When I imported my photos, they got all screwed up.

[Cyndi25]

Lightroom Version Number

Lightroom Classic: Version 9.1 Release, Camera Raw 12.1

Operating System

1. Windows 10

The heading of the main folder is Quora. Under the heading of Quora, for example, there are photos as well as lists of years. When I open a year, some of the photos inside have nothing to do with Quora. I know that many of you like years, but I need a folder that makes sense to me. For example, the year is under a website where I do a lot of writing. Inside the 2015 folder is a mishmash of my dogs, my house, my photographs of scenery, my backyard, etc. I want to take the two dogs and put them in their respective folders by the name of the dog.

I get an error message that says something like "These photos already exist at the destination". If I go to the year folder and highlight them, can I delete them, or will they disappear as well from the Lucy (She's one of the dogs.) folder as well? Can I delete them from the 2015 folder and still have them in Lucy?

I've never figured this out. I move them where I want them, remove, not delete them, from the 2015 folder where they don't belong, and pray for the best. I don't think praying is the correct way to use Lightroom CC. Can someone educate me, please?

I can't find the exact error text that goes with these photos, but I'm sure you have seen it:
These photos already exist at the destination. Why are they in Quora, in a folder labeled 2015 with photos from various trips we've taken?

The bottom line is that I want to know if I delete these photos from the 2015 folder, will they also be deleted from the Lucy folder?
Thanks in advance. I do have the book. I can't find the answer in the book.
Cyndi

 

[Rob_Cullen]

First suggestion-
To make it easier to see exactly what is in each folder- Uncheck the option to [Show Folders in Subfolders] from the Menu/Library:

Now a folder like {1-Quora} will not show all the images within its subfolders (2015, 2017, etc). Only files in the {1-Quora} parent folder will be shown.

Second-
This problem can arise if the import of the photos on the hard-drive was done with the 'Copy' option. This would cause Lightroom to reference the 'copied' files, and when you try to move them Lr is recognizing the 'originals' and hence "These photos already exist at the destination" .
Consider that Lightroom will only allow one instance of a file to be imported to the Catalog database. So your Lr catalog will not know of other existing duplicates of your photo files (until you try to move).

Do NOT delete any files until you discover why the warning message appears.
You may need to use File Explorer to help determine if duplicates of the files actually do exist on the hard-drive.
You can find the folder location of any photo in the Lr library by a [Right-Click] and [Show in Explorer].

 

[Cyndi25]

Thank you for your suggestions. I did uncheck "Show folders in Subfolders.) The number of photos under Quora 1 decreased dramatically. I went into the years at that point and started to move the photos where I wanted them. One photo, of several, couldn't be moved. I checked the folder where I wanted to move it to, and there was not a photo with the name "backyard-firepit (3). I renamed the photo to something else and stuck it in the Backyard folder. I don't know if this is the way I was supposed to do it, but it got it out of where it was and put it under the 1432 Richardson folder. It seems very tedious to do this, but I guess, in time, it will be done.

I'm not young, and right now I feel as though this is going to be a race to the finish. Will the catalog work for me or will I die before it's done?


How should I have imported the photos? They are all nicely organized in the file manager.

Again, I have all the books. Perhaps my brain is going south too.

As bad as it is now, trust me, it was much worse. The original catalog was so screwed up, I recreated it. I never want to do that again.
Cyndi

 

[clee01l]

I'm not young, and right now I feel as though this is going to be a race to the finish. Will the catalog work for me or will I die before it's done?

If you photo is any indication of your age, you have plenty of time. I just turned 73 and find answering questions such as yours a fun past time.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

I get an error message that says something like "These photos already exist at the destination".

There's 2 possible causes of this message:
1. The photo is in Lightroom's catalog in that folder, but might be marked as missing because it's no longer in the folder on disc.
2. The photo isn't in Lightroom's catalog, but there is a file of that name in the folder on disc.

To determine how to fix it, you have to determine which is the cause. Then:
If it's 1, then you decide which Lightroom record to keep and remove the other, then make sure that Lightroom can find the original file of the one you keep.
If it's 2, then you look in Explorer and move/delete the duplicate file in the destination folder, and then Lightroom will let you move it.