"File is not editable" Message in Lightroom

Report · May 31, 2024

I switched from Lightroom Classic to Lightroom (on my Windows desktop) last year, but I still edit all of my files locally on my PC with no issues. Since the most recent update (7.3), as I am going through my photos and flagging them, I will get the following message on a few random pictures:
"File is not editable
Lightroom cannot save edits to "filename.jpg" because it is read only. Please change the permissions and try again or import files to the cloud."
All of the files in the folder have the same permissions, none are set to read-only, and it does let me edit - it is more of an inconvenience of having to click ok on the box as I am going through the pictures.

Report · Jun 11, 2024

Hi. Just wondering if there has been any answers to this problem. I am having the same issue.....

Report · Jun 24, 2024

No, I haven't heard anything - sorry you are having the problem to, but I'm kind of glad to hear it's not just me.

Report · Jun 24, 2024

I can't even see half the files on my computer when browsing locally with LR. Never gotten an answer on why. It's infurating. Would love to see a solution since it seems to be a common complaint.

Report · Jun 28, 2024

I too just started getting this message with all new photos and don't know the fix.

Report · Jul 10, 2024

I think I hsvr founf out why for me.

Lightroom Classic has imported all my photos and organised as per date folders...

But I've recently started taking pics in NEF (raw) and JPG. (my nikon needs JPG to send previews to my phone)

For obvious reasons I only edit raw, but I've realised it is trying to save the edit as JPG when the (original) JPG already exists with the same file name.

Could that be it.

Report · Jul 10, 2024

Thanks for the reply, but that is different from what I am getting - I am using Lightroom (not Classic), and I only work with JPG files, and I randomly get this message one a few pictures each time I am going through and marking the ones I plan on editing...

Report · Jul 26, 2024

I am having the same problem. I had this back in April or May and reverted back to the older version and everything was fine again. Now months later I decided to update to the lateset version and now I am back to the same issue. File is not editable. The message really slows down the process of going through photos. If I don't see an update or solution soon, I will be reverting back to the older version.

Report · Sep 18, 2024

I'm attempting to see if I can preview and pre-edit my files in Lr on my local disk and then do further edits in LrC. Same problem as outlined above - "File is not editable". Of course it isn't - Lr is supposed to produce a sidecar file with the edits! It seems to produce the .xmp, but every time I edit the photo I get the same error message. Lr is unusable for my use case - returning to using FastRawViewer for preedit and then import to LrC. Per other posts in this thread, Adobe induced this error in an update.

Report · May 31, 2025

Yep essentially unusuable for local folders - either you have to upload everything to the cloud or use alternate software - very annoying since subscriptions aren't exactly cheap.

Report · Sep 18, 2024

Moderators, please consider changing this to a bug.

Report · Jan 04, 2025

Hi there. Just wanted to flag that I'm having the exact same issue..

I'm trying to edit images that are on an external hard drive, and have gone into Windows (v10) Explorer where I see the folders have a black box indicating a Read Only status, but the files within the folders are NOT read only. Additionally, based on my efforts and everything I've researched online, it's not possible to deactivate that black box. I hope someone can offer a solution, or I fear I'll have to end my LR use in favour of something more cooperative.

Report · Jan 05, 2025

Me again. For whatever reason, after giving my computer the night off, the issue seems to have disappeared, for whatever reason. Hopefully, it won't reoccur, but either way, it would be great to see if anyone here has come up with a solution, as I see I'm not the only person who's run into this. Thanks.

Report · Jan 05, 2025

Glad that helped in your situation - unfortunately, this issue has followed through multiple computers and updates of LR for me, and still happens when I'm trying to flag pics. Maybe a little less often than at its worst, but still annoying.

Report · Feb 11, 2025

The same thing happens to me, it seems to be an editing permissions problem, it only happens to me with RAW, I tried with JPG and I don't get the warning.

Report · Apr 21, 2025

Thanks for your reply, but I don't use RAW, I only shoot in JPG and still randomly get this error when flagging pictures for editing.

Report · Apr 20, 2025

I had the same error. After I reviewed the permissions of the folder (in the Windows File Explorer app, right click on the folder with the RAW files -> Properties. In the General tab, the Attributes were set to Read-only (Only applies to files in folder). Untick the box and apply the changes. This resolved it for me.

Report · Apr 21, 2025

Thanks for your reply - I'm glad you found a resolution for the issue for you, but I am not editing in RAW, only JPG, and I have had this issue follow to many different folders, and I have checked the permissions and they aren't read-only. Also, I am actually able to edit the pictures, the error is incorrect, just an annoyance.

Report · Jun 01, 2025

I'm getting this error frequently in the iPad version now after importing from a card. A random set of the photos become not editable until after connecting to a network and having everything sync to the cloud. This is a major problem, making offline workflows pretty much unusable. I'm about at the point where it makes more sense to start keeping a Lightroom Classic catalog on my laptop again, using that on the road and importing into the main catalog afterwards. Having it on the iPad makes things a lot easier but if it's going to keep breaking because of some kind of sync issues then it's just no longer reliable enough to trust on a job.