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Help with import button grayed out

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papascook

New Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2015
Messages
20
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
5.x
Lightroom Version Number
5.7
Operating System
  1. macOS 10.13 High Sierra
The import button is grayed out. I cannot import photos. I tried to reset preferences several times. But I do not get the box to ask if I want to reset preferences. It brings up a list of 2 catalogs for me to choose then goes to the regular screen but import button is grayed out. I have an old Lightroom 3 catalog that comes up in the list.
can I delete the old catalog 3?

any suggestions on how to fix this problem. I would really appreciate some help. Thank you.
 
This may or may not be any help, but recently I had a similar problem when my LR 6.14 Legacy program (iMac OS 10.10.5) would no longer load photos from any source. The import button on both sides of my screen would not function (grayed out). I listed my problem on this forum in May 2020, could not make headway, and eventually went to Adobe Support, used the chat box to communicate my problem, and eventually (2 hours) got a fix from them.

The first two Adobe techs could not solve it, so the problem was escalated to a programmer who remotely took over my computer and opened up the "Preferences" panel that lists its coding. I sat and watched. This person then located a particular line of code and inserted the word "old" into it. He then rebooted the program, which reset the LR Preferences panel, and it worked! Somehow the program had become corrupted and this coding fixed it.

I've attached a screenshot of that part of our conversation for your reference (my comment in blue, programmer in white). If you cannot get your LR to work properly, I would suggest that you contact Adobe, as they still troubleshoot it for clients. Have your registration materials ready and some snacks, as it will take a while...

Good luck,
=rds
 

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Thank you. I actually did that it worked the first time but after I shut down and reopened it was the same problem.
I have 500K photos and thought maybe it is too many. I hate to start a new catalog. Don’t know if that will help.
 
I moved all of my photos to a separate hard drive and pointed LR to it in a designated folder. I used the techniques espoused by LR Queen and Laura Shoe.
 
I would start with Victoria Bampton's Quick Start ebook, which she offers on this site. See attached images from that. No doubt there is some commentary on this LRQ forum regarding how to do this technique. Search the site and something will probably turn up. I believe that LRQ also offers a more in-depth manual for purchase.
Secondly, Laura Shoe sells a training set of discs, and one applies to your query. The disc is called LR 5, 6, Classic CC: The Fundamentals & Beyond. I've also attached an image from that disc's ToC re your question.
I moved my collection of photos to a portable LaCie drive because I can carry my collection with me when I travel and use it on my laptop. Computers periodically break, and I like the safety of a portable library for when that time comes; I also have cloud storage for redundancy.
The process is pretty straightforward and will take about an hour of reading/doing to set it up. Once done, LR will default to sending it to or retrieving it from wherever you keep your photos, whether on your internal hard drive, or a chosen external one. And you can switch it as well down the road too.
I hope this helps.
 

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