How do deleted photos sync with a LR catalogue?

[Zak833]

I have a main Pictures folder from which I have manually removed a few hundred pictures. How do I get Lightroom to recognise this and update the catalogue accordingly?

Additionally, if I have added new photos to the Pictures folder, when I import after finding the folder and selecting "New Photos" (per below), it seems to overwrite the contents of the existing catalog with just the new photos. Is the correct way to select "All Photos" and then it will scan the entire catalogue, only adding the new ones (and possibly removing deleted ones, per the first question?)

Thank you!

[JP Hess · Accepted solution]

For the photos that you manually deleted outside of Lightroom you will have to right click on them and choose to remove them from the catalog. Actually, it's probably better to delete photos from within Lightroom. That way you can keep the catalog synchronized. Whenever you import new images Lightroom defaults to showing just the previously imported images. To get to your other images you can go to the library module and choose the other folders. You can change the behavior so that Lightroom doesn't automatically just show the previous import. That is an option that can be changed in the Lightroom preferences.

[Zak833]

Very helpful, thanks!

[Zak833]

I suppose another way is to delete the catalog and reimport (it then won't pick up the missing photos). However, if I delete a catalog, from your other response it sounds like that will also delete all of the adjustments I might have made to any pictures? Does Lightroom therefore back the catalogs up somewhere?

Thank you for your help.

[Just Shoot Me]

You need to read up on how LR works and how to work with LR.

Please view these links and the tutorial contained in them.

http://laurashoe.com/2016/10/27/new-to-lightroom-an-introduction-to-lightroom/?utm_source=MadMimi&ut...

Lightroom CC tutorials

[JP Hess]

You really don't want to delete your catalog. In reality, the catalog is the only file the Lightroom opens. Your images are displayed in Lightroom in a database image object. All of the adjustments that you make in Lightroom are applied to the image as it is displayed in Lightroom.. However, those adjustments do not get applied directly to the image file. In order to have an image with all of your Lightroom adjustments you need to export a copy to be used for e-mail or posting on the web or to send to a lab, etc. Lightroom does perform backups.  If you look at the menu options you'll find an option for  catalog settings or preferences. You can configure how often Lightroom backs up the catalog and where the catalog backup is stored. You definitely want to back up the catalog on a regular basis. I'm not a very prolific photo shooter. So I'm comfortable with backing up my catalog on a weekly basis. If you are shooting more often and have  critical images you might want to consider backing up more frequently. Taking good care of the catalog is of prime importance. If you lose the catalog, you might still have all of your images. But all of the work you have done in the Lightroom will be gone.

[Zak833]

Thank you Just Shoot Me​, I will be checking out all of those tutorials this coming weekend. You're right.

JimHess​ that's very helpful, thank you.

[Zak833]

@JimHess, actually a further question this left me with. Since LR is nondestructive, if I ever wish to transfer the new images I've created in Lightroom to another platform, then i suppose the only way will be to export the entire catalog and import those images to the new platform?

I suppose the unavoidable drawback there is that your "original" images in that case will then be the adjusted ones vs. The "actually original" images in your desktop folder...

[Just Shoot Me]

You wouldn't export the Catalog, you would export all the images in the catalog to a file type, TIFF for instance, to Burn In the edits you did on all the images so the other platform can see them. No other program, other than Adobe Camera RAW, can read the edits done in LR even if they are stored in a XMP sidecar file.

[Zak833]

Thank you @Just_Shoot_Me, very helpful as always. I bought the course you recommended, so (hopefully!) I'll soon have fewer questions from now on.