Deleting in LRC

[creativewombat]

Lightroom Version Number

Lightroom Classic version: 10.4

Operating System

1. macOS 11 Big Sur

I've noticed that in deleting photos within LRC, it will only delete multiples if marked for deletion and you use "delete rejected photos".
I've tracked this in the finder and its consistent. LRC will delete them from the catalogue, but will not delete them from the disk.
Anyone having the same ?

 

[creativewombat]

Addendum
I'm also noticing that when moving photos between folders - LRC is not updating finder. For example, I can move photos from Folder A to Folder B, and finder will not update. When I go back into LRC and try to Synch Folder A, the files are still there.

Am I missing something ?

 

[creativewombat]

Heres a screenshot for visuals.
I go through and move the photos from folder 180611 until they are ALL in other folders. I am moving them through drag and drop in LRC. Finder doesn't register the move. I restart finder, and a portion ( not all ) are still there. If I try to synchronize the folder through LRC, that same portion show up.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

This looks like catalog corruption. The Finder shows you where the images really are, so it’s not a matter of ‘updating the Finder’. It’s a matter of Lightroom not showing you the correct info, and not really moving the files.

 

[creativewombat]

I think I may have figured something out.
I noticed that all the photos that were left behind in the finder were non-selects ( meaning they were deleted as some point ) I"m suspicious that LRC is taking them out of the catalogue and giving the option for "delete from disk" but not doing it. Theoretically, this makes sense, as the first round I tried to delete with Command / Delete and the "Delete from Disk" option, and I don't think it did - it just removed them from the catalogue. That would mean the LRC catalogue would register as zero photos, but they are still there in the folder.
Going to run a few more tests.

 

[creativewombat]

Testing
Step One
Simply moving the whole folder within LRC from location to location. Checks out. Also registers in Finder
Step Two
Select a few photos and mark them for deletion ( "x" ) and then use Photo > Delete Rejected Photos. They are deleted from catalogue and finder.
Step Three
Select a single photo and delete them with keystrokes only ( delete key ) Choose "delete from Disk" in dialogue.
It is deleted from catalogue and finder.
Step Three
Select multiple photos and delete them with keystrokes only ( delete key ) Choose "delete from Disk" in dialogue. They are deleted from catalogue and finder.
Step Four
Synch folder and see if there are any residuals left in the folder. Since everything was "delete from Disk" there should not be. There are not.

I am left with a mystery.

The only other variable was before this operation I emptied my trash.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Lightroom is not a browser, it is a catalog application. That means that while it shows you the real folders on disk, it only shows you those folders that it has catalogued. So the Finder will show you folders like ‘System’ and ‘ Applications’, but Lightroom will not (and should not) because there are no photos in those two folders that Lightroom has catalogued.

The same applies to images. Lightroom could show you a folder and show you zero images inside it, while the Finder shows you that there are definitly some images inside that folder. The explanation is that Lightroom did catalog that folder one day, but that the images inside that folder were removed from the catalog at a later stage (but not removed from disk). So if all move and delete actions are now going as expected, then the empty folder in your screenshot is probably just that. If you choose ‘Synchronize Folder’, then most likely Lightroom will say that the images in that folder are not yet in the catalog and so they can be imported.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

P.S. If ‘Synchronize Folder’ does not show you the images as being ‘importable’, then the only explanation I can think of is that you somehow made duplicates. A copy of these images (located in another folder) is already in the catalog, and so Lightroom refuses to import these ones.

 

[creativewombat]

exactly.
that is where I have come to as well. I think part of this is me living through past mistakes.
for example, when i brought over these folders from the old drive, I was noticing discrepancies between finder and LRC. What I do now, is run a dialogue "check" through the "Synchronize Folder" option to see if there are any photos in that folder that aren't in the catalogue. I can toggle between "Do not Import Suspected Duplicates" to see what they are, if any.
I think over the years, I was deleting stuff out of the catalogue, thinking that they were deleting from disk. Ideally, there should no difference in the folders when I Synchronize them, but I'm finding hundreds ( if not thousands ) of photos that are "hiding" in these folders.

What I"m trying to figure out now is how to move forward and get all these permanently deleted in a safe efficient manner.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

What I"m trying to figure out now is how to move forward and get all these permanently deleted in a safe efficient manner.

The way to do that is a little counter-intuitive. Synchronize the top folder (or do this in steps with folders further down in the hierarchy) and do import all those images again. Then select the ‘Previous Import’ collection. This collection contains all the images you just imported, so select them all and then delete them from the catalog and from disk.

 

[creativewombat]

Dude
Thats kinda brilliant. Thank you.

For most of the large ones I think I'm going to synch and then simply go through and delete with the proper procedure ( mark "X" and then "Delete Rejected Photos" ) to see if I missed anything.

I'm going to use your method for the folders I know are solid.