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Missing folders after upgrading to Lightroom Classic

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birova.l

New Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2020
Messages
4
Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom Classic version: 9.2.1
Operating System
  1. macOS 10.15 Catalina
Hello everyone, I would like to share my problem with you and kindly ask you for your help.

Since I upgraded to a new Lightroom Classic 9.2.1 and let it create a New Catalog 2-2-2.lrcat, all my folders, presets and collections with photos got missing in Devevelop mode.
There is no catalogue or folders in this section anymore.

I think there must be problem that those folders didnt come through the upgrade process, but Im not sure.

Screenshot 2020-04-17 at 17.52.34.png


Screenshot 2020-04-17 at 17.49.49.png


Also, there are some 58 photos left in Library mode, with this sign:

“DSC01639.ARW” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?

I know this could happen, when you move your folders or rename them, but I didnt do anything like that, I just wanted to open my Lightroom CC and work in it, but this sign occured, so I just cliked Upgrade.

Screenshot 2020-04-20 at 13.08.45.png


Could you help me to go through this problem step by step, so I could use the new Lightroom Classic but with all my folders in it, please?

Thank you for your time and help.
Lucy :)
 
You are using MacOS Catalina. Did you upgrade MacOS since you last used Lightroom (before the update)? MacOS Catalina requires you to give Lightroom special permissions to access certain folders, such as your Documents folder. If your images are in (a subfolder inside) the Documents folder, then Lightroom would not be able to find them if it did not have to permissions.

catalinasecurity.png
 
Hello Johan Elzenga,

actually I looked right at the system preferences and I found the panel, like you sent.
I think that last upgrade of macOS on 10.15.4 was before this Lightroom tried to upgrade on Classic 9.2.1

Screenshot 2020-04-20 at 18.29.40.png


Can I ask you what will you recommend?

Thank you
 
OK, so as you can see, Lightroom Classic only has access to your Documents folder, not to the other items shown in my screenshot. What you can do is select 'Full Disk Access', click on the lock icon and enter your password and then add Lightroom Classic there. That makes sure that this problem is not caused by permission issues.
 
Hello and thank you for your help.
Actually it happened, that I solved my big issue, now everything looked somehow normal, except some folders, that I need to find where I moved them, because they are missing.

Can I ask you one more question? Im wondering how you are working with your RAW photos after downloading them from your camera or SD card.
For example:
- you download RAW photos and create a folder, lets say Folder 'A'
- than you import them to LR
- edit them and export...I assume you export them to. lets say, Folder 'B' or subfolder

My question is, how you organize your photos/folders? And do you keep your original RAW photos and export photos in Lightroom?

I would like to learn myself a proper way how to organize my photos, so they would never be missing again. For example, when I moved them or rename the folders.

I hope you understand what I meant.
Thank you very much
 
everything looked somehow normal, except some folders, that I need to find where I moved them, because they are missing.
Use Finder to search for one of the missing images. That should give you some indication where the others are. Then in Lightroom Classic, you can use the "Find missing image" or Update Folder location functions to correct the catalog.
Can I ask you one more question? Im wondering how you are working with your RAW photos after downloading them from your camera or SD card.
...
My question is, how you organize your photos/folders? And do you keep your original RAW photos and export photos in Lightroom?
Lightroom offers several date named folder schemes. Date named folder schemes are the only option to sync Lightroom Cloud images into an existing Lightroom folder scheme. Choose one of the date named folder schemes and import directly from the camera card to the Date named folder scheme in the Lightroom Classic destination panel.

Saving derivative exports back to Lightroom is an unnecessary waste of disk space. You can use the HardDrive Publish Service to create local files temporarily. These derivatives are managed by the Publish Service but they don't get the usual catalog treatment and only the originals can be edited anew. After being published, you can send them on to the final destination (website or 3rd party printer) and then delete the derivative from the published file location. If you need the derivative again, you can always re-publish to quickly generate a new copy.
 
Like Cletus, I do not export any edited images unless I need the exported image for something. And when I do export an image, I trash it after I've used it. If I need it again, I can export it again, so the only image in Lightroom is the raw image. That is the fundamental idea behind Lightroom.
 
Like Cletus and johan, I consider the exported photos as "temporary" files, and I get rid of them once they've been used. If I need them again, I just redo the export.
I have several export presets for different usages (different sizes, different compression, with or without filigrane, etc.). With the export presets being selectable in the contextual menu, it's very fast to regenerate the photo file for whatever usage.
 
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