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Lightroom anomaly - photo count incorrect and Synchronize does not fix it
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May 13, 2022 16:56:13   #
Robg
 
CHG_CANON wrote:
See that 'arrow' next to the folder 'pictures' entry, that indicates there's a structure. Click / Expand that arrow and see what you find.


You must have missed my sentence in the post accompanying the screenshots:

"You can verify that in the LrC screenshot below because the right pointing arrow/triangle to left
of Pictures is grayed out indicating that subfolders have not been imported. "

That arrow is grayed out and not expandable.

Here is another interesting anomaly that I have not mentioned before. Maybe it casts more light on the situation. After I remove the pictures folder from LrC and re-import it, and observe what is happening, is that the folder count jumps immediately to 159 and then in the next few sub-seconds, increments to 162 as the actual and only 3 files get imported.

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May 13, 2022 17:06:05   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
Robg wrote:
You must have missed my sentence in the post accompanying the screenshots:

"You can verify that in the LrC screenshot below because the right pointing arrow/triangle to left
of Pictures is grayed out indicating that subfolders have not been imported. "

That arrow is grayed out and not expandable.

Here is another interesting anomaly that I have not mentioned before. Maybe it casts more light on the situation. After I remove the pictures folder from LrC and re-import it, and observe what is happening, is that the folder count jumps immediately to 159 and then in the next few sub-seconds, increments to 162 as the actual and only 3 files get imported.
You must have missed my sentence in the post accom... (show quote)


This is a silly guess game. You seem to be pointing the LRCAT to a 'onedrive'. I'm unsure of the impact of this approach. As said earlier, we can't interrogate your catalog directly, seeking to remove you as a distortion filter on the information from the computer. Try asking Adobe to remote into your system to better see the details, rather than an unproductive Q&A on a async UHH message board. <unwatch>

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May 13, 2022 22:00:39   #
frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.
 
Robg wrote:
I agree, that tech support from Adobe may be the best way to get to the bottom of this.

There have been several posts, and I appreciate the help being offered by all who responded.

First, there are no other image files in my Pictures folder other than 4 that are in a subfolder called .picasaoriginals. I've drilled down into the subfolders and I've also opened a command window and with the DIR command and /S switch have searched the entire directory structure for image files. Note that the 4 image files in .picasaoriginals are not showing in LrC because I've not imported from that folder. You can verify that in the LrC screenshot below because the right pointing arrow/triangle to left of Pictures is grayed out indicating that subfolders have not been imported. However, even with the 4 in .picasaoriginals, there are only 7 image files in the entire folder structure, leaving 155 "ghost" images.

In answer to the suggestion from MikeRoetex that I look at one of the ghost images, I cannot do that because LrC is only showing me the three that actually exist.

But I did have some suspicions that there is confusion either in Lightroom or in Windows because "Pictures" is both a folder and a library. This is consistent with the response from Jack13088, whose advice is to just avoid Pictures (and presumably also Documents). I'm beginning to think that's pretty good advice.

A little background information is in order for those who are not overly familiar with Windows libraries vs folders. Many think they are the same thing, probably because at the surface at least, they are indistinguishable. Both can be opened in Explorer windows and in that sense libraries appear to behave just like folders, but they are more. Adding to the confusion. there is both a Pictures library and there is (or actually are) "Pictures" folders. The latter reside in the C:\Users folder structure, one for each user.

The libraries, and there are typically six, are Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos. (Note that two of them - Desktop and Downloads - behave differently and might not strictly be considered to be libraries.) By default, each of these libraries is linked to a folder of the same name within the C:\Users folders. This default arrangement is one of the reasons that many think that a library and a folder are the same. But they are not, because a library can actually be linked to multiple folders, not just to the default folder of the same name.

Look at the third screenshot below. This shows the properties of my "Pictures" as a library, not as a folder. The properties of the Pictures folder are completely different. Rather than try to explain this further, here is a link to a very good discussion of all of this: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-libraries-windows-10

Coming back to the third screenshot below, note that my Pictures library links to 4 folders: Pictures (which is the folder in C:\Users), Downloads and two OneDrive folders that are also within the C:\Users folders.

I had a vague recollection that when OneDrive was installed it did some linking of its folders to the libraries, but until this issue arose had completely forgotten that. However, I have no idea why Downloads is linked into the Pictures library.

Nonetheless, this does not explain the 155 "ghost" images. In fact, the linked OneDrive folders contain many more images than 155.

Also, when importing from LrC, LrC does not show you the libraries. It only shows folders, and you have to drill down through C:\Users to import from Pictures, and the import will be from the Pictures folder and not from the Pictures library.

To test if there was confusion in LrC because the Pictures library is linked to far more folders that just the Pictures folder, I decided to click the Restore Defaults button and force the Pictures library to link only to the Pictures folder. I then removed Pictures from LrC. Quit and restarted LrC. Imported from C:\Users\...\Pictures. It showed me three images would be imported, but after the import the count was back up to the incorrect value 162.

So, eliminating potential confusion between Pictures as a folder and Pictures as a library did not fix the problem.

My next step is Adobe support.
I agree, that tech support from Adobe may be the b... (show quote)


Libraries are not real folders, but a collection of shortcuts to folders, and lightroom will not see these. Lightroom only sees folders.

Libraries can be used to collect images, or anything, that are stored on different drives etc, by creating shortcuts to those files and folders.

The 162 is the number of files that have been imported into Lightroom. I'm guessing they got deleted outside of Lightroom, or your catalog is corrupted. Start a new catalog, import the three images and see what happens. Or content Adobe. As others have said, we are not there and can not see your screen, therefore are mostly guessing.

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May 13, 2022 23:01:05   #
Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY
 
frankraney wrote:
Jack. The pictures folder is an actual folder, that windows uses to store photos, if you do not tell it otherwise. It is not a confusing folder. That is also where lightroom stores the catalogs, unless you tell or otherwise.

So, I'm confused as to what you say about it.


My comments about the “My Pictures” or “Pictures” were an afterthought without adequate pre thoughts.

The Pictures folder created during a Windows install is an alias for C:\Users\Jack\Pictures where Jack is my [user name]. But it also creates Picture alias for Administrator, Public and others.

This week I have a new Windows 11 desktop built by Puget Systems to my configuration for LrC and Ps and my very old Windows 10 machine as I transition from the outdated to the state of the art. So a took the opportunity to see how LrC currently defaults at install compares to my scheme which dedicates a D: (1TB m2 SSD) drive to both the raw files and the catalog files. The default install is to the Picture alias but the path it actually uses is the full C:\Users\[user name]\…. So if one was to use the wrong user name during maintenance or moving to a new machine it would appear lost. Anyway, off topic.

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May 14, 2022 00:08:13   #
frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.
 
Jack 13088 wrote:
My comments about the “My Pictures” or “Pictures” were an afterthought without adequate pre thoughts.

The Pictures folder created during a Windows install is an alias for C:\Users\Jack\Pictures where Jack is my [user name]. But it also creates Picture alias for Administrator, Public and others.

This week I have a new Windows 11 desktop built by Puget Systems to my configuration for LrC and Ps and my very old Windows 10 machine as I transition from the outdated to the state of the art. So a took the opportunity to see how LrC currently defaults at install compares to my scheme which dedicates a D: (1TB m2 SSD) drive to both the raw files and the catalog files. The default install is to the Picture alias but the path it actually uses is the full C:\Users\[user name]\…. So if one was to use the wrong user name during maintenance or moving to a new machine it would appear lost. Anyway, off topic.
My comments about the “My Pictures” or “Pictures” ... (show quote)



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May 14, 2022 05:55:46   #
Robg
 
As per my last post, and as per suggestions from other posters, I contacted Adobe tech support. Ended up sharing my computer with the tech. After about 45 minutes he gave up and elevated the case to higher level support. Unfortunately, the transfer of the chat failed and instead of a transfer the chat disconnected.

So now I'll try again today.

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