Can't drag photos to a folder

[Patrick Stults]

I use LR for product photos.
When an item sells from store, I USED to be able to drag those images into a folder labelled "SOLD."
As of the last couple months, when I attempt this I get an error that says the images can't be moved because they "already exist at the destination."

How can I get images out of the main catalogue when I no longer need them - but might again in the future (if I sell an item like that again)?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

If Lightroom says that an image already exists at the destination, then that means that the image already exists at the destination... Have you checked that in Explorer? You could create a subfolder at the destination if there is a reason for having two copies.

 

[clee01l]

Welcome to the forum.
If you think about it, it really is not important which folder an image resides in on the disk. What is significant here is that the image has a state called "SOLD". "SOLD" is a keyword and doesn't really belong as a folder name. Once an image is "SOLD", to can be "SOLD" again and again. If you moved an image into a folder labeled "SOLD" in LR, and it is still in the LR catalog, it can't be moved there again.
If you use the keyword "SOLD" on these images. they can stay in their original folder and "SOLD" many times. If you want to know which images that have been "SOLD" at least once, you can create a Smart collection of all of the images that have this "SOLD" keyword.

 

[Patrick Stults]

Maybe a bit of miscommunication.
I am not selling the images.
I sell vintage glass.
Once that particular piece is sold - and highly unlikely I would ever find one again - I used to be able to drag the image of that item to a folder labelled AT Sold (AnneTweekes [the name of my company] Sold).
I did used that process for well over a year and voila! one day it stopped and gave me the alert.
How can the image already be there if I haven't dragged it there.
The only place the image should be would be in the main catalog that I use to sort (by color), process, and then export to a folder with the name of the item category, i.e. AT Glass, AT Barware, etc.
I upload the photos to ebay, etsy, craigslist from their respective folder in Pictures>

The operative verb here (part participle): USED TO BE ABLE TO and now can't.

 

[Patrick Stults]

If Lightroom says that an image already exists at the destination, then that means that the image already exists at the destination... Have you checked that in Explorer? You could create a subfolder at the destination if there is a reason for having two copies.

How can the images be in two locations when they were import to only one - the main catalog?
I neither need nor want two copies.
My main catalog is getting over crowded with, now, well over 10K images.
I like to thin it out by taking the images of items that have sold from that main catalogue and putting those images in another leaving images of yet to sold items.
But, and I hate to keep repeating myself, I import the images to ONE place and LR is somehow copying them and putting them in a second as well.

 

[clee01l]

If both folders are listed in your catalog, then the image can only be in one folder. If that folder is the "SOLD" folder, it was already there and no where else. If you managed to import the same image file more than once, you can only do this IF the import destination (folder) is different for each copy of the same file having the same name. Your file system will not permit you to locate two files with the same name in there same folder. It is this inviolate file system rule that you are trying to break. LR is simply reporting the file system message for failing to complete the task.

 

[Patrick Stults]

Something else (which I forgot to mention but now think it relevant) happened,inexplicably, is that when I am taking the images off the card the LR import feature opens automatically. Again, a new development.
I used to copy the images off the card into a folder in "Pictures" (windows) and then import that folder into LR.
This is because I do shoot practically every day and the main catalogue was just getting over loaded.
So, it is possible the images are going into "Sold" as some kind of default?

 

[Roelof Moorlag]

How can the image already be there if I haven't dragged it there

Do you apply a namingconvention on import? When not then what have could happen is that you made more than 1000 images and your camera have used the same names again (DCS_001.NEF).

Either way, my advise is to reconsider your workflow. Moving files around in folders to keep track on this kind of information is nod very good practice. Lightroom provides much more powerfull tools for this.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Something else (which I forgot to mention but now think it relevant) happened,inexplicably, is that when I am taking the images off the card the LR import feature opens automatically. Again, a new development.
I used to copy the images off the card into a folder in "Pictures" (windows) and then import that folder into LR.
This is because I do shoot practically every day and the main catalogue was just getting over loaded.
So, it is possible the images are going into "Sold" as some kind of default?

When you import images, you pick the destination folder in the import dialog. The next time you import, Lightroom defaults to the same folder. So yes, it's possible that they were imported directly into that 'SOLD' folder. However, that should be easy to see in Lightroom. Lightroom shows you the real folders on your disk, so it's easy to check where they are stored.

If the image is not already stored in the 'SOLD' folder, then the only logical explanation is that there is another image with the same file name in the 'SOLD' folder. If you do not rename your images on import, that is a very likely possibility. Cameras do not roll over every 1000 images like Roelof suggested, but most of them do roll over every 10,000 images (because the file name convention is 'IMG_1234.xxx'). And perhaps you use more than one camera.

BTW: I agree with others that moving images to folders is not the way to do this. Using keywords and/or (smart) collections is.