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Develop Module Window Blank (But Images Show in Filmstrip, Library Module)

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Jonathan Posner

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Joined
Dec 16, 2016
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20
Lightroom Experience
Advanced
Lightroom Version
Lightroom Version Number
11.5
Operating System
  1. macOS 11 Big Sur
When I last opend Lightroom it told me the Catalog was corrupted and needed to be repaired, which it did (apparently successfully) and reopened the program when it finished about an hour later.

But now I find all these things:

– No image in the Develop window, but all images in the filmstrip (including all edits) and images will appear in the Preview window when hovering over the filmstrip equivalent;

– Image will show up in Library window, but edit controls greyed out;

– Images from most older collections show up and behave normally (note there is no 'sync' icon in the margin of the Collection panel on these, see below);

– The problem seems most to occur on Collections that do have the sync icon next to them;

- Suddenly (and I'm hoping this has something to do with it) there are 2000+ photos that Lightroom is telling me are in the process of synching, no idea why. But it's been stuck on "2153" for more than an hour, as seen on the dropdown sync icon top right (I don't know if it's supposed to count down)

– Finally, and bafflingly, the last 10 images I edited last night are all displaying and responding normally. They have the sync icon in the filmstrip. The images previously edited in the same filmstrip don't display in Develop – and don't have the sync icon.

I don't really need the sync option any more. Is there any way I can undo this option and un-sync everything if this is what's causing all the problems? Or else, is there a safe and easy way to go back to yesterday's normally functioning version of Lightroom with Time Machine (or a previously-saved backup of my catalog?) Or has the Catalog repair process knocked some settings out of whack in Lightroom's preferences which I need to reset?
 
Do you have a recent backup Jonathan? If so, how recent? If it's pretty recent and you haven't done masses of work since then, then yes, restoring that is probably the best option.

The syncing is probably because sync thinks something changed in the photos that got repaired. That's fairly easily fixable, but first, let's get to the bottom of the photos not being editable. That sounds a bit odd. Does Lightroom say the original file is missing?
 
Thanks Victoria, so stressful, nothing like this happened before in 12 years of using Lightroom!

No, all the files are definitely not missing; the few from yesterday that I can access and edit normally are in the same folder as the ones I can't (and no tell-tale 'missing' icons anywhere in any filmstrip view from any time of capture).

To re-cap, (in Develop) every filmstrip of every collection displays normally. Where the problem doesn't occur, clicking on the selected filmstrip thumbnail also produces normal behaviour (image appears in main window, editable etc.) Where the problem does occur clicking on a filmstrip thumbnail will highlight it as expected but there is no image displayed in either the main window or Navigator unless you hover the cursor over the thumbnail and then it will appear in the Navigator window (only) until you take the cursor away from the filmstrip. In Library it's a bit different:: the thumbnail filmstrip image will now display in the main window once clicked but all the edit panel is greyed out. Finally, if I go to a Collection from a year ago, say, everything's normal again..

The last backup I asked Lightroom to do on closing was 7 days ago (and also backed it up on an extremal hard drive) so not too bad. But would a Time Machine version from, say, two days ago work instead or can one not do it this way?

[Final thing, which I have to mention just in case it's not the coincidence I think it is, yesterday I used Apple's Migration Assistant to transfer data, including applications, from my iMac to a new MacBook. I need Creative Cloud for InDesign but not Lightroom on my laptop. Both programs opened normally on the laptop afterwards, Lightroom asking me for an existing Catalog or to start a new one but as I deliberately didn't include my catalog in the transfer that would be as expected. I then uninstalled Lightroom from my laptop once i discovered this problem in case Adobe was trying to sync to my laptop in the background or something like that. Meanwhile InDesign is operating normally on my desktop. As I say, if I didn't tamper with, move or copy the Catalog from my iMac in any way I'm really assuming it must be a coincidence that my catalog was corrupted when I next opened LR on the iMac today.]

Lastly, just to put it out there, might it possibly not be a catalog issue at all, maybe a Lightroom 'engine' issue of some kind?

P.S. At time of this writing, the sync countdown hasn't gone down at all from 2153 for many hours, even though the blue circle is moving.
 
Re-started Mac, re-opened Lightroom and now found this . . .
 

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It does seem quite confused doesn't it! But no reason to panic, as you've got good backups.

Let's take sync out of the equation for the minute, we'll sort that once the catalog's happy.

So, is this all happening on your iMac or your new MacBook? I'm assuming the iMac, but please correct me if I've misunderstood.

Let's try the Time Machine one first, won't do any harm. Probably worth just zipping up the current state of the catalog (the lrcat file and the lrcat-data file with the same name) just as a safeguard.

Then restore the Time Machine backup and open it and see how it looks. We'll go from there.
 
Thanks, Victoria, real heart-in-mouth time going on here so thanks for calmness.

Yes, all iMac. LR not now installed on MacBook and don't need it there. Just had to mention the new MacBook in case it wasn't a coincidence and something to do with CC.

Update: re the screenshot I sent. This progress bar didn't move for 5 hours. Forced-quit, re-opened, same thing. Again this morning, but now the progress box is floating above all other apps so obviously stuck. Had to force-quit again and then received your new thread. Unless this last info effects your decision, I'll go ahead with your suggestions! (I'll copy the current suspect Catalog to an external drive first.)
 
Go for it. If you continue getting that error message, we'll move the presets temporarily and then sort those after.
 
Thanks, Victoria.

Current files attached, just for your info. Seems to have already created a 'Corrupt" folder!
 

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I think that's the repair process that creates that folder, it copies the catalog to that folder before it attempts repair. Nothing to worry about there.
 
Hello Victoria,

It took two hours to back up and replace as my catalog is a very large 11GB. I used Time Machine from Monday (which is more recent than my 'proper' backup.)

It seems to have worked, though I'm still shaking from the anxiety of actually launching the program. However, although the desktop appearance is now normal in Develop (my work exactly as I left it on Monday night as well) we now still have this other fault which is disabling everything so I can't check properly beyond the opening screen image. This 'Updating Develop Presets' box is crashing the moment it pops up, shortly after launch, ie the bar itself never moves; my cursor keeps twitching into the beachball and back again; the box itself 'floats' over other programs (see latest screenshot); and, as per yesterday and this morning, the only function I can perform is Force Quit. Besides, I've had no issues with my presets for years now.

So I'm hoping you'll know a workaround whereby we can disable this thing without opening the program itself. Or else try and locate all these non-XMP presets at root level and either convert them remotely or get rid of them altogether if needs must.

As I say, here's hoping, and in the meantime I might allow myself a (slightly) better night's sleep o_O

Thanks for the hand-holding so far.
 

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By doing a bit of research I've now fixed it!

Identified a Develop Presets folder in 'Lightroom' containing .lrt files and discarded it. If I've understood correctly, these would already have been converted in the past and now reside as .xmp in 'Camera Raw 'instead. The crashing 'conversion' box has now disappeaed on launch and everything returned to normal (apart from extremely slow launch time). There were two other .lrt folders in the same place but I've left them there as they don't seem to be interfering with anything (ie Local Adjustment presets).
 
Oh well done Jonathan. Sorry I missed your reply. Ones that had been converted in the past should have had a ~ at the start of the name as a warning not to try to convert them again. Sounds like you got it all sorted.
 
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