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Why doesn't Lightroom see all the photos in my folder?

New Here ,
Jul 24, 2016 Jul 24, 2016

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I am operating a Macbook running El Capitan and Lightroom 6.1.1

All the photos I want are in the folder yet Lightroom steadfastly refuses to recognize them no matter what I do.

I've synchronize the folder.

I've tried importing them but, again, Lightroom grays them out so it can't import them.

WHAT am I doing wrong?

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Community Expert ,
Jul 24, 2016 Jul 24, 2016

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Although this isn't the Lightroom product forum, it's the Lounge, I found these help articles that may be of interest to you.

Nancy O.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator
Alt-Web Design & Publishing ~ Web : Print : Graphics : Media

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Community Expert ,
Jul 24, 2016 Jul 24, 2016

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The photos are greyed out because they are already imported.

This is Lightroom's way of preventing you importing duplicates, which is a good thing, because it will lead to confusion and problems.

Click on All Photographs in the Catalog panel, and disable any filters. (Ctrl/Cmd+L)

You will now see thumbnails of all the photos in the catalog.

Alternatively, use the filter bar to search for the file names.

It could also be that the photos are in the folder where you think they are, but are not displayed because of an active filter.

Press Ctrl/Cmd+L to disable any filters.

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LEGEND ,
Jul 24, 2016 Jul 24, 2016

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You need to update LR to 6.5.1 from here.

Keeping Lightroom Up-to-Date

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New Here ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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That didn't solve my issues but the reminder was appreciated.

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LEGEND ,
Jul 24, 2016 Jul 24, 2016

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Is it possible that you are looking at the "previous import" rather than displaying the entire folder? After images are imported Lightroom first displays just those images that were imported at that time. If you right-click on one of those images and choose to go to the folder in library, perhaps that will display the rest of your images.

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LEGEND ,
Jul 24, 2016 Jul 24, 2016

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jewboy54 wrote:

I am operating a Macbook running El Capitan and Lightroom 6.1.1

All the photos I want are in the folder yet Lightroom steadfastly refuses to recognize them no matter what I do.

I've synchronize the folder.

I've tried importing them but, again, Lightroom grays them out so it can't import them.

WHAT am I doing wrong?

Most likely you (accidentally?) originally imported the photos using the COPY option, and the photos were imported into Lightroom and exist in Lightroom in some other folder (where the COPY placed them). The instructions others have given are what you need to do. Find the photos in Lightroom.

Importing will not solve your problem. Synchronizing the folder will not solve the problem.

Last, Lightroom is not a file browser. It doesn't see or know what files are in your folders. It only knows what files have been imported.

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New Here ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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OK, yes I believe you're correct about my error.

To compound it further, I removed the original folder, which was in error, and put them where i wanted them using my Mac Finder.

Lightroom sees the folder but refuses to recognize the files.  Is there anyway to get these pictures imported to Lightroom and have the program stop ignoring them?

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LEGEND ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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jewboy54 wrote:

Lightroom sees the folder but refuses to recognize the files. Is there anyway to get these pictures imported to Lightroom and have the program stop ignoring them?

As I said, and as others have said, Importing will not solve the problem. It will only make the problem worse. You have to find the copy of the photo that has already been imported into Lightroom by searching within Lightroom. Per Berntsen explained how to do this in reply #2 in this thread.

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New Here ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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I have removed all the filters as Per recommended.  Those pictures are still not visible in LR.  I also upgraded LR to the current version.

The problem is my own doing (I realize that).  But the files are in the correct folder now.  Is there really not a way to get LR to see them?

I still have the originals in my camera.  Should I delete the last download and reload it?

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LEGEND ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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I have removed all the filters as Per recommended.

That's only part of the instructions. Per recommended you turn off filters, click on All photographs and then search by File Name using the filter bar. You have to do all three things to find the photos.

Is there really not a way to get LR to see them?

Yes, we have given you the instructions to find them. Once you find them, you can fix the problem by telling Lightroom to use the files in the directory you want. We will give you the instructions on how to do this if you find the photos.

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New Here ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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What do you mean by the filter bar? I do not understand (as is fairly

obvious by now).

To me the problem is that the program cannot sync to the present reality of

the folder. I just don’t understand why there isn’t a reset.

I cannot find the pictures (and there are several hundred) in Lightroom but

maybe it’s just because I don’t understand your and Per’s instructions.

I got turning the filters off but I have no idea what you mean by filter

bar to find them.

--

Harry Klane

salesmook@gmail.com

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Community Expert ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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This is the filter bar:

lr-filterbar.png

Make sure only Text is active, and then search for filename or other metadata.

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New Here ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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I do appreciate all the help you and DJ have given me but I am no closer to a solution.

The filters only find stuff that is already visible in Lightroom.

Even though the files are in the very same named folder it cannot find them.

This is terribly frustrating and completely thrown me off my project because some of the last 1000 pictures I've taken were copied over to the program improperly.

So, what have we learned?

We've learned that when transferring photos to LR be DAMN sure they are going to the right place the first time.

Otherwise there appears NO way to fix this.

As I said, the files are ALL in the right directories but they will not, despite your ideas, show up in LR.

Yes, I'm unhappy this is such a problem.

At this point, I don't know what to say or do.

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New Here ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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Should I remove the folder from LR and then is there for me to re assign it (believe there is)?

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LEGEND ,
Jul 27, 2016 Jul 27, 2016

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Otherwise there appears NO way to fix this.

We keep telling you how to find the photos.

The filters only find stuff that is already visible in Lightroom.

Yes, that is what we have been advising, for you to find the photos that are already in Lightroom, and then it is EASY to associate the photos with the ones in the folder that you are interested in.

Did you turn filters off? Yes or No?

Did you click on All Photographs? Yes or No?

Did you use the filter bar to search for one of the files by name? Yes or No?

Did you find the photos of interest in Lightroom? Yes or No? You should be able to find those photos using this method.

If  you found the photos, then the fix is simple.

This is terribly frustrating

Yes, it is for us too because it sounds like you have been extremely reluctant to actually do what we are advising. You have fought against doing it this way and insisted on doing it other ways that we have told you will not work. The entire process shouldn't take even 5 minutes (and probably less than 1 minute) if you do it right.

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New Here ,
Jul 27, 2016 Jul 27, 2016

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No I cannot find the desired photos in LR

Sent from my HAL9000 Abacus to you

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New Here ,
Jul 27, 2016 Jul 27, 2016

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I would love to solve this issue but again, I cannot find the pictures in LR which is why I seem "reluctant."

My reluctance isn't related to avoidance of doing what you're asking, it is lack of understanding since my exact issue is different from what you've expected or built up in your mind.

If I could have just found these files in LR, this would have been over long ago.  I can't so I'm stalled.  I wish there was some way we could just speak on the phone with the program running and we work it out together.

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LEGEND ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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Should I delete the last download and reload it?

No, because you won't be able to import the photos, Lightroom will tell you that they are previously imported.

You HAVE TO stop thinking in terms of importing here, that WILL NOT help.

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LEGEND ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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If you moved the folder outside of Lightroom, you just need to tell LR where you moved it to.

Go to the Library module, Folders panel, right-click on the "missing folder" (marked with a ?) and select "find missing" or "relocate".

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LEGEND ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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It seems likely he imported the photos using COPY and Lightroom now knows about the photos, but they are not in the folder that he thinks they should be. So he has to find them in Lightroom and then he can move them as desired. There are no reported ? icons or ! icons.

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New Here ,
Jul 26, 2016 Jul 26, 2016

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there is no missing folder as I deleted it (I should never have let LR create it) in Mac Finder and have removed it from my preferences

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New Here ,
Aug 05, 2016 Aug 05, 2016

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I am having the same issue on MAC OS X 10.11.6 and LR 2015.6.1

When connecting my external hard drive where 99% of my photos are stored lightroom shows the green dot for the connected hard drive but EVERY single folder on it has the question marc showing that lightroom thinks it is missing.

When relocating a "missing" file lightroom says "the file is associated with another another photo in the catalogue" and the photo it is associated with is the actual "missing" photo I wanted to relocate.

So at one hand LR says something is wrong and at the other one that everything is right.

Any help out there? adobe? how can every update be that buggy?

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LEGEND ,
Aug 05, 2016 Aug 05, 2016

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yebooos wrote:

I am having the same issue on MAC OS X 10.11.6 and LR 2015.6.1

When connecting my external hard drive where 99% of my photos are stored lightroom shows the green dot for the connected hard drive but EVERY single folder on it has the question marc showing that lightroom thinks it is missing.

When relocating a "missing" file lightroom says "the file is associated with another another photo in the catalogue" and the photo it is associated with is the actual "missing" photo I wanted to relocate.

So at one hand LR says something is wrong and at the other one that everything is right.

Any help out there? adobe? how can every update be that buggy?

This is not a bug. This is an unfortunate user error.

Your symptoms indicate that you have (accidentally?) imported the photo twice, and most likely one time you imported using COPY and one time you imported using ADD. If you search for a photo, you will most likely find two copies of the photo in your Lightroom Library, one where you think it ought to be, and one where you don't expect it to be. To search for the photo, click on All Photographs, then turn off any filters (Ctrl-L once or twice) and then sort the photos by file name (View->Sort->File Name) and then scroll up or down until you find the two versions of the same file in your Lightroom library module. Probably one version has edits and user-supplied metadata, and one does not.

The solution is to delete the version that does not have the edits, then reconnect, and you won't get the message "the file is associated with another another photo in the catalogue".

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New Here ,
Aug 05, 2016 Aug 05, 2016

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thank you @dj_paige for your fast reply. I don't think this is a user error. I was working like this for 2 years by now – without any problems so far

I actually found a solution right now: REBOOT. I cannot believe it but everything works well again as if there would haver never been a problem. I am not used to that kind of solutions at an APPLE machine, that is why I did not come up with it immediately.

I have no idea what happened but I just hope that it will never appear again.

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