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J
judig34047588
Inspiring
January 21, 2017
Answered

photos and folders still missing after synchronisation

  • January 21, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 4411 views

I have a light room catalogue in which both photographs and subfolders are missing.  When I click synchronise it indicates that there are 230 photos missing.  I then synchronise and it says there are no photos to add.  When I ask light room to show me the preview of the photographs before importing it says there are no new photos.  When I click on all photos the missing photos are present but light room won't let me import the missing photos into the catalogue.  Any suggestions?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer judig34047588

As I mentioned I have several instances of the same folder in the catalog.  That takes me to another instance of the folder structure.

All my photos are under one parent folder and what I am trying to do is have one instance of all my photos starting with the parent folder in the folders section.  What is happening now is multiple incomplete instances.


I have found a fix for this problem.

Just right click on parent folder and synchronize photos as normal.  Select the option to preview photos before importing. The synchrnization message indicates that photos are missing.  What happens next is that no photos show.  That is where I went wrong.  On the right hand panel under file handling there is a option to "don't Import suspected duplicates".  Uncheck that option.  Then click the import button.  Then everything works and photos show as they should.

1 reply

Rob_Cullen
Community Expert
Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 21, 2017

"Missing photos" means that Lightroom does not know where the original files are located. The preview thumbnails are still in the library (catalog) but the original files have been changed by the operating system in some way- either re-named, moved, deleted, folders renamed, or a drive disconnected. (even renaming a folder   {My Pics}  to  {My Picts} will mean this folder is missing showing a '?' )

Synchronization does NOT import 'missing photos'.  Folder Synchronization is intended to import NEW images into the catalog that have been added to a folder by some other method. (maybe another photo editor, etc)

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/synchronize-folder/?utm_source=The+Lightroom+Queen&utm_campaign=66f3d347d0-August_Newslet…

Even if photos are flagged as 'missing' '!' and folders 'Missing' '?'-  they cannot be imported a second time. This is a case where you have to find where the images are located on your hard-drive using File Explorer/Finder and use other means within Lightroom to re-connect the files-

You must read and understand the info at this link before you do anything-

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-photos-missing-fix/

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .
J
judig34047588Author
Inspiring
January 21, 2017

Thank you but that isn't quite the case.  I have a folder called Japan holiday.  In that folder is a subfolder called Tokyo.  The light room catalogue shows the parent folder (Japan holiday) but the subfolder is missing.  There is no icon with a ? Or an ! Or anything .  It is just missing. 

When I try to synchronise it it shows that there are 230 photos.  If I click "show import dialogue before importing" all the missing photos appear if I select the all photos option.  However I am unable to import them because they are all great out and I cannot select them.  Obviously the catalogue thinks that these photos are already in lightroom but fails to display them. How can I display them?

J
judig34047588Author
Inspiring
January 22, 2017

Perhaps they are in the Folders list, only not in the part of that list where you are expecting them to be.

Two useful techniques: first, the actual folder location of an image (so far as, and if, LR knows that) can be shown by right-clicking on an image and selecting "Show in Explorer / Finder".

Secondly, find a photo whose folder you can't locate within the Folders panel, right-click on that photo and select "Go to Folder in Library".

[It often happens different folders have been imported individually at different times but when their folder context is not displayed. In these cases, you see disconnected items in a flat list - sitting outside of whatever folder hierarchy may otherwise be showing.]

If that folder is indeed present, but listed "loose" - rather than being presented in the expected relation to your other folders - it may be that it is necessary to right-click on this folder and select "Show Parent Folder". This should normally re-consider and resolve the Folders panel to make it more representative of what you'd see in a file browser, at least for the affected item and its immediate context. Incidentally this will work even for images that are currently "not found" - LR still has a record of what their full path WAS, when that WAS formerly valid. So it can display this.

It is just important to bear in mind, the LR Folders panel is not a conventional file browser. It is derived by looking at the Catalog's records about what is where, and showing only what the user has asked to be shown of that. It is not derived by looking at the live file system.


Thank you for all the replies

I right clicked on one of the missing photos and it navigated me to the location in explorer. It was where it should be in a folder called Tokyo which was a subfolder under Japan.

However I have discovered that there are two folder lists on the left-hand  side of the library panel.  They are both instances of the same folders and subfolders. Each folder list has some of the folders but is not complete.  How do I merge both of these lists into one complete list of folders and subfolders?

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