Thumbnails not reflecting edits; History panel blank for photos which have been edited.

[christinef58502318]

Hi, this is a post I put up on the Lightroom Queen forum - topic "Thumbnails not reflecting edits (and more!) - I am not able to add the link unfortunately.

My issues haven't been resolved so I am posting here instead!  I have added a note to that effect on the Lightroom Queen post.

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Original post

Lightroom Version Number 13.5.1 Operating System Windows 11

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Initially I thought there was a problem with Virtual Copies not showing edits, that is, the virtual copy looks exactly the same as the original in the thumbnails. Even looking at them in loupe view doesn't reflect the changes.

But I have now realised that the thumbnails for all my earlier photos (years' worth) are not showing edits! (However, edits done in the last few days do show correctly in the thumbnails.) These earlier thumbnails are showing the photographs as imported. If I go to the History panel, no step is highlighted (the top step is highlighted for more recently edited photos). Also, the 'Photo has Develop adjustments' icon is not showing on the thumbnail for these earlier photos, even though there are development steps in the History panel.

I think this has happened since the update to v.13.5 or possibly earlier. I have closed and restarted LR several times over the last few days (the issue with virtual copies was noticed several days ago), rebooted the computer, reset preferences, to no avail. The catalog was optimized, integrity checked and backed up 2 days ago.

I have just discovered that it's worse! I have just randomly checked some of the earlier photos which I know had development adjustments made (even virtual copies made), and they are not showing anything at all in the History panel, not even the Import step. I am starting to panic! I hope there is a simple solution which I have overlooked!

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My follow-up post:

Update - in my last post I said that my recent edits were OK, but now I notice that any changes have not even been saved and the only thing showing in the History panel is the Import date, despite me having eg. edited a photo and then created a Virtual Copy. Even the thumbnails for my recently created virtual copies have been lost. I do understand the non-destructive nature of LR Classic and that develop adjustments are in the catalog only.

As background, I have had all sorts of trouble with LR after the v13 update, whereas in the past (since 2011) I haven't had much trouble at all.

Initially the preview file didn't come across/get converted when updating to v.13 (possibly I didn't click on something re previews?). I have since generated the previews using Library>Previews>Build standard-sized previews. I had to do this because the previews did not generate as I scrolled. The thumbnail for the first photo appeared in grid view, then nothing as I scrolled down, and all the other thumbnails remained grey no matter how long I waited. This is still the case for some thumbnails which I may not have previously generated. It also happens on a second computer so I don't think it is an issue with the Lightroom software.

This is similar to the issue in a previous post:

"Lightroom Classic V13 not loading previews or showing any edits" on 20 Jan 2024 (it won't let me add the link)

Since v.13.5 (I think) I have had the issues as in my post above, which have still not resolved.

I have tried an older catalog and the History panel is still blank, and there is no 'develop adjustment' icon on the thumbnails - for thousands of photos!

Many thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.

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One answer:

I'm afraid I'm no Lightroom expert. But I have often seen in threads that resetting Lightroom preferences can solve weird problems. See this article but read it all through before deciding whether you want to try it or not.

Maybe someone who knows more about these things may weigh in too and say whether it wqould be worth a try.

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My reply:

Thank you for your reply David689. I had previously reset preferences to no avail. I have also just uninstalled (removing preferences) and reinstalled LR Classic but the problems persist. I am mystified!

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Please, is anyone able to help?  I know that my post is a bit convoluted!  It sort of evolved as I investigated further.

Basically the thumbnails are not showing any develop edits, there is no icon/badge saying that a photo has had develop adjustments even when I know it has been edited, the History panel is blank, going into loupe view doesn't make any difference - for thousands of photos!  

(I have noticed that some photos do have the edits in the History panel but that no step is highlighted, the thumbnail appears as unchanged, but when I move the cursor over the steps in the History panel the image does change to reflect the edits!).

I have investigated earlier catalogs from my backups and the issues are the same.  Is it a software issue?  I have reinstalled LR Classic today but these issues remain.

I am sorry this post is so long and do hope that someone has a solution!  

[christinef58502318]

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/reverting-to-v12-5-2-from-v13-5-1-becau...

[christinef58502318]

These issues also pre-date v14 so I have just done a new post summarising the issues faced by both myself and other users:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/problems-with-lost-edit-history-corrupt...

I hope there will be a solution!

[christinef58502318]

I, and others, have problems with edit history disappearing or being there but not being reflected in the previews, the previews not showing develop badges and more, and previews not building on demand.  I know that some users have experienced this since the update to v14, but my issues go back before that, to v13.  There are also other posts both on this forum and on the Lightroom Queen forum mentioning these issues pre-14, so I think it is a bigger issue than just the update to v14.

The following is a summary of the questions that I and quite a few others have been asking regarding edit history and previews:

Why is the edit history completely disappearing for quite a few users (in my case it happened in v13)?  Sometimes there is a down arrow in the History tab but the panel is empty, not even an import date.

When the edit history is actually there, why are some previews not reflecting the edits?  This means that you can't tell by looking at the thumbnail whether an image has been edited or not, or see how it looks with the edits. 

When the edit history is there, why is the top step in the history in the History panel not highlighted?  

Why is the 'develop adjustment' badge missing in the thumbnail?  

Why are the develop sliders in the develop panel not moved when there are clearly steps in the edit history?

On a separate problem (possibly), why are some of us having trouble with previews not generating automatically when scrolling but are having to be done manually (and only a limited number at a time)?  There are other posts about this issue too, so it is not just happening to me.

Why are so many problems being caused when updating a catalog (especially v13 and 14)?

Corrupt catalogs - I know that these problems are possibly caused by corrupt catalogs, but why are the catalogs becoming corrupted?  Different users are having the same problems, so does this mean that different users are getting the same corruption, and is that possible?   

User mistake - also being suggested as a reason, but how can different users be making the same mistakes? 

I have tried everything suggested (re-installing LR Classic, re-building previews, re-setting preferences, permissions, anti-virus issues, exporting/importing into a new catalog etc. etc), to no avail, and this post probably reflects my disappointment that nothing has worked!  Are there any more suggestions?

Can this be looked into by Adobe (if that step has not already been taken), especially as it is not just an issue with the v14 update, but goes back to v13?  There were numerous structural (?) changes in v13 and its updates, could these be the problem? 

It would be great if edit history, previews, and preview generation were all working as they should!

[christinef58502318]

I have problems with edit history disappearing or being there but not being reflected in the previews, the previews not showing develop badges and more, and previews not building on demand.  I know that some users have experienced this since the update to v14, but my issues go back before that, to v13.  There are also other posts both on this forum and on the Lightroom Queen forum mentioning these issues pre-14, so I think it is a bigger issue than just the update to v14.

The following is a summary of the questions that I and quite a few others have been asking regarding edit history and previews:

Why is the edit history completely disappearing for quite a few users (in my case it happened in v13)?  Sometimes there is a down arrow in the History tab but the panel is empty, not even an import date.

When the edit history is actually there, why are some previews not reflecting the edits?  This means that you can't tell by looking at the thumbnail whether an image has been edited or not, or see how it looks with the edits. 

When the edit history is there, why is the top step in the history in the History panel not highlighted?  

Why is the 'develop adjustment' badge missing in the thumbnail?  

Why are the develop sliders in the develop panel not moved when there are clearly steps in the edit history?

On a separate problem (possibly), why are some of us having trouble with previews not generating automatically when scrolling but are having to be done manually (and only a limited number at a time)?  There are other posts about this issue too, so it is not just happening to me.

Why are so many problems being caused when updating a catalog (especially v13 and 14)?

Corrupt catalogs - I know that these problems are possibly caused by corrupt catalogs, but why are the catalogs becoming corrupted?  Different users are having the same problems, so does this mean that different users are getting the same corruption, and is that possible?   

User mistake - also being suggested as a reason, but how can different users be making the same mistakes? 

I have tried everything suggested (re-installing LR Classic, re-building previews, re-setting preferences, permissions, anti-virus issues, exporting/importing into a new catalog etc. etc), to no avail, and this post probably reflects my disappointment that nothing has worked!  Are there any more suggestions?

Can this be looked into by Adobe (if that step has not already been taken), especially as it is not just an issue with the v14 update, but goes back to v13?  There were numerous structural (?) changes in v13 and its updates, could these be the problem? 

It would be great if edit history, previews, and preview generation were all working as they should!

(This is my original post, which explains all of the issues I encountered, and I posted this before the v14 update:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/thumbnails-not-reflecting-edits-history...).  All my v13 backups had the same issues so I had to revert to a v12 catalog, seemingly successfully until I noticed that thousands of my older images still had the same problems!  I have been trying to solve it ever since.)   

[C.Cella]

@christinef58502318 

•"Why is the edit history completely disappearing for quite a few users (in my case it happened in v13)?  Sometimes there is a down arrow in the History tab but the panel is empty, not even an import date."

User might have deleted history.

•"When the edit history is actually there, why are some previews not reflecting the edits?  This means that you can't tell by looking at the thumbnail whether an image has been edited or not, or see how it looks with the edits. "

Sometimes it takes long time for the newest thumbnail preview to replace the old(er) one...ergo why the image in library looks different compared to develop.

•"When the edit history is there, why is the top step in the history in the History panel not highlighted?"

It depends.
(A) You might have selected another step, prior to the last one.
(B) UI sometimes fails to highlight the correct selected step...its rare but it happens and mostly happens after "Clearing History Above this Step"

(C) If you hold the Ctrl/Cmd modifier and click history the step is deselected and un-highlighted.

This is a know bug I reported log ago but was never fixed.
It might be that.

• "Why is the 'develop adjustment' badge missing in the thumbnail?"

Definitely a bug that I can't reproduce
The badge should appear (if you have enabled it in the options)

• Why are the develop sliders in the develop panel not moved when there are clearly steps in the edit history?

Another bug that I can't reproduce.
Usually the sliders reflect the history step.

I personally experienced loss of history only after updating my catalog to LrC14 and I have reported any issue with History I have ever encountered.

.

[christinef58502318]

Thank you so much for your reply C.Cella and I apologise for the delay in my reply but I have been trying to investigate further to solve this problem, or at least to narrow it down.

In response to your comments:

Edit history missing- the edit history has completely disappeared (the History panel tab has a down arrow but is completely blank) for many, many images, so it is not because of accidental deletion of the history.

Previews not reflecting edits - this issue is affecting thousands of images and is not to do with a delay in reflecting changes as they don't change no matter how long the preview remains.  Plus the previews have all been re-built and the issues are the same as before.

Top step in History panel - again, an issue with thousands of images, not just accidental selection, and although I do use "Clearing History above this step" occasionally, I wouldn't have done it with thousands of images!

Develop adjustment badge missing and develop sliders not moved - I am pleased that at least some of the issues are being recognised as bugs!  

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Windows 11, LrC v.14.0.1 (I haven't changed the name of the catalog yet!)

I have been systematically working back through my folders in LrC to see where the problems lie, and fortunately all previews from now back to mid-2017 are behaving as they should, i.e. without the above problems.  However, prior to mid-2017 everything is weird!

There is a connection between the previews not loading (but getting stuck on the first thumbnail and then not building unless forced), and problems with the previews not showing history edits etc.  Both of these things are happening in the same folders.  That is, in the same folder (and there are many folders!), if the previews don't appear on scrolling the history is also stuffed up.  Why?  In the more recent folders, the previews generate as they should on scrolling and there are no problems with the history etc.

I should mention that up until the date of my first post here (Oct 9th) I had not experienced any of these issues, and I use LR often, frequently looking back at these older photos, so would have noticed if there had been a problem earlier.  Why would this be happening to images prior to mid-2017 and not appeared until now?

Here is an example of one of the weird happenings:

The virtual copies are showing edits but the original images are not (and no develop badge):

 

The original image and History panel showing the edits done, but no sliders have moved, no edits made, and the top step not highlighted:

The virtual copy, showing the edits (which should be on the original) and moved sliders (the only extra changes to the virtual copy being cropping, sharpening and clarity):

Also, in the folder if no virtual copy was made, any single image has all the usual problems.  And this is the situation in many, many folders (I have been using LrC since 2011).

I think that there is some disconnect between the catalog/previews/images and I am not tech-savvy enough to know what that would be.  Hence appealing to the experts!

[C.Cella]

@christinef58502318 

In your examples the history step is not highlighted in the "original" image and it might be the import step.

Select the last step and the UI should update accordingly and as well the previews.

Let me know if this works...it should wrk, fingers crossed.

As I said I never had history missing before the LrC 14 catalog update.
The only way to fix that is to revert to a catalog with history OR import it form a catalog that has it (source catalog from which you import should also be updated to LrC 14)

.

[christinef58502318]

Many thanks C.Cella.  Yes, I know that the history step is not highlighted and that is part of the problem!  What you have suggested does work, but when browsing through my thumbnails I can't see the images in their edited form when it come to chosing which ones I might want to use for a project.  I would have to go into almost every one of them and select the top step - very time-consuming!  Others have complained about this too!

And then there are other images where the history has disappeared completely - just a down arrow in the History tab, then empty, not even an import date.

I have been through heaps of backups and have done updates to them, right back to v12.  I have done v12 to 14, v12 to 13 with no luck.  And I don't believe that there was a problem with v12 as it was fine at the time.  Also, these weird things were happening with more recent images until recently - can't explain that one!  I have also tried lots of variations of exporting and importing catalogs - no change.

Like you, other users have had this issue after v14, but for me it happened a week before v14 was released!  And so I couldn't solve it by upgrading the previous catalog again, as it was well into v13 (v13.5.1 I think) when these issues appeared for me.

I think that things went pear-shaped with v13 in all of its incarnations.  Other people reported the very same issues back in January (I added some links to other posts way back in this post).   

Here is another one with the same issues - https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/lighroom-classic-photos-randomly-losing...

And this one back in March - https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/edits-missing/m-p/14487499/thread-id/35....  There were 19 Upvotes to this one, but no replies!

So I don't think it is just a case of corrupt catalogs because how can the same thing be happening to multiple people?

[C.Cella]

@christinef58502318 

Do this test.

1. Take one of the images whee no step is highlighted.

2. Using "Quick Develop" in library change its exposure OR change a setting in develop.

At what level is the new history step created?
IS the new step created ABOVE all existing steps OR is created after the import step, effectively erasing the other steps (if it the latter then undo)

.

[christinef58502318]

The new history step is created above the others, at the top of the list, and is highlighted, but the rest of the edits are not incorporated.  That is, the only slider that has moved is the exposure one I just did.

[christinef58502318]

[C.Cella]

@christinef58502318 I shared with you via direct message a plug-in

Please install it and run the command "Crete History Step (Date)" on a photo.
It simply creates a history step with the current edits so hopefully the correct state will be re-applied.

Also try to undo the creation of the step, it might do the trick and simply force LrC to select the las/top step.

• So you can try to apply edit to all your images affected, then undo.

If this doesn't work then I am afraid you need to select each step manually yourself.
The SDK offers no mean to navigate or select a history step afaik.

@johnrellis do you know any method to select history?

[christinef58502318]

Thank you C Cella, I will experiment.  Undo didn't make any difference.

Isn't it very strange behaviour that the virtual copy has all the edits, history, badges etc as it should, but the original from which the virtual copy was made, doesn't???????  How can that be explained?  

[johnrellis]

@C.Cella: "do you know any method to select history?

Unfortunately, no.

[christinef58502318]

@John R Ellis this issue is really 'bugging' me!  I have spent days and days (in fact weeks) trying to figure it out and am starting to get a bit peeved.

Why are many people (including @C.Cella) having an issue with history being lost when updating to v14?  Surely there must be a reason, and could it be linked to why I (and others) have lost historical edits for older images (also occurring pre v14)?  

Why is it considered OK to just tell me (and others) to click on the top step to get the preview to reflect edits - for thousands and thousands of photos?  There must be a reason why the top step is not highlighted??

I look forward to some explanations.

[adriaand27297014]

The same problems here and hoping that an update of LR will fix the problems...

[christinef58502318]

That is interesting to know, thank you.  It would be great if you could click Upvote at the very top of this post.

[adriaand27297014]

Hello, I am not a LR expert, but the following worked for me:

- When upgrading from V13 to V14, LR makes a zpped 'old LR catalogue' and 'improves' your new version.

- I looked in the map of the 'old LR catalogue' and restarted the improving an dupgarding (to V14) version. When this ended, i did norihing to my images, but CLOSED LR. Somewhere I read that this could be an important step.

- A few seconds afterwards I opened the improved V 14 (which was still named V13, LR does not rename it automatically anymore) and my edits where back when I linked them with the XMP files.

- afterwards I also changed the name of the LR catalogue and the other files (most of them changed automatically)

For the moment it works like it should, my edits are back (not only in my history) and I can see the (smart)previews!

I hope this works for you.

[christinef58502318]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and I am really pleased that this worked.  Unfortunately the problems happened to me just before the release of v14 so I was not able to do what you did!

Lightroom gurus!  Do you know why edit history was lost when some users upgraded to v14?  Could there be any connection with what has happened in my case?

Many thanks.

[christinef58502318]

I'm not sure why this has been marked as having the correct answer. 

I am the original poster and had already replied that this solution did not work for me because my issues began before v14 was released.  

[christinef58502318]

"Sameer K accepted a solution to
Thumbnails not reflecting edits; History panel bla..."

I have unchecked there having been a correct solution because, if you read my post, it was NOT a solution to my issues because they predate v14!  The very kind suggestion of 'adriaandneville' therefore did not work for me, as I mentioned in my reply to their post.

It would be greatly appreciated if someone could look at why the top edit step in the History panel is not highlighted.