Problem with cataloging by date

[Jordan26437343lemp]

Something seems to have gone wrong with my catalog when it comes to dates in which pictures were taken. It lists 11/3 as one of the dates, but then when I click on the arrow next to it to expand it, two other dates in November, 11/9 and 11/10, appear there. Obviously these two dates in November are not part of November 3! What might be happening here? Thanks.

[GoldingD]

Please post a screenshot

[Jordan26437343lemp]

Sure, here you go.  Thanks.

[GoldingD]

Was the 2023-11-10 photo session the last set of images you Imported into LrC?? 

If so, bring up tour Import screen, and look at the destination panel(s) on the right. That screens current setup, settings, should reflect the last time it was used. Anything odd? Could it have been a user error?

[Jordan26437343lemp]

No, I did import a few more since then. But as for user error, maybe, but I really don't think I did anything differently than any other time. As usual, just inserted the card into my laptop, navigated to that folder, and imported the new images. Yet, I don't think this has happened before. 

[JohanElzenga]

This is user error. You selected the wrong parent folder when you imported the last two batches of images. You selected the '2023-11-03' folder, so Lightroom created a new '2023' subfolder in that folder with the 2023-11-09 and 2023-11-10 subfolders inside it. You should have selected the parent folder of the main 2023 folder (both are not visible in your screenshot, so I cannot tell you the name of that folder).

[Jordan26437343lemp]

Thank you, but unless I just mis-clicked something inadvertantly, I did the same process when importing as I always have. Yet this has not, I think, happened before. 

[JohanElzenga]

It is easy to make this mistake. You are not the first one. Save your import settings as an import preset (bottom center of the import dialog). That makes it less likely that it happens again. You can correct this mistake by dragging and dropping the 2023-11-09 and 2023-11-10 folders into the correct 2023 folder (in the Lightroom folder panel). After that you can remove the now empty 2023 subfolder inside the 2023-11-03 folder from the catalog.

[Jordan26437343lemp]

Okay, I thought this had been resolved, but apparently far from it. I imported another batch of images today -- those that were actually taken BEFORE the two dates that were a problem and that I referenced above. Please see these next few screenshots. 

What should be apparent is that I thought I was choosing the correct destination folder -- what's highlighted is just 2023. But then as you should also see, it once again created a new folder at the top of the list for this particular date. 

Bottom line: is there really no "reset" or "restore defaults" button for Imports? It's not like I'm looking for anthing "fancy" here -- I just want my images organized so that there is one folder for each date under the correct year. You know, what should be the standard! Thanks. 

[Jordan26437343lemp]

Okay, I have to ask. If there is really no way to resolve this, do you think it will at least be resolved when next year arrives and the 2023 folder is no longer relevant? I would hate for this to be lasting damage just from one little misclick! Thanks. 

[JohanElzenga]

You made the same mistake again! Your first screenshot shows you selected the 2023 folder. That is the wrong folder. You should select the parent folder of the 2023 folder (the Pictures folder), because Lightroom creates a 2023 folder in the date setup. It even shows you in italics what it will do.

You can correct this by dragging and dropping the wrongly placed subfolders into the correct 2023 folder, i.e. moving them one level upward. And then stop making the same mistake once again...

[Jordan26437343lemp]

Well, in my defense, no one told me to switch it so that the target folder is Pictures. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the 2023 folder is the correct folder for a subfolder that pertains to a date in 2023!

The good news is that I did make that change and just imported one sample image to test it, and, yes, it did so correctly. So problem solved going forward. Good. But I'm still having trouble fixing the previous mistake. When I tried to drag that folder one level upward, as you say, I get a "a folder named 2023-11-2 already exists at this location" message. 

I guess at this point I could just delete the folder and re-import those images, but I've already done some editing on them and I would hate to undo it. 

PS. Is there any kind of video tutorial on this topic out there? 

[JohanElzenga · Accepted solution]

Initially, you must have used the correct folder. So the switch you are talking about happened when things went wrong. At that moment you no longer selected the Pictures folder, but selected the 2023 folder. My point is that I already explained that earlier, but you ignored that and made the same mistake again. Anyway, at least the screenshot made that perfectly clear this time.

Expand all folders in the folder panel, so you can clearly see where a folder is located. If you have two '2023-11-2' folders, then you cannot move the wrong one to the correct location, because the correct one is already there. That is why you get the error. In that case do the following: Select the wrong '2023-11-2' folder and then select all images inside that folder (Ctrl-A). Now do not drag the folder itself, but drag the selected images and drop them into the correct '2023-11-2' folder. The wrong '2023-11-2' folder is now empty, so you can right-click on it and remove it from Lightroom.