lightroom classic cc import errors incorrectly applying 1 star to all photos

[andreajohnsonphoto]

For the last few weeks when I import new images to the latest update on lightroom classic, all photos import automatically with a one star rating.  This happens with new catalogs and new photos, and also when trying to use a new catalog to import from another catalog.  I’ve tried to import with the latest lightroom classic CC catalog on my laptop and on my desktop, both with the same error.  I’ve tried creating new presets to apply while importing, using old presets that worked correctly in the past, and choosing no preset, but none of these options importing fix my star rating problem.

I’m on deadline to present a body of work to a client, trying to create a new catalog with over 60,000 photos with star ratings and am a wits end trying to fix.   I had this same problem with lightroom a few years ago and never had the issue resolved, and now it is happening again. I have a large workflow I need to access quickly, and cannot afford the time or performance issues of uninstalling lightroom and re-installing an older version that didn’t have these star ratings issues.

Please advise how to fix quickly!

[ricky336]

Hi, I am a bit confused as to why you're getting a one star rating. However, i can only think it must be something to do with your presets. Or, it maybe that your images that you want to import may have an imbedded star rating - say from when you took the image. Did you give the image a star rating when reviewing on the camera?

Are you able to import clean raw files from your memory card into Lightroom?

Can't really think of anything else as I have never come across this problem and I am on lightroom 7.2.

However, you can just give a star rating when in Library/Develop module.

[andreajohnsonphoto]

Thanks for the reply Ricky, your suggestion fixed one issue but another issue I've realized is worse than before! 

The good news  - as Per Bernsten suggested I reset the preferences.

(Press Alt+Shift (Option+Shift on a Mac) immediately after clicking the shortcut to launch Lightroom, then click Yes in the confirmation dialog that follows).  Now when I import new or older images previously edited with lightroom in my new catalog reset to factory default preferences I don't get the one star rating error.

So the bad news is that a few days ago lightroom cc classic was overwriting metadata in my photos previously edited in lightroom.  This error is not caused by anything different I've done in my workflow - I have never given an image a star rating when reviewing on the camera, and have used the same preset used for the past - only have my copyright info filled out in the metadata, and even tried setting the presets to none. 

I have approximately 48,000 photos for a client I'm on deadline to organize for a new project, and lightroom overwrote all my star ratings on those 48,000 when I imported to the new catalog.  So now even if I now create a new catalog in lightroom with factory default settings, when I import the 48,000 client photos I cannot revert to previous star ratings - the 1 star rating was overwritten to all these client files and I can't see any previous history to revert to in this new catalog, and can't open the old catalog without updating to the new version of lightroom.

This will take a huge amount of time to re-edit the star ratings on these 48,000 photos.  I'm even more hesitant to use the new lightroom upgrade version on my other older catalogs.  I have over 1 million photos from 10 years of working in lightroom, and am horrified that a new version of lightroom with a bug could overight work I"ve previously done in lightroom.

Can anyone advise how to revert star ratings to previous settings to these 48,000 images that were overwritten with 1 star? 

Unfortunately I upgraded the catalog with the 48.000 photos to the new lightroom version before I realized that new lightroom version was overighting all my star ratings, so I think that even if I uninstall the new version of lightroom and somehow am able to get an old version of lightroom on a computer, those 48,000 photos will have the 1 star rating embedded....

[Per Berntsen]

I think ricky336 may be on the right track - maybe the images have been given the one star rating in some other application before importing.

If that's not the case, I would try to reset the preferences.

Press Alt+Shift (Option+Shift on a Mac) immediately after clicking the shortcut to launch Lightroom, then click Yes in the confirmation dialog that follows.

To remove the one star rating from already imported images:

In Library, press Ctrl+A (Cmd+A) to select all. Then press 0 (zero).

[andreajohnsonphoto]

I just replied to Ricky, thank you too Per Bernsen for your help.  Just in case you didn't see my reply to Ricky, I'm copying here as well.

The good news  - as you suggested, I reset the preferences in lightroom (Press Alt+Shift (Option+Shift on a Mac) immediately after clicking the shortcut to launch Lightroom, then click Yes in the confirmation dialog that follows).  Now when I import new or older images previously edited with lightroom in my new catalog reset to factory default preferences I don't get the one star rating error.

So the bad news is that a few days ago lightroom cc classic was overwriting metadata in my photos previously edited in lightroom.  This error is not caused by anything different I've done in my workflow - I have never given an image a star rating when reviewing on the camera, and have used the same preset used for the past - only have my copyright info filled out in the metadata, and even tried setting the presets to none. 

I have approximately 48,000 photos for a client I'm on deadline to organize for a new project, and lightroom overwrote all my star ratings on those 48,000 when I imported to the new catalog.  So now even if I now create a new catalog in lightroom with factory default settings, when I import the 48,000 client photos I cannot revert to previous star ratings - the 1 star rating was overwritten to all these client files and I can't see any previous history to revert to in this new catalog, and can't open the old catalog without updating to the new version of lightroom.

This will take a huge amount of time to re-edit the star ratings on these 48,000 photos.  I'm even more hesitant to use the new lightroom upgrade version on my other older catalogs.  I have over 1 million photos from 10 years of working in lightroom, and am horrified that a new version of lightroom with a bug could overight work I"ve previously done in lightroom.

Can anyone advise how to revert star ratings to previous settings to these 48,000 images that were overwritten with 1 star? 

Unfortunately I upgraded the catalog with the 48.000 photos to the new lightroom version before I realized that new lightroom version was overighting all my star ratings, so I think that even if I uninstall the new version of lightroom and somehow am able to get an old version of lightroom on a computer, those 48,000 photos will have the 1 star rating embedded....

[Per Berntsen]

I have to admit that I don't understand how this could have happened.

I have upgraded to Classic myself, and all metadata transferred to the new catalog with no errors, as far as I can tell.

I think that even if I uninstall the new version of lightroom and somehow am able to get an old version of lightroom on a computer, those 48,000 photos will have the 1 star rating embedded....

When you upgraded to Classic, your old catalog was not affected - Classic upgraded a copy of the old catalog.

So the old catalog is still on your computer (unless you deleted it), and you can open it with the old version of Lightroom.

If the old version has been uninstalled, you install it from the CC Desktop app. There is no need to uninstall Classic.

To install your old version, click the arrow next to Open for LR Classic, and choose Other versions.