Source files are offline or missing

[HJsaxena]

What does it mean that source files are offline or missing. I'm trying to export pictures and can't when I've had no problems in the past. I get the error message: "files are offline or missing."

[Tony Jay]

This message means exactly what it says.

The three most likely issues are:

1. That you have inadvertantly deleted images outside of Lightroom;

2. That you have inadvertantly moved images outside of Lightroom; or

3. That you have images on an external HD that is not connected currently or that the drive letter (WIndows only) has changed after a recent disconnect.

Verify where your images are and that the current location matches Lightroom's expectations.

Tony Jay

[areohbee]

To add to what Tony said, and in case it's not just an unplugged drive this may help fix:

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm

(following instructions will change catalog to match new file locations)

or

http://www.robcole.com/Rob/ProductsAndServices/RelocationServicesLrPlugin

(following instructions will change file locations to match catalog)

~R.

[HJsaxena]

I think I inadvertantly deleted them from outside of Lightroom. I believe I may have deleted a lot of files from my download folder (thinking that there were copies elsewhere)...this included a ton of pictures. I've retrieved some that were still on my SD card and I can see the picture in Lightroom but the file is listed as missing so I suspect there's a way to retrieve it. Which of the above methods would you recommend and can this even be done. Sadly, I've deleted a number of pics from my SD card so some are not re-importable from the card.

I appreciate your advice. Again, a computer/tech/Lightroom novice so many of the instructions go above my comprehension!

thanks...

[Tony Jay]

If you have deleted images as long as they have not been overwritten they may still be recoverable.

However, it may take a specialist in the area and sometimes a lot of money to effect file recovery.

If you are going to try and recover the images you cannot afford to do anything with the hard drives concerned so as not to muddy the waters further.

BTW what you are seeing in Lightroom currently are previews not the original images and their presence in no way predicts any success in recovery of the original images.

Tony Jay

[HJsaxena]

Got it. I don't think anything would have been overwritten. I'm not touching my hard drives. What would be the next step?

[elie-d]

What you see in LR is not your original photo but rather a low resolution jpg copy that LR makes for itself to use as a preview of what the edited version will look like. The preview is in the range 2 - 3 MP, which is probably considerably smaller than the original from your camera. If the imported original has simply been moved so that LR has lost contact with it, that can be remedied by following the instructions above. If it was deleted, there is available specialized software, such as "Recuva", that may be able to restore it. If that doesn't work and the photo was valuable, there is software that can extract the lo res preview from LR (see Rob Cole's web site) so you will at least have that, although it will be of lower quality than the high resolution original.

[HJsaxena]

None of my folders actually have the ? badge. Some images do however have the ! badge and the web links you provided seem to start the correction process with the ? badge.

If I'm able to restore some but not all images, where and how could I find a specialist to help me recover remaining pictures?

[DCrew]

How does this work if I am using LR as my main photo repository? 

I am a newbie user and trying to pull all of my photos from the last 20 years into LR so I can organize them, process some and have them in one central place.  Will I always have to have the external drive when I want to work with pics?  The issue I have photos on multiple drives and cloud locations.  I have just started, am only about 10 hours into it so ALL tips, tricks and advice are welcome.

[dj_paige]

Lightroom is not a "repository" of your photos, they remain on the hard disk somewhere and they are not stored in Lightroom.

I am a newbie user and trying to pull all of my photos from the last 20 years into LR so I can organize them, process some and have them in one central place.  Will I always have to have the external drive when I want to work with pics?

If the photos are on the external HD (are they? you didn't say that they were) then you need either:

1. have the external HD attached
2. create smart previews in Lightroom, and then you don't need to have the external HD attached for editing

The issue I have photos on multiple drives and cloud locations.

Having photos on multiple drives is not an issue for Lightroom. Lightroom will work just fine and dandy with no problems whatsoever with photos on multiple drives. Photo cannot be in the cloud if you are using Lightroom; photos must be on a local or network hard drive.

I have just started, am only about 10 hours into it so ALL tips, tricks and advice are welcome.

If you'd like to have all photos on a single disk, in a single nice neat folder structure (and assuming they all fit on a single drive), then here is what I would do: I would import the photos into Lightroom using the Copy option and select a top-level parent folder to store the photos in. Use the Lightroom default for folder names, which is the capture date of your photos. This gives you a nice neat folder structure. Then in Lightroom, use keywords and other metadata to organize your photos and enable you to find them later.

[DCrew]

Awesome! So does Adobe have a cloud offering where I can store my photos? If not, I'll put them all on a new mac daddy drive and make sure I'm connected... Thanks again!!

[dj_paige]

So does Adobe have a cloud offering where I can store my photos?

As I said, Lightroom does not allow photos to be stored in the cloud. Naturally you could make copies to store in the cloud, but that is not a Lightroom function.