I relinked the wrong photo in Lightroom! How do I fix?

[jkaiser77]

Recently I got the "! - File Could Not Be Found" warning in Lightroom, so I did a quick search and relinked the photo. BUT ... it was the wrong photo with the same name!

How can I relink the photo to the correct photo?

[Bob Somrak · Accepted solution]

You could use your OS to temporarily MOVE the incorrectly linked photo to another folder and then it will show as missing.  Then you could link to the correct photo and then move the incorrectly linked photo back to its original location.  This will maintain all your edits and metadata.  There may be as easier way but this was my quick and dirty method..

[jkaiser77]

Thanks, Bob. I'll use that as a backup option if I have to.

I'm really surprised there isn't a "relink" option buried deep somewhere...

[SCoffman]

I agree!

[Matty V clixpix]

Bob!

Genius suggestion man you just saved me a ton of frustration! That was a great idea and worked perfectly to restore the old edits I thought were lost! Thank you!

-Matty V

[defaultkgm1et3ppadk]

Omg Bob you genius!! That worked perfectly, thank god! I was so worried I lost my image with all the edits I had made, but your fix works! And yes I agree, very silly that they don't have a "re-allocate" button, would save so much time and head ache. 
thank you bob!

[jackl32418320]

Thanks for this wonderful suggestion. Works in Mac!

[goldwingphotography]

Bob's fix is great - I do want to offer an alternate/ additional solution. 

I was dealing with duplicate file names that were confusing my import. My fix was to re-name (in bulk) the files that imported accidentally  (highlighting them all, "rename" and adding a tag to the end of each name) thus, batch re-naming. 

This broke the link between lightroom and the imported files and I was able to re-link to the correct ones! 

Hope this helps anyone if they find themselves in the same place! 

[Todd Shaner]

"There may be as easier way but this was my quick and dirty method.. "

Another way to do this without moving and then replacing the file is to change the filename  to something like IMG_9999.CR2.HIDE. Once disassociated simply delete the .HIDE from the filename.