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Losing Files

R

rcantrell51

New Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2026
Messages
2
Lightroom Version Number
15.4.1
Operating System
  1. macOS 26 Tahoe
  2. iOS
All,
I have LightRoom Classic on my PC, Mac Mini and a MacBook Pro. I primarily use my Mac Mini for LightRoom Classic. I am having a problem with losing a file that I am working. My procedure is download the pictures and delete the pictures that I do not want. Then I edit pictures that I want to keep and post them or email them to the family. After that I move the file to the Library set up the catalog and move the remaining pictures to the file in the catalog. After that step I close LightRoom Classic.
On three occasions after closing LightRoom Classic I will go back in the next day and moved the file that I had previously worked on from the Library to Develop and edit some additional pictures. On these three occasions I have deleted a picture while in Develop and when I delete that picture I lose the complete file. I have to take it to a computer repair to have that file restored. After the last time the computer store told me what to do and it has been successful. Except for today.
Took pictures of my granddaughter's VolleyBall game yesterday and went through process. This morning I opened the file and moved the file to Develop and edited two pictures without a problem, but when I deleted a picture I lost the file. I did the step that the computer repair shop told me to do, but that did not bring up the file.
What can I do to restore these pictures/file? Why do I lose these files when I come to Lightroom to do additional deletion of pictures in the file. I loss the whole file not just the picture that I deleted.
If you have a response to restoring this loss file please make your answer as basic as possible. I am technically challenged.

Thank you for reading and any answers that can be provided.
 
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rcantrell51 said:
On three occasions after closing LightRoom Classic I will go back in the next day and moved the file that I had previously worked on from the Library to Develop and edit some additional pictures. On these three occasions I have deleted a picture while in Develop and when I delete that picture I lose the complete file.
Click to expand...
Very hard to get my head around your workflow, but I do detect a significant mis-understanding of how LrC works. Perhaps I'm wrong, but in reading between the lines it appears that you believe selecting an image in the Library Module and then going over to the develop module with that image makes a copy of the image which the develop module uses which is seperte from the copy you have in the Library Module. With this mindset I can see how you would think that deleting the image in the develop module should not affect the image in the Library Module.

But, this is not how it works at all! The different modules in LrC are not like seperate programs where COPIES of images get created and handed to the next module. All the modules are just different tool sets which can be used to do different things to the same image. If you have an image selected in the library module, what you see is a representation of a physical image on disk (say a JPG). When you then go to the Develop Module, you now have a new set of 'develop' type tools you can use on that same physical image. If one of the things you decide to do in the Develop Module is to delete the image you are deleting the image from everywhere in Lightroom and depending on the option you select, also deleting the image (JPG in my example) from your disk. This is the symptom you are describing.

If you have an image in the Develop Module I don't know what your purpose is in deleting it. If it's a lousy image that you really just want to get rid of, then deleting it is fine and it will be deleted everywhere in LrC and depending on the option you select also deleted from disk. However, if you just decide that whatever edits you did in the Develop Module didn't really help the image all that much and you want to "undo" all the things you may have done in the Develop Module, rather than "deleting", click the "Reset" button at the bottom right and the image will return to how it looked when first imported.
1790530337344.png

On the other hand, if you just want to 'Undo" the most recent edits you just did (i.e. you haven't gone to a different image or back to the Library Module), you can click CMD+z to undo one change at a time in reverse order. (This is a simplistic use of the "undo" command which extends beyond this use, but for this situation can be used this way).

And, If you are happy with your Develop Module edits, just go back to the Library Module and the edits you did in the Develop Module will be there too.
 
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rcantrell51 said:
All,
I have LightRoom Classic on my PC, Mac Mini and a MacBook Pro. I primarily use my Mac Mini for LightRoom Classic. I am having a problem with losing a file that I am working. My procedure is download the pictures and delete the pictures that I do not want. Then I edit pictures that I want to keep and post them or email them to the family. After that I move the file to the Library set up the catalog and move the remaining pictures to the file in the catalog. After that step I close LightRoom Classic.
On three occasions after closing LightRoom Classic I will go back in the next day and moved the file that I had previously worked on from the Library to Develop and edit some additional pictures. On these three occasions I have deleted a picture while in Develop and when I delete that picture I lose the complete file. I have to take it to a computer repair to have that file restored. After the last time the computer store told me what to do and it has been successful. Except for today.
Took pictures of my granddaughter's VolleyBall game yesterday and went through process. This morning I opened the file and moved the file to Develop and edited two pictures without a problem, but when I deleted a picture I lost the file. I did the step that the computer repair shop told me to do, but that did not bring up the file.
What can I do to restore these pictures/file? Why do I lose these files when I come to Lightroom to do additional deletion of pictures in the file. I loss the whole file not just the picture that I deleted.
If you have a response to restoring this loss file please make your answer as basic as possible. I am technically challenged.

Thank you for reading and any answers that can be provided.
Click to expand...
It seems you are a bit like me when I first started using LrC. I was able to use it and edit photos but I really had no idea what was going on under the bonnet. LrC is quite unlike any other software I have ever used and it takes a lot of getting used to. I dont think there is an LrC user out there that has not at one time lost something in LrC. Sometimes its just hidden but sometimes its lost forever. I would seriously suggest watching some of the tutorials that are available to gain a better understanding of how LrC works.

In general terms when you delete a photo in LrC you are given the option to (1) remove from LrC, in which case the photo will be removed from LrC but still be available on your hard drive and (2) delete from computer, in which case the photo will be removed from LrC and deleted from your hard drive, but should still be in your "computer trash".

You also state you have LrC on 3 different computers. This will likely mean you have 3 separate LrC catalogues which will not be the same. This is potentially very problematic, particularly if you ever get around to syncing photos the the Lr Cloud, as you can only sync from one catalogue at a time.

Don't be disheartened by your experience. LrC is a wonderful piece of software. Watch some tutorials and given that you seem to have used LrC quite a lot already it should all fall into place very quickly.

And if and when you get stuck the experts on this forum are here to help you, as they have helped me greatly over a number of years.

Good luck.
 
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Califdan and Mark,
Thank you for your replies. I delete pictures off of the dsc. I like to keep my catalogs as clean as possible and same space on my hard drives. I do not understand why I lost all of my pictures when I only attempted to delete one.
Thank you
 
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rcantrell51 said:
Califdan and Mark,
Thank you for your replies. I delete pictures off of the dsc. I like to keep my catalogs as clean as possible and same space on my hard drives. I do not understand why I lost all of my pictures when I only attempted to delete one.
Thank you
Click to expand...
There is a good chance they are not gone. If you don't see them in Finder, the first thing to try is undeleting them from the Trash; the second is a Time Machine recovery. Both steps assume they were, in fact, deleted.
 
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