12 Messages
•
184 Points
Lightroom Classic: loses connection with files after folder is renamed
I've been using Lightroom for many years, and I've never experienced this problem until the last two updates to the application.
When I upload photos to Lightroom, the app creates a folder that is by default named with the date, in this format: 20210403.
I usually rename the folder, in Lightroom, with something more descriptive, just after the upload is complete. For example, 20210403_family-gathering.
Starting with the previous version of Lightroom, after I perform this action, Lightroom loses the connection with the files in the newly renamed folder. A question mark appears on the folder in the Navigation panel, and in Loupe view, every photo now displays a small exclamation mark in its upper right corner.
When I click on an exclamation mark, a dialog box appears, like the first one of three that I've uploaded.
Responses
Alexander
130 Messages
•
2K Points
10 d ago
Hello,
I always import photos into a yyyy/mm/dd based folder structure, and then rename the day-based folder to be a little more descriptive -- for example, "2021/04/04 Beach", or something.
New in version 10.2, the renamed folder and the photos within it go "missing" (dark grey icon with question mark on the folder) when I do that. I need to navigate to a different folder and then return to the folder I just renamed and then it will recover -- at least most of the time.
The photos inside the folder do remain marked as "missing" even after that though. When I quit and restart Lightroom Classic, everything is instantly back "online".
Is anyone else experiencing this problem?
System: iMac with MacOS 10.15, catalog lives on the internal SSD, photos are on an external USB3.0 hard drive. Catalog has just been checked for integrity and optimized.
1
0
bill_3305731
991 Messages
•
11.3K Points
10 d ago
This can happen if the catalog already contains files with the same names. The folder name does not provide uniqueness in this case. However if you first copy the files into a folder within your image structure and then import from that folder, it usually works. But if importing from a camera or memory card then it looks for absolute file name uniqueness. At least on Windows, it has always worked this way for me.
The technique I use is to rename files after importing to something meaningful such as Fall_Color_CO_yyyy_mm_nnnn. Then the camera generated names import without issues.
0
0
carlos_cardona
168 Messages
•
1.7K Points
9 d ago
Are you renaming the folder in the Finder, or LR? If the Finder you can't expect LR to know about it, that's why they are lost. You HAVE to do everything inside LR after an import. BTW, it NEVER creates a folder for me, because I create all the folders first (or if I need a new one, right before the import), then select that location to import to (i.e., BotGarden21) and choose to add the next number in that series (so I check the last number that's in that folder, and pick one higher for the new import). Also, ALWAYS rename your files during importing, so you don't get the issue Bill is talking about. Your camera, after 99,999 in some cameras, will revert to 01, and that will conflict with the previous 01.
14
0
bill_3305731
991 Messages
•
11.3K Points
7 d ago
While much less frequent today, Lightroom has historically "lost" files and folders that were rediscovered with a restart. On Windows I've not had this happen on any V10 release.
So they have been steadily fixing it.
You are probably right that it's a bug.
0
0
daveG5
3 Messages
•
80 Points
6 d ago
I have a similar problem. I am on a iMac 10.14 with the photos on a NAS. The NAS turns off at night and starts back in the morning. I am using LrC 10.2. I did not install the earlier version of Lr 10. The folder I have selected at night, before the NAS goes off, shows the photos and works normally. In the morning, after the NAS is reconnected, all the folders show connected in the folders panel. The same folder that was selected at night is still selected and either in grid or loupe view, but the photos have the missing flag. Here is the strange thing - only the raw files(NEF) are missing, photoshop files are found. All the other folders are fine. I can select any of them and none are missing. If I go back to the original selected file it is still missing. Quitting Lr and a restart fixes the problem.
Disconnecting the NAS shows all the folders missing. Reconnect and all the folders show connected. The parent and 3 subfolders(one subfolder was the one that shows missing in the morning) show connected but now two of the subfolders show missing raw files. PSD files are not missing but all NEF files are. This only started with LrC ver 10.
David
2
0
Julie_D
1 Message
•
60 Points
3 d ago
I am having this exact same problem. I'm on a Macbook Pro, running Catalina version 10.15.7. Photos are on an EHD.
0
0
daveG5
3 Messages
•
80 Points
2 d ago
A little more information. LrC finds jpeg's and psd's, just can't find the raw files(NEF). Only with the current folder that was selected before the power went off the previous day. Quitting and a restart of LrC fixes the problem. I think this is a bug that was introduced in V10, before that it did not occur.
3
0
Logan31639
12 Messages
•
184 Points
2 d ago
Status update: As Rikk suggested, I followed the "Clean Lightroom Install Procedure," and this did not resolve the problem. Then I remembered that I had second EHD that I wasn’t using and connected that to my computer. I imported a batch of photos to the second EHD, and after the import was complete, I renamed the destination folder in Lightroom and there was no problem. No question mark appeared on the folder, and the individual image files did not display exclamation marks in Loupe view. Lightroom did not lose track of the folder or files.
Later, I imported the folder into my primary Photo Library EHD, using Lightroom's "Move" import setting. Lightroom copied the folder and its contents (.DNG image files), but after the import was finished, the folder name had been stripped of the words I had added when I originally renamed it. The moved folder's name was now in Lightroom's default date format "20100410." I again renamed the moved folder in Lightroom by adding a few descriptive words, and again, Lightroom did not lose track of the folder or its contents.
But importing image files directly into my primary Photo Library EHD and then renaming the destination folder in Lightroom continues to be a problem, and I don't think the problem has anything to do with my primary EHD going to sleep. It's in an enclosure that contains two 3.5-inch, 3 TB hard drives in a RAID 1 [Mirror] configuration. I only power up this EHD when I'm using Lightroom and/or Photoshop, and I don't believe this drive ever sleeps. I can hear it running constantly whenever I use it.
Even though the original problem I described does not occur when I import files to a second EHD, I still consider the problem to be a bug. I've been working with the same hardware configuration and workflow for several years and several iterations of Lightroom, and I've never had this problem before the last two Lightroom updates. My hardware configuration hasn’t changed. Lightroom has changed.
If Lightroom suddenly refuses to play nice with my hardware and software configuration, that shouldn't be my problem.
10
0
Rikk
Adobe Administrator
•
10K Messages
•
135K Points
1 d ago
"If Lightroom suddenly refuses to play nice with my hardware and software configuration, that shouldn't be my problem."
It could be a change in hardware configuration, an OS issue, a failing component, or several other possibilities as well. Given what you've done in troubleshooting a bug is looking very unlikely.
Quality Engineering - Customer Advocacy
1
0