Remove photo - delete from disk:"Put Back" option missing (macOS only)

[saljur]

short description:

* using LR Classic on mac, delete a photo from local disk (Photo->remove photo)
* this photo is nicely moved to the macos vaste bin
* but in this particular case, macos vaste bin does not offer the "retrieve" context-menu  entry 

how to reproduce:

* on macbook M1 start most current LR classic
* in the grid view, navigate to any picture, say A.arw, located on the internal disk
* select A.arw by single left-click on it

part one:  prove that macos waste bin and finder are working properly:
* right click on A.arw and select "show in finder"
* in finder, right-click A.arw and select "move to waste bin"
* now, LR will display exclamation mark on the A.arw icon

* open macos waste bin, find A.arw and right click on it
* select "retrieve" (or analogous one, because I use german macos, I do not now the exact wordings)
* this will restore (aka move) A.arw to the original location
* the exclamation mark in LR dissapears

part two: showing the misbehaviour
* make sure that A.arw is still selected in LR
* select menu "photo --> remove selected photo"
* warning pane with three options will display. Choose "delete from disk"
* the icon of A.arw dissaperas from LR and A.arw shows up in macos waste bin
* in attemt to recover A.arw, right click on it. 
* now, in this context menu there is no retrieve entry, not even when pressing OPT or CTRL or CMD keys along with right-click

* consequences:
* A.arw is NOT lost. You cen retrieve it by drag and drop
*  but the original location of A.arw is lost, you  have to find it manually in finder before performing drop. 

While this is not a problem in this simple, demonstrational case, it is a problem when you have accidentaly deleted pictures from many directories. 

This issue only exists on mac.

Best regards

Juraj

[JohanElzenga]

This is as designed. If you remove a photo from Lightroom Classic and send it to the trash, then it is assumed you know what you are doing. If you are not sure yet, the press the 'X' key to mark the photo as 'Rejected'. It will stay in the catalog and in its folder till you decide to really delete it. As far as I know, the 'Put Back' option is a Finder option, so it only shows if you used the Finder to put the file in the trash.

To recover from a situation where you accidentally deleted many pictures from many folders: that is what a backup is for. Backup your catalog and backup your images (you need to backup the images with a separate utility, such as Apple Time Machine), then it will be easy to recover from such a mistake.

[saljur]

Thank you, Johan, for clarification!

I accept your explanation.

First I thought this particular design desision should be at least mention in the user guide,
But then I learned, thanks to comment of @Conrad C , that this is apparently a typical macos behaviour:
files deleted into trash from an app (different app than finder) will most likely NOT have the "put back" menu in the trash.

best regards

Juraj

[Conrad C · Accepted solution]

The File > Put Back command might be specific to the macOS Finder. In other words, it might not be available when deleting a file from other applications. If that is true, this is not a bug, although it might be a reasonable feature request if macOS makes it easy to support Put Back in other applications.

I also have GraphicConverter, a non-Adobe photo browser/editor that has been a very established and useful Mac tool for 32 years, longer than Lightroom Classic.  I used the Move to Trash command on a file in its photo browser, and when I opened the Trash and examined that file, the Put Back command was not available. So now I am really wondering if Put Back is a feature available only in macOS Finder.

[johnrellis · Accepted solution]

"delete from disk:"Put Back" option missing "

This is a limitation of Mac OS, not LR. Items moved to Trash by apps don't get the Put Back option. For example, if you move a file to trash in the Music or Excel apps, the trashed files don't have Put Back.

I found several developer threads discussing this limitation, e.g.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70533876/swift-delete-file-move-to-bin-with-put-back-functionali...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7409745?sortBy=best