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why don't my images appear?

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Ron Emmons

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Joined
Jun 20, 2017
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4
Lightroom Experience
Beginner
Lightroom Version
Operating System:OS X 10.13.2
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info): Lightroom Classic CC

It seems like many people I upgraded to Classic without realizing that would delete the previous version (2015) and now most of my images don't appear in the navigator. When I try to re-import, I find that all images are already in the catalog, but how can I get them to appear in the navigator?
 
Are they just not in the Navigator (that little image in the upper left corner) or do you have a general problem of images not displayed (like in the grid too)? And are you sure the Navigator window is not simply collapsed?
 
The navigator window is not collapsed. Please see screenshot below, which shows 90,000 images in catalog, 87,000 in 'Ron's 4TB' (my back-up disk), but only 3000 in 'Images' (my main disk for keeping library). Most of these 3000 have been uploaded since switching to LR Classic CC, but I don't know how to make the other 87,000 images that are on this disk reappear in the navigator. Any suggestions?
 

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If 'Ron's 4TB' is your backup disk, then that disk should not show at all in Lightroom. The fact that it does means that Lightroom keeps track of the backups instead of the originals. That is also why it doesn't want to import them again (and you should not try to do that). What you should do is the following:

1: Make a backup of your catalog first.
2: Right-click on the 'IMAGES' folder on the 'Ron's 4TB' disk and choose 'Update Folder Location'.
3: You will get an standard 'Open' dialog box. In that dialog navigate to the 'IMAGES' folder on your main 'IMAGES' disk and select it.
4: You will get a warning that this folder already exist and the question if you want to merge them. Click 'Merge'.
5: Now all your 90,000 images should show on the main disk, and the backup disk should no longer be shown in Lightroom at all. You may have to restart Lightroom before you see them.

If any step doesn't work as described, stop and report back.
 
Many thanks for trying to help. I got as far as step 2, but then don't get an option to update folder location when I right-click on the Images folder (see screenshot below). Will any of these other options work?
Screen Shot 2560-12-24 at 11.39.55.png
 
You need to right-click on the folder from within Lightroom, not in the Finder.
 
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