Empty Folder in Library

[JaceKessler]

Lightroom Version Number

Lightroom Classic version: 10.4 (Catalog-2-2-v10)

Operating System

1. macOS 11 Big Sur

Hello,

I have a couple of folders within my library/catalog that are showing "0" (zero) photos in those folders even though I've previously imported, edited, and exported those images as edits/selects within LR. Those images exist on my hard drives (primary & backups), but don't show up as "missing," or anything else in LR. When I click on those two empty folders I get a message stating, "No photos in selected Folder." I don't know if something happened during the last catalog migration, or what, but I would like to be able to move the original SOOC files back into those folders within the LR library/catalog while retaining the adjustments I made to them.

If I right click on the empty folder and choose the "Synchronize Folder" option and then only select the, "Scan for metadata updates" option, will that do what I'm trying to accomplish? I don't want to re-import the images and lose all the adjustments I've already made. Or, what can I do?

Thanks for the help,
Jace Kessler

 

[Paul McFarlane]

Hi Jace and welcome to the Forums!

Are you saying they are in Lightroom just not showing on the count?

Ensure Library > Show Photos in Subfolders is ticked.

 

[clee01l]

It sounds like at some time you selected the images and chose "Remove ..." When you do that, you were presented with two options: "Remove from Lightroom" and "Remove from Disk" . When you chose "Remove from Lightroom", you left the images on the disk and only Removed them from the catalog. When the Folder count in the folder panel shows zero, it only means there are no images in that folder that are imported. Re importing is the obvious choice in that case. If however you think you have imported this images and don't want to risk importing a second copy, then you need to verify the images exist in another folder and are in your Lightroom Catalog. If you do find them in another folder, they probably got in two folders because you copied them using Finder to another folder. Copy is not a filesystem operation that is permitted in Lightroom. In Lightroom you can only Move a file, Rename it or Delete. it.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Another possibility is catalog corruption. I have seen this problem being reported several times. Images are present, they show in ‘All Photographs’, but not in their folder(s).

 

[JaceKessler]

Hi Jace and welcome to the Forums!

Are you saying they are in Lightroom just not showing on the count?

Ensure Library > Show Photos in Subfolders is ticked.

Thank you Paul. Yes, it is and has been ticked.

 

[JaceKessler]

It sounds like at some time you selected the images and chose "Remove ..." When you do that, you were presented with two options: "Remove from Lightroom" and "Remove from Disk" . When you chose "Remove from Lightroom", you left the images on the disk and only Removed them from the catalog. When the Folder count in the folder panel shows zero, it only means there are no images in that folder that are imported. Re importing is the obvious choice in that case. If however you think you have imported this images and don't want to risk importing a second copy, then you need to verify the images exist in another folder and are in your Lightroom Catalog. If you do find them in another folder, they probably got in two folders because you copied them using Finder to another folder. Copy is not a filesystem operation that is permitted in Lightroom. In Lightroom you can only Move a file, Rename it or Delete. it.

Thanks, Cletus. I wouldn't have removed them consciously, but could have done so accidentally.

Thank you Paul. Yes, it is and has been ticked.

PS, they aren't showing in LR when I searched for them under all photographs, which is 73K in my catalog. I guess to re-import is the only option? If I try to re-import using the Synchronize Folder option and check the, "Scan for metadata updates" box, will those files carry the adjustments originally made via the metadata or not?

 

[JaceKessler]

Thank you Paul. Yes, it is and has been ticked.

PS, they aren't showing in LR when I searched for them under all photographs, which is 73K in my catalog. I guess to re-import is the only option? If I try to re-import using the Synchronize Folder option and check the, "Scan for metadata updates" box, will those files carry the adjustments originally made via the metadata or not?

 

[clee01l]

PS, they aren't showing in LR when I searched for them under all photographs, which is 73K in my catalog. I guess to re-import is the only option? If I try to re-import using the Synchronize Folder option and check the, "Scan for metadata updates" box, will those files carry the adjustments originally made via the metadata or not?

The original adjustments are stored in the catalog. If Write metadata to XMP has been checked. Those changes will be in the XMP section of certain file types or in a separate XMP file for proprietary RAW file types.


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[JaceKessler]

The original adjustments are stored in the catalog. If Write metadata to XMP has been checked. Those changes will be in the XMP section of certain file types or in a separate XMP file for proprietary RAW file types.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks again, Cletus. These particular images are from 2017, so let me try one the old catalogs and see if I can find them there. If not, I'll just re-import if needed.