What do you do if you open Lightroom Classic and all of your photos seem to have disappeared? Your first reaction can be to panic! Next, many people try to import all their photos again. Don’t do that! You’ll likely lose your precious metadata and edits. Working out what’s happened is usually quite simple.
If you open Lightroom and your catalog is empty, Lightroom has likely just opened the wrong catalog. This is often due to your working catalog being moved, renamed, or stored on a disconnected or differently labeled hard drive. But fear not—the solution is usually simple. All you need to do is locate the correct catalog and open it with a double-click.
If you’re unsure where your catalog is stored, don’t worry (although you should always know where it is and what it’s called as you should be backing it up regularly – here’s our blog explaining how to check). To find it, your operating system’s search tools are there to help. Look for files with an LRCAT extension. If you find multiple files, their size, and last modified date can provide clues about which one is your main working catalog.
Once you establish what you think is the correct catalog, double-click to open it and look around to ensure it’s the latest one with all your photos. That’s it, simple as that! If it’s not the right one, just keep repeating the process until you find your current catalog.
What if I still can’t find my catalog, or it was deleted?
Of course, if your catalog was physically deleted, you may well be able to get it back by checking your Recycle Bin/Trash. But if you still can’t find your main catalog, then it’s time to restore your most recent backup. This is what backups are for, after all!
Lightroom compresses its backups into zip files (unless they get too big), so double-click on the most recent backup to open the zip folder. Then copy the catalog (actually the two files, .lrcat and .lrcat-data) to a folder of your choice. Write down the location so you know where to find your catalog in the future. When you double-click to open the catalog, the photo thumbnails will initially be gray, but they’ll reappear as Lightroom reads the original image files and rebuilds its previews.
Visit this post for more details on how to restore your Lightroom catalog using your backups.
For extensive information on Lightroom Classic, see Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ.
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Excellent advice – this same thing recently happened to me after an update! Wish I’d seen this earlier as I spent sometime locating my photos again and probably added to my grey hairs!