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Importing into Lightroom

New Here ,
Oct 31, 2020 Oct 31, 2020

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Does anyone else find this process mind boggling complicated in some instances? The app tells me I've already imported a photo, but there's no way to find where it might be from within Lightroom itself, so it's impossible to access. Been working on this for about an hour.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 31, 2020 Oct 31, 2020

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In Library, first click on All photographs in the Catalog panel on the left.

Then press Ctrl + F (Cmd + F on a Mac) to display the Search bar, then search for the filename.

 

image_2020-10-31_225340.png

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New Here ,
Oct 31, 2020 Oct 31, 2020

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Pete, thanks for the quick reply. I'll try this. But before I do-and this is astonishing to me-I was finally able to get Lroom to allow me import a jpeg from my desktop. However, it doesn't show up in the selected folder inside Lroom itself, even though when I close the app and find the folder outside of Lroom it's there! That is really bizarre.

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New Here ,
Oct 31, 2020 Oct 31, 2020

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Thanks, Per. That worked-however, it doesn't tell me where the file is located!

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New Here ,
Oct 31, 2020 Oct 31, 2020

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Per, after locating the file in the manner you recommended I once again exported it (as a copy) into the same folder. But Lroom doesn't see it, even when I quit and restart the app. Respectfully, this is a huge program bug, in my opinion. Thanks again for your help.

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LEGEND ,
Oct 31, 2020 Oct 31, 2020

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It not a bug, that's the way Lightroom Classic is designed. Lightroom Classic is not a file browser, as other have said, it is a database, and the only photos it knows about are the ones that you have chosen to import. It doesn't know about any other photos.

 

You really ought to take some time and learn how Lightroom Classic works, learn about how the Lightroom Classic catalog is a database, and this is a very different concept than a file browser. If you don't take the time to learn these things, I'm sure you will continue to struggle. Once you learn the database and how it works, Lightroom Classic is a very smoothly working piece of software. Once you learn that, it is not a "mind-boggling complicated", it works really really well and really really easily.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 31, 2020 Oct 31, 2020

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it doesn't tell me where the file is located!

Right click the thumbnail, and choose Show in Explorer/Finder.

 

after locating the file in the manner you recommended I once again exported it (as a copy) into the same folder. But Lroom doesn't see it, even when I quit and restart the app. Respectfully, this is a huge program bug, in my opinion. 

Lightroom is not a file browser, and only knows about imported files.

You can right click the folder and choose Synchronize folder to import new files from that folder.

When you export, there is an option called Add to this catalog in the Export Location section at the top of the Export dialog,  which will import the file automatically after exporting.

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New Here ,
Nov 01, 2020 Nov 01, 2020

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Thank you.

 

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Community Expert ,
Oct 31, 2020 Oct 31, 2020

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There's another approach. After importing images, while in Library, go to the Catalog option in the upper left. There you will find Recent Imports. How recent, I really do not know, it can be more than 1 import.

2020-10-31_15-19-27.png

Then in the thumbnail section, click on an image and look at the bird trail, it will show you where the file is located in your folder structure. Below you can see that inside my main folder is a folder called "__Test" and that's where my file is locate. (An underscore will show up before "a" and I've got two underscores because I want it to always show up on top.

2020-10-31_15-19-57.png

 

But the other issue is that you should be aware of where you are placing these files because when you import, YOU have the opportunity to tell LRC where you are putting them.

2020-10-31_15-27-21.png

 

Below you can see that inside Gary-G-DRIVE is a folder called Gary's Photos and all of my photos go in there. Below that is the above mentioned folder "__test." When I did the import, I clicked on THAT folder before pressing the Import button.

 

Like life, LRC is an adventure! ;>)

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New Here ,
Nov 01, 2020 Nov 01, 2020

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Thanks very much for taking the time to help me out, fellow Gary!

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New Here ,
Nov 01, 2020 Nov 01, 2020

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Interesting...I tried to follow your instructions, but under "Catalog" I don't have the options you have! I only have "All Collections," "Quick Collection," and"Previous Import." Interesting! I'm using Lightroom 6.

 

Still, this is somewhat helpful, because even if I have to scroll through everything, at least I can find a shot...thanks.

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New Here ,
Nov 01, 2020 Nov 01, 2020

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Ah, now I understand everything...thanks all. I did drag folders with pix into my main Lightroom folder, but I then have to import from this folder into LR itself...I get it. Also, Gary, thanks-although I don't have the level of detail that you have in the Catalog folder, using this feature did allow me to see all 500 plus photos that I have on my computer in one place, which made it easy to delete the ones I no longer need. Thanks!!! I wonder if there's a way for me to ge the options undere Catalog that you have...hmm...

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Community Expert ,
Nov 01, 2020 Nov 01, 2020

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Hi Gary,

 

Interesting. When you started this question, I (and I think everyone else) thought you had just started with the latest LRC. Now we find out you're using LR6. Ha! Never assume!!!!

 

Well, anyway, to get the latest feature set, you'd need to update to the latest LRC, which is in fact, LR C v. 10.

 

However, be careful, the Lightroom "family" is now somewhat complicate: There is Lightroom Desktop which stores your images in the Clouds. There is Lightroom iOS/Android for your phone or tablet. Lastly, there is Lightroom Classic which is an updated version of what you have. Here is a web page that shows the various "Plans," from where you are coming from, I'd recommend the plan in the first column if you so choose to do so.

 

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/compare-plans.html

 

I'd also recommend that you check out lightroomqueen.com for lots of information on getting setup with any of the Lightroom options and plans. She also has a free book to get you started, strongly recommended whether you update or not. Good luck!

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New Here ,
Nov 01, 2020 Nov 01, 2020

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Thanks, Gary. Sigh,,,three hours later, another problem. I have a folder in Dropbox, edited a shot that came from my Android phone. Can't import it into my file of shots I've taken with my A6000, which is where I keep my Lightroom edits, so I dragged the jpg to my desktop, to import it from there...but Lightroom can't see it!!!

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New Here ,
Nov 01, 2020 Nov 01, 2020

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Thanks, Gary...one final question: what advantages (other than being able to use Photoshop) would I get for paying $120 a year, since I already keep my stuff on the cloud using Dropbox? THANK YOU!!!

 

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Community Expert ,
Nov 01, 2020 Nov 01, 2020

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Hi Gary,

 

OK, what do you get for $120/year.

 

Right now you're essentially using LR Classic. If you take a photo with your phone, the only way to get that into LR C is to get the image from your phone into you computer and then into Classic (and concurrently in the Clouds). Likewise, there's essentially no way to show images from Classic via DropBox into your phone. Both of those can be done via Lightroom Classic, Lightroom Mobile, and Lightroom Desktop. Let's call it the Lightoom Ecosphere. [Note, I just made that up, don't bother to look for it on the web.]

 

Currently I have about 2 terabites of images on my hard drive (external), now much does 2 tb of DropBox space cost? I keep the vast vast amount of my images on my hard drive and only a very small selected number of images in the Clouds to share with folks (trust me, NO ONE wants to see 500 MBs of your last vacation, NO ONE).

 

The reason why I did not respond immediately is that I was in my garage making a wood project for an article I'm writing for a woodworking website. As I work I take my phone out, take photos, and continue. When I go back into the house I can go to my computer and very soon the images I just took are waiting at LR Desktop for me to process and/or download and move into a folder of the images being used in this article. Every once in a while I need an image that I must do with my Canon 7Dm2. After I take the photos, I have to pull the card out, load it into my card reader, download it into my computer. Guess which process I prefer to do?

 

To sum this all up, what you're doing is fine, especially if it works for you. But the scenairios I've just described show that there is a much grander, more expansive way to work with your images than the very focused way that was done 5 years ago.

 

Now, on to your "3 hours later" issue...

 

First off, I have no idea what an A6000 is but that's not important because you are starting to slip into the one MAJOR point about LRC: what it didn't do it doesn't know about. Let me explain: If you went into a blind person's appartment, you'd be amazed at how well they can navigate their way through it. Going around chairs, tables, bookcases, etc. That's because they've place the items (or had help doing so) in very specific locations that THEY know about. Now let's say that while you were visiting this person you move all the furniture around and added a few extra chairs that they did not know about. How well would they navigate their own appartment?

 

What I'm leading to here is that Lightroom Classic is a database and it ONLY knows about the images that IT placed in the various folders that IT CREATED. If you did something in Explorer or Finder, that's no different than adding a few chairs to your blind person's appartment without their knowing about it.

 

There's several ways to do this, one is to IMPORT all of the images into the LR C's Catalog. A second way is to take a photo or a folder of images and place it over the Library's Grid view. A plus "+" will show up and when you release the mouse, you will see the same import window but will not have to select WHERE the images are to be coming from but you still will need to tell LRC where to place the images. Lastly, if you've moved an image into a folder (that LRC knows about), in LRC, you can right click on that folder in the Library view and select "Synchronize folder..." and it will see the photos that it otherwise didn't know about and you can then bring them into the Catalog.

 

At this point I implore you to go lightroomqueen.com, and see what's there. She has ginormous amounts of great info and videos to read and see. Also, she has a free pdf-book on Lightroom that is a MUST read for you. It will be a great way to get started.

 

Good luck!

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New Here ,
Nov 02, 2020 Nov 02, 2020

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You are so kind to take the time to help me! I have signed up for LightRoom Queen, and I get what you're saying about LR only seeing its own material. But there is absolutely a bug here: after trying to import photos unsuccessfully multiple times, pix that were shot on my cell phone and saved as jpegs, which LR had greyed out as if they'd been imported already (but hadn't), including trying to drag and drop, LR finally accepted the images...

 

All good, and as I said, I'm quite grateful to you!

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LEGEND ,
Nov 02, 2020 Nov 02, 2020

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Do you have Lr Mobile on your phone?

If you do, did you imported those images shot with your cell phone in the Lr Mobile app on your Phone?

If you have, those images are already in your LrC catalog file as they got uploaded to the Lr Web system and then Downloaded to your computer and Auto Imported into Lr Classic.

 

I would think throughout this conversation you have been Asked to include Screen Shots of the LrC program showing the Full LrC interface window in the Library module which, If you have been asked for those you have Not Done that.

 

Screen shot help us help you. so if you have been asked to do that NOW, even as late as it is in this conversation, is the time to do that.

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New Here ,
Nov 03, 2020 Nov 03, 2020

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I don't have LrMobile on my phone. Will look into that, thanks. These are shots I ported into Google Photos...

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