“File could not be found”

[debbiebeth]

Hi,

I imported old pix off of a disk and they show up in the library but when I go to the develop module the message "file could not be found" pops up.   I followed all the directions to find missing pix but that didn't help.  Any ideas???

thanks,

debbie

[GoldingD]

Where did you import the photo to? The Destination?

[GoldingD]

What is your computers OS?

[GoldingD]

What vesion of Lightroom Classic, The actual number.

v10.0?

[JP Hess]

I am going to make some assumptions. I'm going to assume that the disk was a CD, and that you imported the images from the CD and then removed that disk. The import process added the images to the database, but that's all it did. It did not move images anywhere. When you removed the disc Lightroom can no longer find the image files. I have never worked with images on CD discs, but I believe it's necessary to have thhe disk inserted when you want to work on the images that are located on that disk. The other alternative would be to copy the images to a folder on your hard drive and then import them from that folder. Another alternative would be to copy the folder to the hard drive and then update the folder location in the library module, pointing Lightroom to the folder on the hard drive. Lightroom must have access to the master images in order to allow you to edit them.

Another alternative would be, while the disc is inserted, create smart previews. Then the disc can be removed and you can do your editing using the smart previews.

Even if the disk wasn't a CD, the principle is tthe same. Lightroom must have access to the master files, or you need to create a set of smart previews in order to be able to edit the images.