Missing and / or Offline

[buzzdaddy]

I'm sure this is something that I did and not a problem with lightroom. I went to add a subfolder of a photo shoot I did today. My goal was to make a main folder of the person's name and then make subfolders of the two photoshoots I have done with this person. I tried everything I could think of and the only way I could even get the pictures into lightroom was to import them into a new folder. I then added two subfolders and then start moving everything. Now all of the pictures have the "?" next to them and I'm being told that they are offline or missing. I have seen where they were moved onto my hard drive but it doesn't seem to matter to lightroom.

What is the best way for me to fix this problem and make sure it never happens again? Also, I have made a number of edits to the first photo shoot. Is there a way to make sure I don't lose these changes? If it means anything, I am doing all of this on a mac.

Thank you for the time
Michael

 

[Brad Snyder]

Buzz, welcome to the forums.

If the folders are showing ?'s, right click on them and select 'Find Missing Folder...'

If the images themselves are showing ?'s (upper right of image in Grid View), click the "?" icon, and select Locate in the resulting dialog. As a bonus, nearby images in the same folder should also be re-linked.

From your description, I'm not completely sure how you got in this trouble to start with, but the main rule is, 'once the image has been imported into Lr, don't touch it with Finder, etc' If you have to move it, rename it, delete it, etc, do it within LR.

If you describe the beginning situation in a little more detail, we can tell you how to do the import correctly.

If you think you'll be participating frequently, it's helpful to readers and contributors alike, if you build a signature block with pertinent computer and software specs. Camera and personal stuff (maybe a preferred name?) too if you like. Click 'User CP' at top right of forum.

 

[buzzdaddy]

Detail to begining

First, thanks Brad for repling back to me.

Ok here goes nothing, I had a folder made just for this person. I then did a second photo shoot for this person so I wanted ot make two subfolders. I first wanted to change the main of the main folder to the person's name (which I could do). Then when I went to the + sign in the folders section I would click add subfolder. I would do what I thought was right but it kept making a main folder and not a subfolder. So I made a new main (it's wha the subfold kept doing) folder and then moved the folder into the area that I wanted to. It then said everything for that folder was missing.

BTW, thanks for the help, it worked like a charm.

Michael

 

[Brad Snyder]

You don't say what version of Lr you're using, (or I missed it).
I just tried what you're describing with v2.3, and had no problems with either of two methods:

1)Select the target parent folder, click the plus sign and choose 'Add Subfolder ...'
This is what you indicated didn't work for you, it worked OK for me.
2) Right-click on the target parent folder, and from the dropdown context menu, choose 'Create Folder inside "parent"....'

At least your main problem is fixed.