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Import Strange Folder Behavior

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tjcadwalader

Member
Joined
May 28, 2013
Messages
55
Location
Cheboygan, MI
Lightroom Experience
Advanced
Lightroom Version
Operating System:Mac 10.13.1
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info):Classic

I am seeing some strange behavior on importing images, either from RAW on a camera card or JPEG on a thumb drive.
My work has always been to create a folder in the Folder panel of the Library Module of Lightroom. Then import and set thew destination to the newly created folder in the import panel.

As of 3 days ago this importing has some strange behavior. Now I should mention that my Catalog and Library are in the default Picture folder of the boot drive. (2TB SSD)
What I see:
1) The destination folder shows 0 after the import
2) A new phantom folder is created with the images inside.
3) The path for the folder is identical to what I had created prior to the import except the new folder is outside of the picture folder, in fact it shows even when the user folder is closed.
4) If I right click on a newly imported image and select show in finder, it shows it in the destination folder I had selected, not the phantom folder.???
5) If I try to drag the images into the destination folder I get a pop up window saying they can't be moved because they already exist. ???

I have made a screen movie of this behavior, it should be below.
 
It looks like you are victim of the notorious 'capitalization problem'. There are several threads here that deal with this, so search on 'case sensitive' and see if that gives you enough information to solve this. If not, we can help you with it. One thing you can try first is not create the folder from within Lightroom, but do it in the Finder. You do not need to create it from Lightroom, because the import dialog will show any folder on the disk.
 
Ok I have read several post about my issue, and indeed it appears that uppercase/lowercase bug has bitten me. In my case the issue goes all the way back to users name. In the seas OS my users name is toms, lower case. Right now in Lightroom the path to my images insures/Toms/Photos/etc.
The phantom folder is users/toms/Photos/etc. Somehow my users name went to uppercase? The phantom folder has it correct. It appears that every import will create a new path with toms lower case. I guess I would need to change (rename) the path to the bulk of my images back to toms lower case. This makes the hair on the back of my neck stand out straight.
My other option is to go into Time Machine and restore to point that is before this behavior started. About last Friday. Or I could go back to just after updating to classic. I think I only had one import from the camera after that and I could get a DNG export of those images that I kept and then re-import those.
Any thoughts?
Screen Shot 2017-11-08 at 3.50.33 PM.png
 
The easiest way to fix this is as follows:

1. Take a catalog backup, just in case something goes wrong (it hasn't yet).
2. In the Folders Panel, right-click on "Users/Toms" and select "Hide This Parent".
3. Right-click on the "Desktop" folder and select "Remove"
4. That should leave "Pictures" as the new Parent Folder with the 29497 images.
5. Outside Lightroom, use Finder to create a new folder outside the user Pictures folder (the root of the Macintosh HD will do fine). Name it "CapsFix".
6. Back in Lightroom, right-click on the "Pictures" folder and select "Update Folder Location", and in the resulting file browser navigate to and select the "CapsFix" folder that you just created. "Pictures" will disappear, and "CapsFix" will appear, all the sub-folders will be listed as "missing" (no worries, this is expected).
7. Now right-click on "CapsFix" and again select "Update Folder Location". Now navigate to and select the "Pictures" folder. You should get a "merge" warning message, if so click on "Merge" and everything should slot back into place.

If anything doesn't happen as described, stop there and report back.
 
Thank you for this suggestion. It looks like a good Plan. Assuming This goes as planned....do I just leave the library in the root of the boot drive going forward?
 
Step 1 was to take a catalog backup (have you done that?). So I assume you mean step 2?
However, the current Folders Panel looks nothing like the Folders Panel from your previous post (which is what I was using to prepare the fix instructions). What happened in between those two screenshots to cause the structure to change?
 
Yes I did mean step 2. The only thing that changed is I did s show parent for one of the folders. The structure is the same I believe, just showing a different order. plus now the image counts are the same. I have 2 users in the Lightroom structure.
Toms & toms
It looks to me like mt original user was changed to uppercase.
 
The problem is that in doing that "show parent", it has introduced an additional issue, which happens occasionally on Mac systems. I think Johan may have a better idea of the cause.

The dilemma now is how to deal with the two issues, the "Volumes" problem and the "Capitalisation" problem, as I've never encountered them both at the same time. I suspect we may end up reverting to the catalog backup you made!!

For now, if you have taken that catalog backup, can you try right-clicking on that very top "/" folder, and select "Hide This Parent". If that works, can you do the same on the "Volumes" folder at the bottom of the Folders Panel. If that works, close and restart Lightroom, and take another screenshot of the Folders Panel.
 
Yes, 'Hide Parent' should work. The Mac has a hidden 'Volumes' folder, where it keeps track of external disks. If you use 'Show Parent' too many times in Lightroom, your disks disappear from the folder panel and this 'Volumes' folder appears. The disks show then as subfolders of the 'Volumes' folder. The parent of 'Volumes' is the root of the Mac, shown as a slash.
 
To be honest, I'm no longer 100% certain that the standard fix for the capitalisation problem is appropriate, as the goalposts have moved somewhat since your original screenshot where the problem was more clearly defined.

However, provided you have that catalog backup safely stored away, there's probably little option other than to try the usual fix. Before doing that, however, can you confirm that the total number of images in the "All Photographs" special collection in the Catalog Panel is 29581 (and not double that)?
And confirm in Finder that your current username is "toms", and not "Toms"?

Assuming they are both confirmed, go back to the list of actions in post #5 and start at Step 5. When doing Step 6 you should be right-clicking on the "Pictures" folder that is listed under "Toms", not the one under "toms".

Again, stop if you encounter any issues.
 
Thanks.
I will double check to be certain, but my users name is lower case toms
I am away right now and will try this again once I am back home.
Thank you again for your help
 
Ok, I think we did good. :). Screen shot below. So now I remove or delete the Toms folder with all of the images, but no subfolders.
The lower case toms looks ok in my brief check of things.
Thank you so much Jim and Johan. You have been a major help.
Screen Shot 2017-11-10 at 2.56.39 PM.png
 
Before you remove "Toms", suggest another catalog backup....just in case!
 
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