Working in Photoshop and LR, suddenly photos vanished

[jonholcombe]

I was editing a ".NEF" in Lightroom and Photoshop, by clicking "Photo > Edit In > Edit in Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.5".

Normal workflow, I edited the file, and saved a copy with the ".-Edit" suffix. I then resaved the same file a couple of times, so I ended up with multiple versions of the same file, which I could see in the "Develop" module . I then made a couple of revisions to the latest version, and this time Photoshop asked me to save it (instead of the file automatically saving as an "Edit"), to the correct Lightroom folder, which I did. When I clicked on the file, all of the edited files and the original source file, (except one edited file), disappeared. All of the files are still physically present in the actual folder on my hard drive (Mac OSX 10.11.6), but I cannot import them back into Lightroom. It's as if Lightroom has decided that they aren't there and is refusing to reimport them.

I optimized Lightroom (that could have been a mistake, don't know), but no luck.

[dj_paige]

When I clicked on the file,

Details are very important. Explain this. Where did you click? Was it in Lightroom or PS or some other software (your operating system)? Was it the LR Develop Module or the Library Module or somewhere else? Left-click or right-click or drag-and-drop or what? Are you sure you didn't accidentally click somewhere else at about this time? Nowhere do you actually specify where the files are missing from ... I assume you mean they are missing from Lightroom, is that correct? Again, where in Lightroom are they missing ... Folders or All Photographs in Library Module, or Develop Module, or somewhere else? Can you show us a screen capture of what you see now?

Have you actually looked in Lightroom for your photos? You don't say that you have. If you click on All Photographs in Lightroom, and turn off all filters, can you find the photos? What if you look in Lightroom in the folder panel, do the photos appear if you click on a folder name?

Do you have recent backups of your catalog file?

[jonholcombe]

I was in Lightroom in Library module when the photos disappeared. I cannot say where or how I was clicking with certainty, they just seem to vanish. Can I be sure that i didn't absolutely click somewhere else? If it was an accident how would I know?

The photos went missing in Library module, when I was in the specific folder ("2016-06-13 Snake on Penn Swamp Branch Rd"). When I click on "All Photographs", I see other photos from that folder, but not the missing photos. When you say have I actually looked for the photos, I do not know what you mean. I was working in the folder that they were present in, and imported into, when they dissapeared. When I searched for the files by name, in Folder > Library Filter > Text, I cannot find the missing files.

I have multiple back-ups of the hard drive that contains my Lightroom photos.

[dj_paige]

When you say have I actually looked for the photos, I do not know what you mean.

I probably should have said, have you actually searched for the photos in Lightroom, using the Lightroom search tools.

So, click on All Photographs, make sure filters are turned off, and then using the Filter Bar, search for one of the "missing" photos by file name or other metadata.

[jonholcombe]

Thanks. I clicked on All Photographs, turned filters off, entered "DSC_1326-Edit-Edit-2-Edit.psd" in the text field, and a couple of the other files names, of files that I can still see in the finder that are definitely in the correct Lightroom folder, and Lightroom cannot find the files. Also, I move files only within Lightroom, never in the Finder.

[dj_paige]

jonholcombe wrote:

Thanks. I clicked on All Photographs, turned filters off, entered "DSC_1326-Edit-Edit-2-Edit.psd" in the text field, and a couple of the other files names, of files that I can still see in the finder that are definitely in the correct Lightroom folder, and Lightroom cannot find the files. Also, I move files only within Lightroom, never in the Finder.

What if you just search for 1326 in Lightroom?

Do you have a recent backup of your catalog file?

[jonholcombe]

I searched for just "1326" and it found the one file that was did not go missing, and the two files that I reimported from backup after the problem began. It would probably just be easiest for me to drag the files that are missing in Lightroom, but I can see in my Finder folder, onto my desktop, go back into Lightroom and reimport them. The most recent backup of the catalog file is from 2 PM yesterday and I have done some work subsequent to that. Unless you think the catalog file is completely corrupt, but right now, problem seem to be isolated to the 3 missing files.

[jonholcombe]

I just realized that when I tried to re-import the missing files into the folder, I can see them, greyed out, as if Lightroom knows they are there and doesn't think that I need to reimport them. But when I go out of Import module and back into Library module, the files in question are still missing.

[dj_paige · Accepted solution]

Add one more step into the search, turn off stacking (Photo->Stacking->Expand All Stacks).

Convince me you are searching for the files properly. Show me a screen capture so I can see you have clicked on All Photographs and no filters are active and you are searching by file name, like this:

[jonholcombe]

That's it, thanks. "Expand all stacks" immediately returned the photos to the folder (I guess they were never gone), and all photos are now showing up. I have never used stacks so would not have known to "unstack". Is it possible that I inadvertantly stacked the photos that went missing without realizing it?

[dj_paige]

That seems to be the explanation.

You can unstack the photos if you want, select all photos then Photo->Stacking->Unstack.

[jonholcombe]

Thank you for taking the time to walk me through this, you've been exceptionally helpful.