LR 5 seems to want to reimport all photos upon synchronize

[camner]

I went to synchronize a folder and LR is reporting that it wants to import all the images in the folder, and wants to remove all of the images as "missing" from the catalog. Essentially, LR seems to be saying that it wishes to delete all of the images from the catalog that are currently in the catalog for that folder and then import those same images.

I don't think I want to do this, as it will probably result in a loss of all the edits and metadata I've entered for those images.

As far as I can tell, there is no indication in LR that the images actually are missing (no cursed question mark!).

The screenshots show the folder in question and then the dialog box from the Synchronize Folder folder command.

Am I missing something obvious here? I have not moved any of these images outside of Lightroom (though I've moved a few inside LR), nor have I edited any images outside of LR.

 

[Jim Wilde]

Robert, no you're not missing something obvious...problems similar to this crop up from time to time with no definitive answer. Could I ask you to repeat that identical screenshot, but this time can you change the Metadata view from "RAC Location" to "Exit & IPTC" (with the top part of the display showing)?

Also, could I ask what prompted you into doing the folder synchronise?

 

[camner]

Robert, no you're not missing something obvious...problems similar to this crop up from time to time with no definitive answer. Could I ask you to repeat that identical screenshot, but this time can you change the Metadata view from "RAC Location" to "Exit & IPTC" (with the top part of the display showing)?

Also, could I ask what prompted you into doing the folder synchronise?

Thanks, Jim, for your response.

Your wish is my command!

As for why I (tried to) synchronize, I'm traveling now (to visit my newborn 1st grandson!), and my family is eager to see (even the uncorrected) baby pictures right away. I did some culling of bad shots outside of LR (not typical of my workflow) and I wasn't sure exactly what was and was not in the LR catalog, so I thought synchronize was the way to go. I typically never use that command, but I'm glad I did, since it may be bringing to light a catalog corruption issue (hopefully not more serious than what I've already seen).

 

[Jim Wilde]

Thanks, but sadly no clues there. A couple of questions:

1. Do you ever shoot Raw + Jpeg? More specifically were those particular images shot in that mode?
2. Alternatively, were they imported "normally" or were they imported via "Import from another Catalog?

 

[camner]

Thanks, but sadly no clues there. A couple of questions:

1. Do you ever shoot Raw + Jpeg? More specifically were those particular images shot in that mode?
2. Alternatively, were they imported "normally" or were they imported via "Import from another Catalog?

I used to shoot Raw+jpeg, but none of the images directly imported into the catalog were shot raw+jpeg. The catalog was created by exporting (in the form of a catalog) from my main catalog on my desktop and included about 1500 smart previews of images that WERE shot in raw + jpeg, but I'm pretty sure I had deleted all of the jpegs before exporting.

This was NOT the first time I had synchronized with the catalog, though it WAS the first time I had run into this problem.

In Googling around over the last couple of hours, I found two possible fixes:

1. Create a dummy (empty) folder "at the root level of your Mac" and use the appropriate command to point LR to this empty folder as the location for the images, and then change it back. That did not work.
2. Export as a catalog and use the new catalog instead of the old one (thus losing publish services, etc.). This DID work.

It's frustrating not to know what I did to break things (so I can avoid it in the future), but at least there seems to be a way of repairing things without loss of work (at least the important work of editing and metadata entry).

Thanks again for your help.

 

[camner]

Well, it seems I spoke too soon. My "fix" worked fine, it seemed. Then I went out and shot some more images, copied the images from the camera card to the "final destination," and then went to synchronize again. Once again, LR want to delete all of the files in the catalog as "missing files." I've done absolutely no work in LR since this morning when I "fixed" the problem and synchronize had no problems. In fact, the computer was sleeping the entire day.

This time I discovered a different "fix." I just renamed the offending folder within LR, and then renamed it back. Problem "solved" (at least for now).

Very odd. And frustrating.

 

[Jim Wilde]

Sorry, have no idea why that's happening.

Is that your normal import method, i.e. copy to a folder, then synchronise that folder? Then presumably move files to a different folder after import? If so, wouldn't a "normal" import be easier (and without this problem)? Or were you just doing that to try to ID the problem cause?

For now though, all I can suggest is trying a preferences reset.

 

[camner]

No, synchronizing is not part of my regular workflow; I typically import. I was only trying it again to see if the fix I had applied yesterday still "stuck." It obviously didn't. I'll have to keep experimenting to see if I can correlate the problem with something and then see if I can reproduce it at will. If so, I'll submit a bug report. Meanwhile, hopefully the fix of renaming the folder and then renaming it back will continue to resolve the issue.

Thanks for your help.