Synchronize folder says photos are missig, but they are not

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
August 2, 2025
3 replies
391 views

Hi,

LR 14.4 Release, Windows 11.

In many folders the "Synchonize folder" dialog says there are missing photos, but the actual files do exist in that folder.

LR does not show an exclamation point for these photos and lets me develop and export them, so it does not really interfere with my workflow.

But not being able to know if a folder is synchronized is quite annoying.

Is that a known issue or it might it be a consistency problem of my catalog?

How does LR handle NEF+JPEG files? Could this behaviour be the result of synchonizing RAW+JPEG files?

Thanks,

J

Windows

Correct answer johnrellis

Just ignore the missing folders reported by Synchronize Folder -- it's long been buggy (since at least LR 6). Instead, use the Library > Find All Missing Photos command.

Adobe fixed one instance of this problem in LR 13.5:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-synchronize-folder-incorrectly-shows-photos-as-missing/idi-p/14191413

but another instance exists in LR 14 and remains unfixed:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-synchronize-folder-incorrectly-shows-photos-as-missing-lr-14-4/idi-p/15384516

johnrellisCorrect answer

Legend

Just ignore the missing folders reported by Synchronize Folder -- it's long been buggy (since at least LR 6). Instead, use the Library > Find All Missing Photos command.

Adobe fixed one instance of this problem in LR 13.5:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-synchronize-folder-incorrectly-shows-photos-as-missing/idi-p/14191413

but another instance exists in LR 14 and remains unfixed:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-synchronize-folder-incorrectly-shows-photos-as-missing-lr-14-4/idi-p/15384516

P

peraitaAuthor

Participant

Thanks jonhrellis.

"Library > Find All Missing Photos" says "No missing photos" independently of the status of the "Treat JPEG files next to raw files as separate photos" option in preferences. Now, that maks sense! (I mean, that there are no missing photos)

That option in preferences is either buggy or too complex for us, simple photographers, to understand.

I'd like someone from the dev team to jump in here and explain the rationale behind the "Treat JPEG ..." option. 🙂

J

Jao vdL

Community Expert

The behavior for raw+jpeg is set in the preferences. There is a setting to treat jpeg next to raw as separate. It is indeed possible that your catalog has both raws and JPEGs as separate images in the same catalog folder and your Lightroom settings are set to not treat them as separate upon import. This might indeed make synchronize think the files are missing because it sees them as if they are a single raw+jpeg pair. I have never tried this but yeah try changing the setting for raw+joeg.

P

peraitaAuthor

Participant

Thanks Jao vdL.

Indeed, unselecting "Treat JPEG files next to raw files as separate photos" drastically reduces the number of missing photos. For my complete catalog it goes dwon from several thousand to just 30+

I think that either the wording or the behaviour of this feature is not very clear. If I uncheck the option I expect LR to look for less photos, since raw+jpeg will be treated as the same photo and not as separate. But yet, when the option is uncheked the number of missing photos increases...

johnrellis

Legend

As I posted, that feature has always been buggy, and there's an outstanding bug acknowledged by Adobe. Ignore it and use Library > Final All Missing Photos instead.