Imported photos come up as missing On LR4

[ionicphotography]

I imported images from an SD card but the import was almost instantaneous. I normally use 'Copy as DNG' which takes a few minutes and so wonder if the 'add' was highlighted in error, as the images only seem to be on Lightroom if my SD card stays in its reader. They do not show in the 'Previous import' figures or in folders underneath my last successful import. When I tried to import them again, the images came up as greyed out and the import failed. This second time, I had the dialogue set to 'copy as DNG'. It says they are already imported !

I get the missing photos symbols on all these images if I remove the SD card - but cannot find them on my computer, after trying the process to locate them.

How can I reverse whatever I've done ? - so that I can import them correctly into folders in my library, as I can't leave the SD card plugged in all the time - I need to use it for new images.

I would appreciate your help please  

Amanda

[Just Shoot Me · Accepted solution]

Normally you can't select Add when you insert a memory card in a card reader. LR is smart enough to know it is a removable drive and won't let you do that. And normally whatever you had selected the last time you imported images is what is the Default selection the next time you open the import dialog window.

From what you have stated in your post it does look like you had the Add option selected. In LR Highlight all those images and right click on one of them and select Remove Photos from the pop up menu. When the Remove Photos box comes up select "Remove" (NOT Delete from Disk). That should remove the reference to them in the LR catalog file and allow you to re-import them. If that happens make sure you go through all the option in the import dialog window to select exactly what and where you want them to be placed