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Cannot Import image

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Colin Grant

Active Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2016
Messages
510
Location
Norfolk
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Classic
Lightroom Version Number
10.1.1
Operating System
  1. macOS 11 Big Sur
I have an image in an Adobe LrCC folder that has not been imported. I run sync on the folder via Lr and the image does not show up. The file is there and not broken as I can open it in Ps. What is strange is that the import dialogue that comes up during sync says there are two images but only 1 shows
 

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Try renaming the file using Finder before using the Import. (And use the Import dialog rather than Sync folder!)
It happens that some characters, that are not letters or numbers, can upset Lightroom.
Remove the apostrophes from the filenames.
 
Have already renamed the file, there are no apostrophes in the file name. Will try import.
Thanks
 
Lightroom adheres to the Windows file naming for both MacOS and Windows versions Legal MaxOS file name characters that are illegal in Windows are not permitted. These include :
  • # pound. % percent. & ampersand. { left curly bracket. } right curly bracket. \ back slash.
  • < left angle bracket. > right angle bracket. * asterisk. ? question mark. / forward slash. blank spaces.
  • $ dollar sign. ! exclamation point. ' single quotes. " double quotes. : colon. @ at sign.
  • + plus sign. ` backtick. | pipe. = equal sign.
Make sure your unrecognized file does not contain one of these in the file name.
 
I have an image in an Adobe LrCC folder that has not been imported. I run sync on the folder via Lr and the image does not show up. The file is there and not broken as I can open it in Ps. What is strange is that the import dialogue that comes up during sync says there are two images but only 1 shows
A file may be considered new because it is not already imported from that particular folder. However, a copy may have been imported from a different location and, depending on options in LrC, not be imported from the second location. Look for an option such "Don't import duplicates".

Try using the LrC Library Filter (above the Library module grid panel) to do a text search for an image in your library with the filename you are trying to import / sync. You may first have to get LrC to show all images in or under the top-level folder(s) of your library to get the text filter to work as you'd expect.
 
Lightroom adheres to the Windows file naming for both MacOS and Windows versions Legal MaxOS file name characters that are illegal in Windows are not permitted. These include :
  • # pound. % percent. & ampersand. { left curly bracket. } right curly bracket. \ back slash.
  • < left angle bracket. > right angle bracket. * asterisk. ? question mark. / forward slash. blank spaces.
  • $ dollar sign. ! exclamation point. ' single quotes. " double quotes. : colon. @ at sign.
  • + plus sign. ` backtick. | pipe. = equal sign.
Make sure your unrecognized file does not contain one of these in the file name.
I'm pretty sure the asterisk (*) is permitted in MacOS version of LRC. My MacBook just retired so I moved the entire catalog to a Windows system and updated the location of the root folder to the new drive. There were several folders with exclamation marks on the pictures inside them, but not on the folders itself. It puzzled me since most of the folders would just load correctly. No pictures or folders were moved within the folder structure.

When trying to find missing pictures, it suggested deleting pictures not found (all of the pictures inside these folders) which I obviously didn't do. Trying to set the new location of the folder removed the folder from the folder view in LRC completely. Then I noticed a pattern: All of the problematic folders had an asterisk in their names. Many years ago, I used that asterisk in the folder name as a kind of "tag" for picture folders not fully developed. None of these imported correctly in Windows version of LRC!

I also had trouble with some folders containing non-English characters, but couldn't find a strict rule there cause some folder names worked fine while others didn't.
 
I'm pretty sure the asterisk (*) is permitted in MacOS version of LRC. My MacBook just retired so I moved the entire catalog to a Windows system and updated the location of the root folder to the new drive.
While MacOS filesystems may accept most UTF-8 characters, the same is not true for the catalog if it is moved to a Windows machine. It is for this reason that you should limit your file and folder naming to Windows legal characters.
 
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