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Auto-complete not working for person keywords

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markdthompson

New Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2020
Messages
7
Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom Class 10.3
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
I recently upgraded computers and imported my catalog into a new catalog on the new machine. Unfortunately, once complete, I noticed that auto-complete on my person keywords no longer works. Given the amount of old-photo archiving that I do, I have thousands of keywords. Does anyone have a suggestion for how to recreate whatever index I've accidentally deleted or overwritten with the move and/or re-import of my catalog?

Auto-complete of keywords is a life saver, so I'd really hate to lose it.

Thanks,

Mark.
Victoria, BC, Canada
 
Solution
Paul and Johan;

It turns out that I had to delete the "helper" file in the "lightroom Helper.lrdata" folder.

I first tried removing the folder and I got the dreaded "there is a problem with your catalog" error. So, I replaced the folder and removed the file and "Voila", my person-keyword auto-completes are working again! Thank you both so much for your help. I truly despaired when I thought about having to fully type (not to mention remember) hundreds of person keywords.

Interesting though... the working helper file is smaller than the one that didn't work, so it clearly doesn't contain the actual auto-complete content. Purely out of interest, do either of you know what this workaround actually does to get things working...
Hi Mark

Next to the catalog there's a Helper file (catalog name Helper.lrcat) - delete it. When you open LrC next it'll create a new one and your Keywords will work. It's a logged issue.

And welcome to the Forums!
 
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Paul,

I can't seem to find the helper.lrcat file. When I look in the folder with my lightroom catalog, there is no such file. Although, there is a lightroomhelp.lrdata folder contained within the same folder as my lightroom catalog which contains two files called "helper" and "helper.db-wal".

Any suggestions as to next steps?

Thanks very much for your quick response! A great welcome to the forum!

Regards,

Mark.
 
Hi Mark

Can you send a screenshot of the folder please? Just so we can be sure to tell you the correct file to delete?
 
An .lrdata ‘file’ is actually a folder. It shows as a folder on Windows systems, but shows as a file on Macintosh systems because it is a so-called ‘package’ on a Macintosh. So delete the folder.
 
Thanks, Johan, for explaining!
 
Paul and Johan;

So, if I get this right, I should delete the folder called "lightroom helper.lrdata" and it will be recreated? Just because I'm interested, does this file end up containing the auto-complete content once recreated?

Thanks,

Mark.
 

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Paul and Johan;

It turns out that I had to delete the "helper" file in the "lightroom Helper.lrdata" folder.

I first tried removing the folder and I got the dreaded "there is a problem with your catalog" error. So, I replaced the folder and removed the file and "Voila", my person-keyword auto-completes are working again! Thank you both so much for your help. I truly despaired when I thought about having to fully type (not to mention remember) hundreds of person keywords.

Interesting though... the working helper file is smaller than the one that didn't work, so it clearly doesn't contain the actual auto-complete content. Purely out of interest, do either of you know what this workaround actually does to get things working?

Thanks again!

Mark.
 
Solution
Hi Mark

That's good, and my apologies for being a Mac person where it's one file!

The Helper file contains information that Lightroom would otherwise need to go and look for - lists of folders, for example, and Keywords. Sort of like a cache really. When it's deleted, this gets rebuilt as Lightroom uses it.

Paul
 
Hi Mark

That's good, and my apologies for being a Mac person where it's one file!

The Helper file contains information that Lightroom would otherwise need to go and look for - lists of folders, for example, and Keywords. Sort of like a cache really. When it's deleted, this gets rebuilt as Lightroom uses it.

Paul
Paul,

No worries. I knew the answer was in there based upon what you said, I just didn't want to delete the wrong stuff by accident. Compared to the help I got from the good folks at Adobe, it was flawless. They told me that it was an unsolvable problem... have a nice day. When I heard that, I knew exactly where to turn for some real help... Lightroom Queen!
 
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