HELP! After the new lightroom CC update, one of the catalogs is not showing under recent

[constanced68325191]

Hi!
After the recent update of LR CC, a few of the catalogs I am using is not showing up under recent catalogs. My friend and I are sharing lightroom after her computer crashed, therefor we have different catalogs. She was using a catalog that was always available under the "Recent" table (under the file menu), and since the latest update we can not locate (on the disk drive) where the .lrcat file was stored. It did not merge with the lightroom folder in the "Pictures" folder.

Questions:
1. Would the lightroom catalog folder the she was using have been renamed with the update?
2. Would the catalog file itself have been deleted or removed?
3. Before, on the last update, we had a similar issue and was able to find the catalog in a temp file folder (no luck with that this time around), what happened to the temp .lrcat files from older versions? Have they been renamed, moved, or deleted?
4. Can anyone help? ❤️

PS. I know that neither she, nor I, have purposely deleted these catalogs, or tried to modify the catalog settings.
At this point we are trying to combine all known catalogs into one file in hopes of running across her edit previews (we do still have the original images, we just need the edit previews from her .lrcat)

[dj_paige]

No renaming has happened. No catalog deletion has happened.

Use your operating system's search feature to search ALL disks for files whose name ends with .LRCAT

When you find the catalog(s) this way, double click on the catalog file to openn it in Lightroom.

[constanced68325191]

Thank you. We didn't search every disk. That may be the solution. I will update you once we've tried it. ")

[cmgap · Accepted solution]

1. Would the lightroom catalog folder the she was using have been renamed with the update? When you first update to Classic, Lightroom makes a copy of your catalog and appends the file name with a -2.lrcat. If you've never moved Lightroom, your catalog should be residing in a Lightroom folder in your pictures directory where Adobe installs it by default. Look there to see if you have a -2.lrcat file.

2. Would the catalog file itself have been deleted or removed? It wouldn't have been moved or deleted however if you updated to Classic the icon in your task bar (if you have one) will open your old catalog not the updated catalog. As DJ Paige suggests running a search for .lrcat files should return all files with that file extension. Make sure your externals are connected before searching. When you find the right catalog you may want to change your preferences so that Lightroom always asks you which catalog to open. Note: you can always open Lightroom from the Creative Cloud Manager at the top of your screen if you don't have icons (shortcuts) in your task bar

3. Before, on the last update, we had a similar issue and was able to find the catalog in a temp file folder (no luck with that this time around), what happened to the temp .lrcat files from older versions? Have they been renamed, moved, or deleted? Lightroom never moves or deletes your catalogs. Please see answer in you first question. Do you regularly back up your catalog when exiting Lr? When you quit Lr you can see the location of your backup files. Your backup files shouldn't be located on your internal disk unless that is connected to a cloud based service like Dropbox. If your hardware fails and you can't recover your hard drive any backup on the drive will have been lost.

[dj_paige]

cmgap  wrote

1. Would the lightroom catalog folder the she was using have been renamed with the update? When you first update to Classic, Lightroom makes a copy of your catalog and appends the file name with a -2.lrcat. If you've never moved Lightroom, your catalog should be residing in a Lightroom folder in your pictures directory where Adobe installs it by default. Look there to see if you have a -2.lrcat file.

If the catalog was upgraded, then it could get the -2 indication, but the un-upgraded catalog with the original name remains where it is, not changed or moved in any way.