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Lightroom anomaly - photo count incorrect and Synchronize does not fix it
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May 12, 2022 16:34:46   #
Robg
 
Using LrC on Windows 10, both latest versions. LrC says 162 image files in my Pictures folder, but displays only 3.

The latter is correct, there are only 3 image files in the pictures folder and its subfolders that are in the LrC catalog. But 162 is wrong by 159.

OK, so LrC has a right-click command that is supposed to fix this - Synchronize Folder. I've executed that with "Remove missing photos from catalog" checked in the pop-up dialog box. Before you can click on the Synchronize button in the dialog box it says "(counting...)". When the counting finishes it says there are 0 photos to remove. Curiously, it also says that there are 4 new photos to import, which is also incorrect.

When I then click on the Synchronize button, nothing changes. 4 new photos are not imported, and the image file count remains at 162.

I also ran "Optimize Catalog" on the theory that this operation might cause LrC to discover that its file count is incorrect. But that did not change anything.

My next step was to remove the Pictures folder from the catalog, and then re-import it. The import shows three images to import (which is correct), but when the import finishes the image count is again showing the incorrect value of 162 rather than 3.

I can live with this error, but it is disconcerting, as now I don't trust LrC's counts anymore.

Has anybody run into this and, perhaps, know of a way to fix it?

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May 12, 2022 17:55:36   #
Bill_de Loc: US
 
Forgetting Lightroom, how many pictures are showing in the actual "Pictures" folder and its sub-folders on the hard drive?

--

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May 12, 2022 18:32:10   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
How many pictures are stacked? That will change the image count.

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May 12, 2022 21:06:33   #
Robg
 
Bill_de wrote:
Forgetting Lightroom, how many pictures are showing in the actual "Pictures" folder and its sub-folders on the hard drive?

--

Bill, thank you for helping, but there are three image files (jpg) in the pictures folder. No image files in any sub folder.

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May 12, 2022 21:07:30   #
Robg
 
CHG_CANON wrote:
How many pictures are stacked? That will change the image count.


Thank you for helping, but there are no stacked images.

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May 12, 2022 22:05:05   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
Robg wrote:
Thank you for helping, but there are no stacked images.


We're not there to see and interrogate your catalog. I'm confident there's a logical explanation, but this is a guess game without 'seeing' the screen as you see it. You might expand all the subpanels on the left side of the Library model, showing the 'Catalog' and 'Folders' given you're talking only about 160 ish images. Then, screen print and attach the file that seek to show us what you're seeing.

Alternatively, open a technical support chat with Adobe who can remote into your system, 'seeing' things we cannot from just a description.

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May 12, 2022 22:07:48   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
BTW - the folder view shows you every folder ever used to import images into the LRCAT. It includes what LR thinks is the current image count of files loaded from each folder. You should see counts, by folder, that sum to the total count of images in the catalog.

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May 13, 2022 08:21:45   #
mikeroetex Loc: Lafayette, LA
 
Robg wrote:
Using LrC on Windows 10, both latest versions. LrC says 162 image files in my Pictures folder, but displays only 3.

The latter is correct, there are only 3 image files in the pictures folder and its subfolders that are in the LrC catalog. But 162 is wrong by 159.

OK, so LrC has a right-click command that is supposed to fix this - Synchronize Folder. I've executed that with "Remove missing photos from catalog" checked in the pop-up dialog box. Before you can click on the Synchronize button in the dialog box it says "(counting...)". When the counting finishes it says there are 0 photos to remove. Curiously, it also says that there are 4 new photos to import, which is also incorrect.

When I then click on the Synchronize button, nothing changes. 4 new photos are not imported, and the image file count remains at 162.

I also ran "Optimize Catalog" on the theory that this operation might cause LrC to discover that its file count is incorrect. But that did not change anything.

My next step was to remove the Pictures folder from the catalog, and then re-import it. The import shows three images to import (which is correct), but when the import finishes the image count is again showing the incorrect value of 162 rather than 3.

I can live with this error, but it is disconcerting, as now I don't trust LrC's counts anymore.

Has anybody run into this and, perhaps, know of a way to fix it?
Using LrC on Windows 10, both latest versions. LrC... (show quote)

Have you tried opening one of those 159 “extra” images? I’m guessing you have MS Office installed and ran an import of your “C” drive at some point. Those Word art images may be recording as pictures. Open all folders in your tree and see what what one of the naughty 159 looks like. Hover over it with your mouse for a file extension. Might be as simple as a thumbnail to an App on your machine.

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May 13, 2022 10:06:25   #
Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY
 
CHG_CANON wrote:
BTW - the folder view shows you every folder ever used to import images into the LRCAT. It includes what LR thinks is the current image count of files loaded from each folder. You should see counts, by folder, that sum to the total count of images in the catalog.


It should help to read this post carefully and understand what he is saying. Both Finder/Explorer and LR are data bases that you use to keep track of where the bag of bits we are calling an image are physically stored in your computers “storage”. They are distinctly different views.

Explorer/Finder are a view of where the operating system keeps track of where it put them. That is what you told it to do either with commands like read, write, copy, move or delete. You issue those commands by typing, clicking or drag and drop or using a program to manage those things for you.

I will add that I avoid the Pictures folder like the plague it is. It doesn’t reflect the full physical location of that folder but is an nickname developed to assist and confuse you.

LRs “Folder view” shows you only what you told it typically during the “Import” process or instructions in the Library module. That is the current state of the catalog.

These can and will often be different. If you add, delete or move an image (or anything else) behind LR’s back then the view and count will differ. When LR can’t find something in the OS view it will tell you by graying out the folder in it’s Folder view.

When you make a virtual copy in LR it doesn’t ask for a physical copy. Rather it adds a catalog entry pointing to the existing physical copy.

So the counts may differ yet be accurate. And “Synchronize” will not fix what isn’t broken. I never touch synchronize because it can only screw up things.

The Picture folder is a nickname to simplify and conceal the actual folder structure and allow you to innocently botch things.

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May 13, 2022 11:37:53   #
BobPeterson Loc: Massachusetts
 
What about sub folders?

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May 13, 2022 13:59:42   #
frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.
 
Jack 13088 wrote:
It should help to read this post carefully and understand what he is saying. Both Finder/Explorer and LR are data bases that you use to keep track of where the bag of bits we are calling an image are physically stored in your computers “storage”. They are distinctly different views.

Explorer/Finder are a view of where the operating system keeps track of where it put them. That is what you told it to do either with commands like read, write, copy, move or delete. You issue those commands by typing, clicking or drag and drop or using a program to manage those things for you.

I will add that I avoid the Pictures folder like the plague it is. It doesn’t reflect the full physical location of that folder but is an nickname developed to assist and confuse you.

LRs “Folder view” shows you only what you told it typically during the “Import” process or instructions in the Library module. That is the current state of the catalog.

These can and will often be different. If you add, delete or move an image (or anything else) behind LR’s back then the view and count will differ. When LR can’t find something in the OS view it will tell you by graying out the folder in it’s Folder view.

When you make a virtual copy in LR it doesn’t ask for a physical copy. Rather it adds a catalog entry pointing to the existing physical copy.

So the counts may differ yet be accurate. And “Synchronize” will not fix what isn’t broken. I never touch synchronize because it can only screw up things.

The Picture folder is a nickname to simplify and conceal the actual folder structure and allow you to innocently botch things.
It should help to read this post carefully and und... (show quote)


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.

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May 13, 2022 16:26:04   #
Robg
 
CHG_CANON wrote:
We're not there to see and interrogate your catalog.
Alternatively, open a technical support chat with Adobe who can remote into your system, 'seeing' things we cannot from just a description.

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.







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May 13, 2022 16:39:56   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
Your LR screen print shows you've imported 162 images from this folder. Nothing else in your screen printed nor write-up confirms / nor disproves this catalog data. When you click that folder inside LR, you should see the 162 images in the catalog LR imported from that folder. Do those images show the 'missing' icon?

Folders vs Libraries discussion is a RED HERRING. The Windows feature is just a 'fast path' link to the actual directory. There is no difference in content of the actual directory vs a short-cut to the same windows folder. The link / fast-path / short-cut is a link to the folder, not the contents of the folder.

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May 13, 2022 16:46:15   #
Robg
 
CHG_CANON wrote:
Your LR screen print shows you've imported 162 images from this folder. Nothing else in your screen printed nor write-up confirms / nor disproves this catalog data. When you click that folder inside LR, you should see the 162 images in the catalog LR imported from that folder.

I don't agree or don't understand what you are saying. Look at the LrC screenshot, first one in my last post. The "Pictures ... 162" bar is highlighted indicating that I had just clicked on that folder. Look to the right, only three images are being displayed, not 162.

As to folder vs library, I would agree that was not a factor here, since the incorrect count of 162 continues after cleaning up the library so that it is only linked to the folder.

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May 13, 2022 16:48:32   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
Robg wrote:
I don't agree or don't understand what you are saying. Look at the LrC screenshot, first one in my last post. The "Pictures ... 162" bar is highlighted indicating that I had just clicked on that folder. Look to the right, only three images are being displayed, not 162.

As to folder vs library, I would agree that was not a factor here, since the incorrect count of 162 continues after cleaning up the library so that it is only linked to the folder.


See that 'arrow' next to the folder 'pictures' entry, that indicates there's a structure. Click / Expand that arrow and see what you find.

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