Using Synced Photoshop Lightroom Photos in the Lightroom Classic Book Module

[DonLafontaine]

I’m trying to make an end of the year book in Lightroom Classic (“Classic”) but during the course of the year I only imported my photos into Photoshop Lightroom (ie the lighter weight version of the app). My photos from Photoshop Lightroom “synced” with Classic and I see my photos under the “All Synced Photographs” section of Classic. When I try to use my “synced” photos with the book module in Classic, I’m getting an error message that the file cannot be found. When I look to locate the file, I can’t seem to find it as I never directly imported the file into Classic, only synced it with Photoshop Lightroom. Any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks

[JohanElzenga]

Where is your Lightroom Classic catalog located? Syncing a Lightroom Classic catalog should be all you need to do. Lightroom Classic will download all cloud photos. If Lightroom Classic says they cannot be found, then this means they must have been removed. This could either be by you accidentally, or perhaps because they were stored in an iCloud or Dropbox synced folder. Dropbox and iCloud can sync files to become online only, and Lightroom Classic cannot deal with that.

[DonLafontaine]

My Classic catalog is located in the Users > Shared path. If I search for a certain missing photo (e.g. 1540), I can’t locate it via searchlight on my local drive and I also can’t find it on Time Machine. The flow I’ve been using over the last year or so is as follows: plug card into iPad, review photos via the File app plus Preview on the iPad, select and only process the good ones via Photoshop Lightroom on the iPad, processed photos available on other devices via syncing. I’m not sure if this helps. My backup plan is export 100 pictures to my desktop via the Mac version of Photoshop Lightroom, import into Classic and make the book that way. Thanks again

[JohanElzenga]

Click on one of the synced photos in 'All Synced Photographs' and choose 'Go to Folder in Library'. What happens?

[DonLafontaine]

Clicking on the "Go to Folder in Library" redirects to an option entitled "iPad" under which there is a folder called "Imported Photos."

[JohanElzenga]

That means the images are stored in the default location, which is the 'Mobile Downloads.lrdata' package inside your catalog folder. That explains why you cannot find them in the Finder or in a Time Machine backup (the whole package should be in the backup, however). If Lightroom says the images are missing, then that may mean you deleted 'Mobile Downloads.lrdata'. Did you?

[DonLafontaine]

I could be wrong, but don't remember deleting any Lightroom related items. I generally don't touch Lightroom. I sometimes use CC Cleaner and maybe something was inadvertedly deleted, but I don't recall. Thanks again.

[JohanElzenga]

Start by checking your catalog folder. Is there a 'Mobile Downloads.lrdata' file in that folder?

Also check this: Apple changed the security requirements in MacOS Monterey and later. Go to MacOS 'System Settings - Security & Privacy' and add Lightroom Classic to "Full Disk Access" if it is not in there yet or not enabled. See Quick Tips: How to give Full Disk Access to Lightroom Classic on macOS

[DonLafontaine]

I do see a Lightroom Catalog folder on my computer that appears to have the most recent Lightroom Classic Catalog and I've also located Mobile Downloads.lrdata file in another location. They're not in the same folder.

I changed the Security and Privacy setting per the above, restarted the compuer and no change.

Thanks again

[JohanElzenga]

I do see a Lightroom Catalog folder on my computer that appears to have the most recent Lightroom Classic Catalog and I've also located Mobile Downloads.lrdata file in another location. They're not in the same folder.

By @DonLafontaine

That is probably why you get the 'photo not found' error. They must be in the same folder. Try what happens if you move the Mobile Downloads file into the catalog folder.

[DonLafontaine]

Ok, I moved the Mobile Downloads.lrdata file to the same folder that houses my latest Lightroom Classic Catalog, restarted and now have exclamation points over all my recent pictures processed via Photoshop Lightroom on the iPad. I’d like to be able to point Lightroom Classic to the new location of the Mobile Downloads.lrdata file, but only see that option available for Catalogs (ie, Open Catalog in Classic, Mobile Downloads.lrdata is greyed out). Also, I noted that the Mobile Downloads.lrdata appears to be last modified in April of this year, whereas I’ve taken and processed pictures via mobile that post date April. I also can’t find another Mobile Downloads.lrdata file that contains the more recent pictures. Thanks

[JohanElzenga · Accepted solution]

I am beginning to wonder if you are not mixing up your current catalog and some older catalog. I don't see how moving that file into the folder of your current catalog could cause recent downloads to become missing, unless you actually moved it out of the catalog folder, because you are confused about which catalog is your current catalog.

Anyway, there is a way to reconnect the images. Right-click on the Mobile Downloads.lrdata file and choose 'Show Package Contents'. That will open the file (which is not really a file but a 'package') as a folder and allow you to see its contents. You could now copy the images to normal folder, and then in Lightroom you can reconnect the missing images to these copies.

Then make sure Lightroom Classic continues to use this new folder as the downloads folder. Go to Preferences - Lightroom Sync and select that new folder as the destination.

[DonLafontaine]

I think the problem took place as follows: at some point I updated my OS and the Lightroom Catalog was placed in a “Relocated Items Folder” (https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/a-relocated-items-folder-appears-mac-mchl8ae423a3/mac). This folder is in a suboptimal location (buried deep within). Maybe around the same time, a new Catalog was created that appears to me to be in a more normal location (ie, in a folder in the Photos folder). So now, I have two Lightroom Catalog folders and the one withe current Lightroom Classic catalog is located in the Relocated Items Folder. (I checked using the Catalog Settings). At a bare minimum, I’d like to move all Catalog related items to the one in the Photos folder.

In any case, what bothers me about the Mobile Downloads.lrdata file is that it was created on March 4, 2023 and modified on April 21,2023. There should be many other photos that pre-date the earlier date and post-date the later date. I’ll try your suggestion at some point, but I would still seem to be missing those photos that pre-date March 4th (when it was created) and post date April 21st (the modified date). Thanks again for your help.

[DonLafontaine]

Additional information: The Reolcated Items Folder is under the "Shared" user on Mac OS whereas the other folder is in a folder under my name as a user.

[JohanElzenga · Accepted solution]

It is very odd to have the catalog in 'Relocated Items'. As the Apple document explains, this means that there was something wrong with it to begin with. MacOS should not touch your catalog. I already explained how you can consolidate all downloaded photos in a normal folder and point Lightroom to this folder as well for future downloaded photos.

[DonLafontaine]

Thanks again for your thoughts on this, many of the pictures that I'll use for the book are available, so I'm getting started on it and will add in the remaining missing pictures via a separate import. At some point in the new year, I'll reevaluate my Lightroom Catalog to see if I can consolidate and improve the way it operates because right now it's kind of mess. Thanks

[DonLafontaine]

And to address the issue of the Recloated Items Folder, the first folder (in a series) appears to have the extent of one of my external hard drives on it, which seems to include the Lightroom Catalog. I'm at a loss as to how that happened.

[Bob Somrak]

@DonLafontaine 

Lightroom Classic has had issues with sync in version 13 and various versions before that so I gave up on sync from my Ipad Lightroom to Classic a LONG time ago as I only use my Ipad for editing occasionaly.  What I do and you could do to get your files on the Mac is Export them as DNG from Lightroom Mobile and import them into Lightroom Classic.

Select the files in Lightroom Mobile

At the bottom hit Share

Chose Export As

Chose DNG as the file type and hit the checkmark in the upper right

When it is done Rendering then select Airdrop to the Mac

Import to Lightroom Classic from the Downloads folder on the Mac

[DonLafontaine]

Thanks so much for the thoughts Bob, good to know about potential syncing issues with the iPad and yes I’ll download these as DNG files.