Catalogname.lrcat-data. Sometimes that file can get a little glitchy, which might be causing the issue you're seeing.

To test this, try moving that file out of your catalog folder and then launch Lightroom Classic. You’ll get a message saying the data file is missing—just click “Continue.” Lightroom Classic will create a fresh version of the file. Then try updating one of your masks and see if it sticks. If it works, you’ll need to update all your masks again, but hopefully just this once.

Let me know how it goes!
Alek

[Pypphotography]

Thank you very much. I will try right now. The biggest error I'm having is the Denoise I can't use it at all. But I'm going to try this right now and then I will reply

[Pypphotography]

@Aleke  for some reason it's not showing them at all in my catalog. It's not showing anything in that catalog do I delete the catalogue completely and then do it again? And I have several like this? I've looked at all of them. I can't seem to find it in the data section.

[Pypphotography]

@Aleke hey I completely removed it and deleted it from my Mac Lightroom classic I mean, and then reinstalled it, and it said that I needed to upgrade my catalog the old catalog would be stored at  ...

then started importing everything again and everything seems to be working, including the denoise . I'll have to see if I mask several items though and see if I have to do it every time. Once I play around with this bit, I will let you know! thank you again

[nanou1207]

@Aleke je rencontre le même problème, ce quo devient ingérable pour mon flux de travail. Je n'arrive pas à trouver où se trouve Catalogname.lrcat-data. Pouvez-vous me dire comment l'atteindre ? Je vous remercie beaucoup

[Aleke]

Hi @nanou1207! Welcome to the community and sorry to hear you're having this issue as well.

The .lrcat-data file in Lightroom Classic is usually located in the same folder as your catalog file (.lrcat). You’ll typically find this folder inside the "Lightroom" folder, which is located in your "Pictures" folder on both Windows and macOS.

Do you see it there?

Thanks so much!
Alek

[Pypphotography]

If anybody else is having this problem, let me know. I figure to work around around the masking, but it's really a pain in the ass because I literally have to do one mask at a time and then export that photo. I can't work on several photos and then export them all it's literally a single photo by photo