Library module Subfolder with photos not showing up under FOLDERS

[Michael L]

Lightroom Version Number

Classic CC 8.1

Operating System

1. macOS 10.14 Mojave

The other day I created a subfolder on an external hard drive and copies photos from my card into the subfolder. I then imported those pictures into Lightroom. The photos show under Previous Import so I can process them. However, the subfolder with those same photos is not showing up in the Folders section for that external drive. I also noticed that the XMP files are not being copied to that subfolder on my external drive. An earlier subfolder with different photos in the same Parent folder is showing up and has XMP files for the photos that I made adjustments in the Develop module are on the external drive. What did I do wrong? Why doesn't the subfolder show up and why aren't XMP files being created?

 

[Roelof Moorlag]

Why doesn't the subfolder show up

What happens when you rightclick on one of the images in the 'Previous import' and click 'Go to folder in library'?

why aren't XMP files being created

This is a setting and maybe that has changed?
It is in Menu/Catalog settings under Tab 'Metadata' > Automaticaly write changes into XMP

 

[Michael L]

What happens when you rightclick on one of the images in the 'Previous import' and click 'Go to folder in library'? It jumps to Pictures on my Mac's hard drive, although I never copied them there, just to the external drive


This is a setting and maybe that has changed?
It is in Menu/Catalog settings under Tab 'Metadata' > Automaticaly write changes into XMP

I previously checked the catalog settings before I wrote my question. It was still set to automatically write XMP

 

[Michael L]

What happens when you rightclick on one of the images in the 'Previous import' and click 'Go to folder in library'? I did a little more investigation through Finder and found that the photos are in both Pictures on my Mac's hard drive and in the subfolder on my external drive. I only copied the photos to the external drive.


This is a setting and maybe that has changed?
It is in Menu/Catalog settings under Tab 'Metadata' > Automaticaly write changes into XMP

I found that the XMP files are being written to the Pictures folder on my Mac's hard drive, but not to the subfolder from which imported the photos. Has my Lightroom Catalog been corrupted?

 

[Califdan]

1) Be sure you are using the "Add" mode (rather than "copy" or "move" on the import dialog, If not, LR will move or copy the images to some other folder specified in the Import Dialog (bottom of right panel group).

2) Follow advice of Roelof and right click on one of the images in the 'Previous import' and click 'Go to folder in library'. This will take you to the folder where the images are. From there you can drag them (using the fodlers panel in LR) to where they should be. Also, the XMP's are probably there as well and will move along with the images.

 

[Michael L]

1) Be sure you are using the "Add" mode (rather than "copy" or "move" on the import dialog, If not, LR will move or copy the images to some other folder specified in the Import Dialog (bottom of right panel group). - Thanks for your response. I did use the ADD function while importing, not the COPY or MOVE. Could Lightroom have copied the photos to my PICTURES folder on my Mac's hard drive even though I did not instruct it to?

2) Follow advice of Roelof and right click on one of the images in the 'Previous import' and click 'Go to folder in library'. This will take you to the folder where the images are. From there you can drag them (using the fodlers panel in LR) to where they should be. Also, the XMP's are probably there as well and will move along with the images.

1) Be sure you are using the "Add" mode (rather than "copy" or "move" on the import dialog, If not, LR will move or copy the images to some other folder specified in the Import Dialog (bottom of right panel group).

2) Follow advice of Roelof and right click on one of the images in the 'Previous import' and click 'Go to folder in library'. This will take you to the folder where the images are. From there you can drag them (using the fodlers panel in LR) to where they should be. Also, the XMP's are probably there as well and will move along with the images.

- As I mentioned in my response to Roelof, I did try right clicking on Previous Imports and clicking on Go to Folder in Library and Lightroom said that the photos were in my PICTURES folder on my Mac's hard drive even though that is not where I originally copied them from my card. Doesn't make any sense to me. As to the idea of dragging them to the right folder through Lightroom, the photos are already on my external drive. It's just that Lightroom does not recognize that subfolder at all. Just plain does not show up.

 

[Jim Wilde]

A screenshot of the Folders Panel, after you've done "Go to Folder in Library", would perhaps be helpful. It is entirely feasible to inadvertently do a "Copy" or "Move" import by mistake, so as well as doing that screenshot try doing "Show in Finder" to see where the images that have been imported really are.

 

[Michael L]

A screenshot of the Folders Panel, after you've done "Go to Folder in Library", would perhaps be helpful. It is entirely feasible to inadvertently do a "Copy" or "Move" import by mistake, so as well as doing that screenshot try doing "Show in Finder" to see where the images that have been imported really are.

The photos I imported from my external drive do not show in my Folders Panel, just Catalog as Previous Import. That's part of the problem. If I right click on Pictures on my Mac's hard drive folder it does show that they are there in the Pictures folder in Finder. But I never copied them to Pictures in the first place.

 

[Califdan]

I suspect that when you imported, you used the "Move" mode in the Import dialog rather than the "Add" mode. The "Add" mode leaves the images where they are. The "Move" mode moves them to a new location and the "Pictures" folder is the default if no other destination location is selected.

In your Folders panel in LR, are you saying you expanded the "C" drive and then expanded the "Users" , "<yourname>", and "Pictures" folders and the images are not present there as can be seen in the Finder screen shot? Or, are you saying that the images are not showing in the Folders panel under the external drive where they were and where you desire them?

 

[Michael L]

I suspect that when you imported, you used the "Move" mode in the Import dialog rather than the "Add" mode. The "Add" mode leaves the images where they are. The "Move" mode moves them to a new location and the "Pictures" folder is the default if no other destination location is selected.

In your Folders panel in LR, are you saying you expanded the "C" drive and then expanded the "Users" , "<yourname>", and "Pictures" folders and the images are not present there as can be seen in the Finder screen shot? Or, are you saying that the images are not showing in the Folders panel under the external drive where they were and where you desire them?

Would the Move mode move the photos from the original location on my external drive to the Pictures folder on my C drive or just copy them. The reason I ask is that the photos are in both locations, both my C drive and my external drive. As to your second question, my C drive with Users, My Name, Pictures is showing up in the Folders section of Lightroom. What is not showing up in Folder is the original subfolder I copied the photos to from my card and from which I Imported into Lightroom. In any case, I created a Collection of said photos and am now working on the photos from that new Collection folder.

 

[Califdan]

Would the Move mode move the photos from the original location on my external drive to the Pictures folder on my C drive or just copy them. The reason I ask is that the photos are in both locations

The "Move" option moves them (i.e. they are no longer in the original location, just the new location). The "Copy" (or "Copy as DNG") makes a copy in the new location but leaves them in the original location. In this case the copy in the new location are the ones that LR considers the correct ones (i.e. are shown in the folders panel). If the destination were the "Pictures" folder (either by choice or default), and you used the "copy" mode with a destination of "Pictures" then in LR the images would show up as being in the "Pictures" folder on the C: drive. However, if you looked in Finder you would see the images in both Pictures on the "C" drive as well as in their original location on the external drive. This is exactly what you describe as the situation.

The Folders panel only shows folders (and if enabled, parents of those folders) that contain images known to the currently open LR catalog. When you used the "copy" mode of the import dialog, it instructed LR to COPY the images from the external drive to the Pictures folder and to use the copy in the Pictures folder as the ones to be imported and to ignore the copy on the external drive. So, once the import was done, LR was unaware of the copy on the external drive and thus does not show the folder in the folders panel as there are no images in that folder that LR knows about (it knows about the copy in Pictures, not the copy on the external drive)

I created a Collection of said photos and am now working on the photos from that new Collection folder

A collection is sort of a "virtual" folder but does no change the physical location of any images. Even though you have them in a collection, this does not alter the fact that the underlying images are still physically in the "Pictures" folder. If all your other images are on the external drive, I think it's somewhat risky to have a few of them in the Pictures folder. For example they may not be backed up along with those on the External Drive. Let us know if you need advice on how to get LR to know about the ones on the external drive instead of those in the Pictures folder. There are several methods one can use and the choice depends on how much (if any) work you've done on these images since they were imported.

Dan

 

[Michael L]

The "Move" option moves them (i.e. they are no longer in the original location, just the new location). The "Copy" (or "Copy as DNG") makes a copy in the new location but leaves them in the original location. In this case the copy in the new location are the ones that LR considers the correct ones (i.e. are shown in the folders panel). If the destination were the "Pictures" folder (either by choice or default), and you used the "copy" mode with a destination of "Pictures" then in LR the images would show up as being in the "Pictures" folder on the C: drive. However, if you looked in Finder you would see the images in both Pictures on the "C" drive as well as in their original location on the external drive. This is exactly what you describe as the situation.

The Folders panel only shows folders (and if enabled, parents of those folders) that contain images known to the currently open LR catalog. When you used the "copy" mode of the import dialog, it instructed LR to COPY the images from the external drive to the Pictures folder and to use the copy in the Pictures folder as the ones to be imported and to ignore the copy on the external drive. So, once the import was done, LR was unaware of the copy on the external drive and thus does not show the folder in the folders panel as there are no images in that folder that LR knows about (it knows about the copy in Pictures, not the copy on the external drive)



A collection is sort of a "virtual" folder but does no change the physical location of any images. Even though you have them in a collection, this does not alter the fact that the underlying images are still physically in the "Pictures" folder. If all your other images are on the external drive, I think it's somewhat risky to have a few of them in the Pictures folder. For example they may not be backed up along with those on the External Drive. Let us know if you need advice on how to get LR to know about the ones on the external drive instead of those in the Pictures folder. There are several methods one can use and the choice depends on how much (if any) work you've done on these images since they were imported.

Dan

Hi Dan, thanks for your detailed response. While I thought I was using ADD, I guess something must have happened. As to moving the photos. I am finished working on the files and have done the needed exports already. I don't think I will be working with them much again. So, no need to mess around anymore. I will just leave it the way things are.