Help please, can't find photos in the gallery

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emesfa

emesfa

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Hi! I have a problem I already had like a month ago but I don't know how to solve it.

I upgraded from L2.5 to L3 and couldn't import some of the photos I had been using with L2.5 (some!) I was getting crazy when someone here recommended me to open the L2.5 gallery and convert it and then import from the gallery. Great, problem solved.

But now I can't find MOST of my pictures (the ones used with the L2.5 and some used with L3) and I just don't know what to do. I've done the previous instructions over and over but the only thing I get is to creat gallery-3/-4 but nothing really changes...
I have a whole 2010 folder that is not found... and I can't "find the folder" because it doesn't appear in there!
I'm thinking about erasing all the galleries because I can't even import my photos and this is really driving me crazy... any suggestion?
 
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Perhaps you should spend a few minutes having a check on these 11 missing files to see if they are important or if they can be removed. Select one and look in the Metadata Panel in the right-hand column of the Library Module and you should see the file-name and the folder name of the missing file. This may help you decide if there is a problem or not.
 
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OK. If you are ready to try moving your catalog to the Mac, probably the easiest way would be to copy the folder containing your catalog, previews and catalog backups to the J drive. Close down Lightroom, then copy the folder Lightroom Catalog Folder which you will find in the C\Users\Emma folder, and paste it into the root directory of the J drive.

When that copy is complete, disconnect the J drive and connect it to the Mac, then using Finder browse to the J drive (which will now be called something else), open the Lightroom Catalog Folder then double-click on the file Emma LR3 Catalog.lrcat. This should launch Lightroom with your catalog opened, and you'll need to check to see if all your folders have been located or if we have to go through the 'Find Missing Folder' process.

Let me know how you get on.
 
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I think we need to got through the "find missing folder" process... all the folders and pictures, although I can see the "preview" picture, appear with a question mark. So, should I click on "find missing folder"? on the parent folders G and I?
 
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Yes, probably expected. Now you know why I wanted the parent folders to be showing in the Folders Panel!

OK, do the 'Find Missing Folder' process and everything should be OK.
 
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GREAT!!! Everything is ok!!!! Thanks!!! I think all my problems with LR and computer are over!! Thank you so much?! Is any other tip or step I'm missing? or this is it?

:D
 
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A couple of things:

1. You need to decide if you want to leave the catalog folder on the external drive, or if you want to move them back onto an internal drive (like we did on the PC). Performance will likely be a bit better with the catalog on an internal drive, but if you think you may want to switch back to the PC at any time you may prefer to leave the catalog on the external drive. Have a think about that and let me know.
2. What about plug-ins and presets? Did you have many of these on the PC? Do you need them copied over or have you already done this?
3. Don't forget that you need to reformat the 1.5tb drive so that you can make a backup again of your J drive.
4. Check your catalog settings on the Mac to ensure that you will always open the correct catalog.
5. When you are ready, you could simplify the folder structure a little of your pictures by getting rid of the G and I folders.

Some of this stuff I can help with, but some we may need to call in a Mac expert....
 
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1. yes, I'd like to move the catalog folder onto an internal drive.
2. no presets, I wasn't using them.
3. I'll do it now I have everything here, through the Mac.
4. I just changed that. It was selected "last catalog opened", I changed it to the catalog I opened now. I guess that should be changed after moving it.
5. how can I do that?
 
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Will leave instructions for you tomorrow, OK?
 
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Emma, moving the catalog onto an internal drive is simply a repeat of what we did a few weeks ago. Simply close down Lightroom, then in Finder browse to the external drive, then copy the folder Lightroom Catalog Folder then paste it onto the internal drive in a location of your choosing (e.g. either in the root directory or in your user area)....just choose a location that'll be easy for you to find later.

When the catalog folder has been moved, open it in the new location and double-click on the catalog file to launch Lightroom. If all is OK, update the catalog settings as per point 4 above.

Then go back to the external in Finder and rename Lightroom Catalog Folder to some other name (to prevent you inadvertently opening it). Leave it a few days, then when you are happy you can delete that old folder from the external drive.

Regarding the reorganisation of the pictures folders to remove the G and I folders....this is not quite as straight-forward as I thought. If I remember correctly there are a lot of other pictures from 2007 and 2008 in the I folder but which are not in Lightroom? In which case using the Folders Panel to reorganise is likely to run into a problem with that. Let me do some further testing over the next few days and I'll get back to you (I think it will be easier to do it outside Lightroom, in which case I'll need to leave you with some very precise instructions).
 
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OK. The moving of the catalog went well.

Yes, there are other pictures in 2007 and 2008 which are not in Lightroom and I don't think I'll import them in the future. I'll wait for your future instructions.

Thank you!
 
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this is it!

yes, I should ask about that, I'm not having that problem every time I save a picture but it happened with new ones and it's a bit annoying...
 

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OK, that's looks fine....and all the sub-folders are OK? No missing folders?

Regarding the "Edit in Photoshop" problem, next time is happens please take take a screenshot of the actual error message, then start a new thread with the details.

I think this thread has reached the end of the road and can be left to quietly disappear down the list! :grin::grin:
 
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i moved a folder of edited photos using explorer ; (

yikes! i made the big mistake. i used explorer to move a folder full of photos that i edited in lightroom i reopened lightroom and used the synchronize folders command thinking it would find the xmp files from all the edits i did. that did not work. i have not done any new edits on the raw files as they now appear in lightroom, is there anyway to retrieve the edits that i did before i closed lightroom and moved the folder in explorer?
 
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Hi, welcome to the forum.

Normally this would be an easy fix, you would just right-click on the moved folder in the Folders Panel (it should be showing a '?' mark to indicate that Lightroom can't find it any more), select 'Find Missing Folder' from the context menu and then use the resulting file/folder browser window to navigate to the folder in it's new location. Select it, click OK, and Lightroom updates itself with the new location and all is well again.

However, in your situation I am rather concerned about your use of 'Synchronise Folder'.....now you can't use that command on a 'missing folder', so I need to know what folder you used it on. If you used it on the parent folder of the missing one, did you uncheck the option to 'Remove missing photos from catalog'? Because if you did NOT, then I fear you may have removed the edited photos. A couple of questions to help see if we can get you out of this:

1. In your catalog settings, is the option to "Automatically write changes into XMP" checked or unchecked?
2. If unchecked, did you do a Ctrl+S command on the edited pics (forces an XMP write)? You mentioned XMP files in your post, I'm just trying to find out if they actually exist....you can check this by looking in the folder using Explorer to see if there are XMP sidecar files alongside the original raw files.
3. After you closed Lightroom (before the synchronise folder action) did you take a catalog backup?
4. Is the original folder still listed in the Folders Panel with the '?' mark? If yes, what is the photo count?

If you can get back to me with those answers we'll see if we can help.
 
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Or if you don't have a backup after you closed LR, do you have any earlier backups that might include the data?
 
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