LR Classic - can't select recent directories in the Folder tree

[Guest]

LR Classic 5.7 on Win10

Been using this setup for many years with no real problems, but it's recently got itself into a state where although the catalog appears uncorrupted it's not possible to select any recent subdirectory in the folder tree to see the pictures in that location. All the subdirectories are correctly shown, for example I import from SD card to \pictures\temp\YYYYMMD (\pictures\temp\20200823 is the most recent) and the folder tree shows all those subdirectories in the folder tree with the correct picture count against each. However, clicking on \pictures\temp\20200823 in the folder tree does nothing - the central LR area and filmstrip area continue to show whatever was shown previously, not the contents of the selected subdirectory. Clicking back through previous subdirectories shows a breakpoint - any subdirectory before 20161001 shows up OK, and anything after does not.

Other symptoms and things tried unsuccessfully:

• Hovering the mouse over any subdirectory, including recent ones, shows the preview image for the first picture in that directory, so LR seems to know what's in there.
• Selecting the root of the folder tree shows all pictures in the film strip, and in grid mode all pictures are shown in the grid, so again LR seems to have everything in the catalog.
• An "optimize catalog" doesn't change anything.
• Loading a catalog backup, for example from 2018, shows the same problem, although it starts on a different date (20160922). In 2018 this problem did not occur, so it doesn't seem to relate to the catalog.
• Creating a new catalog then an in-place import of all pictures to that catalog and (several hours later) the new catalog has the same problem, that new subdirectories (in this case 20170102) simply can't be selected.
• A forced synchronise on the folder tree, either from the root up or on individual subdirectories, doesn't make any difference.

It's almost like LR has a low limit on the number of directories it's able to display, but there are "only" 1,953 subdirectories in total so this seems unlikely.

Very grateful in advance for any help or clues.

Thanks.

[johnrellis · Accepted solution]

"It's almost like LR has a low limit on the number of directories it's able to display, but there are "only" 1,953 subdirectories in total so this seems unlikely."

Unfortunately, LR on Windows has a maximum limit on how many lines can be displayed in the Folders, Collections, and Keyword List panels, and if you try to display more than that many folders / collections / keywords, LR will fail in mysterious ways. The limit depends on the current font scaling used by Windows and LR, but by default it's roughly 1500 lines.

The workaround is to keep most of your parent folders collapsed so there are less than 1500 total lines displayed. If you have a parent folder that has more than 1500 immediate children, then you'll have to introduce intermeditate parent folders.

This is a shameful bug that has been present since LR 1, and it's clear by now that Adobe has no intention of fixing it.  See this bug report:

https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/lightroom-5-hit-a-folder-limit-and-unable-to-... 

Please add your constructive opinion to the bug report, and be sure to click Me Too and Follow in the upper-right corner. That will make it a tiny bit more likely that Adobe will prioritize a fix, and you'll be notified when the bug's status changes. (Safari users, uncheck the option Safari > Preferences > Privacy > Prevent Cross-Site Tracking or use Chrome or Firefox.)

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[Guest]

Aha, thank you so much for that. I owe you a virtual pint.

That seems to be exactly what the cause is/was, and now I've grouped the date based import directories by year it's possible to collapse enough the tree down and avoid the problem. Bizarre that the bug wasn't picked up in beta testing given that one of the LR import options is "organize by date" with a date based naming scheme, which can create 1500 peer directories in a relatively short time.

I will try to word something useful to add to the bug report.

Thanks again.

[JP Hess]

Just be aware that when/if that bug ever is addressed and fixed it will never benefit you as far as Lightroom 5.7 is concerned because that version is no longer supported or updated.

[Guest]

Sure, I realise that. For the good of the wider community then (unless Adobe ever decides to sell a perpetual license version again).

[johnrellis]

"Bizarre that the bug wasn't picked up in beta testing"

I'm sure Adobe has known about it from the very beginning in LR 1. They took a development shortcut, and when the engineering and product managers found out about it, made an explicit decision to defer a fix indefinitely.

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[Guest]

Having wrestled the flat directory structure created by LR import into a hierarchical structure (YYYY/YYYMMMDDD) to solve this problem, and then cleaned up the corresponding on-site and off-site backups, I realised the LR already does include alternative date formats for import directories, for example YYYY/YYYY-MM-DD. At least that will avoid future imports cause the same problem again.