loss of photos when not using catalog

[taylorf65758665]

I opened the latest updates version of lightroom and imported photos without first creating a catalog....when I closed it and reopened, there were no photos. This was after editing them all, is there a way to get them back?

[JP Hess]

I'm curious as to how you ever worked on images in any version of Lightroom without a catalog. Are you talking about Lightroom CC, the new cloud version, or are you talking about Lightroom Classic CC?

[Neox99]

Lr CC (the forum you are posting to) does not use catalogs not does it use the term Import which implies you are using Lr CC Classic.

Using Lr CC Classic, you can not even open the app without a catalog. If one doesn't exist you will be asked to create one.

Would you so kind as to provide us with which iteration of Lr you are using and the version # thereof/.

(PLEASE - "the latest" is not an answer)

[JP Hess]

Actually, Jim Wilde corrected me on that misunderstanding. Lightroom CC does use a catalog, but it's handled online in a different sense than what we understand when using the "traditional" Lightroom set up. So I don't understand how the original poster could think he edited images in any version of Lightroom without having them in a catalog of some sort.

[taylorf65758665 · Accepted solution]

Hi all! Lightroom Classic CC. I got some help from adobe support last night. It looks as if it created a catalog itself since I didn't when asked to. My photos are back!

[JP Hess]

That is what I suspected. Glad you were able to recover your photos that you worked on.