kitrn23

I recently changed my organizing in LR from folders to collections. There were a few hiccups, but managed to fix problems and now everything was working until I did a import. I followed Scott Kelby's system and imported to a external drive and into LR> Now LR tells me photos cannot be found. They are not in the external hard drive or any where I looked. Did a Locate but still no luck. All I have are the previews which show up in the Previous import box.
Help

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Alas, you're mixing a number of terms, making it difficult to understand what (and what not) you're actually doing.

First, collections are entirely virtual and entirely inside your LR catalog. Nothing gets into any LR collection until the images are first successfully imported into the LRCAT.

Next, folders exist on disk, external to LR. You still must continue to maintain folders on disk holding your original image files. Whether you view the folder structure inside LR, that's your viewing preference, but still folders will exist in your image management workflow.

These clarifications stated, it seems you're trying a work flow where:

a, you copy your image files from the camera card into a new folder on your external drive.
b, you then start Lightroom Classic and run an import (Add) those images from the external drive into your LR catalog.
c, you organize your images into LR collection(s), where appropriate.

Why your images are not found, we'd have to be there to 'see' the situation as the initial description doesn't have enough detail. Are you missing all images or just new images? If everything is missing, you need to check the drive name / letter for the external drive, both inside and outside the LRCAT. On a Windows machine, disconnecting and reconnecting the drive might cause the assigned letter to change. If LR 'knows' the drive name as 'H', but the drive is currently named 'E', that would explain your problem.

If you're missing just a few 'new' images, just repeat the a-b-c steps above and get them into your LRCAT.

Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

I was aligning the question with my mind when I saw this post which hopefully solves the problem AND aligns with my thoughts.

kitrn23

I never seem to get the correct terms right, but I do try. I actually did a-b-c, but they show on LR previous import only and have the exclamation mark. I did disconnect and reinserted my external hard drive. Still not found. Only my last 30 imports are missing. I inserted my memory card, copied to external drive, then opened LR and copied the photos into collections. I saw that they were in LR and formatted the card. Mistake and will not happen again until I am sure the photos are where they should be.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If the images imported successfully, but they are now "missing", the solution starts with investigating where the LRCAT 'thinks' they should be. If the thumbnail reports an Exclamation Point (!) in the upper right corner, our OP just has to click that icon and a pop-up will report the previous location. Use that information to begin to investigate what has happened.

The screen capture below tells me 'Mark1.jpg' used to reside at: J:\My_Pictures\2011\2011_Raw\2011_07_18 UD Pics

So, the questions to review are:

Do I still have a J: drive attached to my computer?

Are any of the subfolders missing, "\My_Pictures"? \2011? and so forth down to the final subfolder.

Was the file renamed or deleted (Mark1.jpg)?

Sometimes the file / folder has been moved on purpose, and I just have to update my LRCAT with this new location. Other times, maybe the folder is there, but an action was taken on the specific image that has to be undone. Or again, maybe I just need relink the image to the new file name. The specific solution to our OP's issue depends on more details about the problem.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If you can see the thumbnails and the exclamation point, you did succeed in the import into the catalog. As I just added a screen capture above, you should be able to click that "!" icon and get LR to report where the missing file used to reside. If that source seems to point to the camera card, that's the root-cause of the problem.

The 'a' step in my earlier 3-step process is to copy the image files from the camera card to disk external HD. You might have intended to perform this step, but maybe actually loaded the images into the LRCAT using the camera card instead. Then, when you removed the card (or disconnected the camera) from the computer, LR can no longer find those images. That 'pop-up' will help confirm where the files resided when imported to LR.

So, to make 'a' effective, make sure you create a new target folder on the target drive as step 'a' in this workflow. I keep my images organized by years, shown above, and then date-stamped folders inside each calendar year. My first step is to think of what to name the folder, certainly the date 20231206, but also the "what" to describe, like maybe \2023\20231206 X-max cookies.

Now that I've named and created the target folder for new images, I copy the image from the card into that new folder. After the images are copied into that folder, then I start LR and begin the import via Add into the LRCAT, from my new folder. Many people make a back-up copy of their images at this point. Certainly, not rushing to reformat the camera card until later is a better approach.

Hopefully, when you click the exclamation point, you'll recognize where the image files where located with imported to the LRCAT. Possibly, that information will point to a location where you can recover the images.

kitrn23

I very much appreciate all your advice. I have tried locating the file using exactly what you mentioned. Still no luck. But I have no intention of quitting.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Lesson to learn: Don't reformat the card until (1) you are sure you have all the image files downloaded; (2) you have all the image files processed; (3) you have all the image file originals and edits backed up and saved in their final resting place. Then you can reformat.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

When you click on the exclamation point you will get the path where LR thinks the file should be. Either Windows or Mac has tools to allow you to search for a file with that name and path. Once you find where it is you can use the LR tool to update the path to the file. If other files are in the same folder LR will update all of them so you don't have to do this for a lot of files. One good reason to put related files in the same folder.

If the system tools can't find the file, it might have been put on some other drive. But if you have your normally used drive attached you could re-import it to that drive and LR should be able to use it.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

When you click the exclamation point, what does your LRCAT report? Was the source folder local, that is: on your external drive or maybe on your computer? Or, was the source the camera card? Did you accidently delete the folder, and maybe it can recovered from your recycle bin?

For camera cards and needing to delete / reformat, have you considered owning and using multiple cards, include a 1-2-x or A-B-X labels, so you just cycle through the current card on an ongoing basis?

Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

The discussion so far illustrates my conviction that the design of the Import dialog could be revised to reduce the number of accidental problems such as we see here and diagnose and repair problems when they occur.

First, the name Import is a common name within the database community but nearly everyone else assumes it means putting your camera files inside of the program and you must export it to ever access it again. Not at all! The verb catalog might be a better choice but anything else.


Second, LrC doesn’t have ESP. You have to give LrC the following instructions all in the Import dialog.

A) Where the files are located. Which can be on a memory card accessible with an USB interface to a camera or memory card reader or a folder in internal or removable memory;

B) Where you want the files to be located after the import process is complete. Do you want (COPY) a second Copy made to a storage Folder, (MOVE) the files removed from the input location and moved to a storage Folder or (ADD) just tell the catalog where the Folder. For COPY or MOVE you need to specify the location (name of) the destination Folder(s) and, optionally, if you want and how the files themselves are remained.

C) LrC is going to build previews that will be displayed in the Library Module so you need to choose the size and type of previews to build during import.

D) Actions you optionally would like to perform in bulk to the image they include:
A Collection you want including them all in.
Meta data such as copyright info, key words…
Develop actions like white balance, auto tone,…

Third, The dialog layout is good. A) in the left panel, B) in the top panel and C) in the right panel. Yet there are no summary labels telling you what each area is about. Worse. The choices default to something (last import, maybe) possibly not what you want. It would be much better if they were blank or highlighted and the import not processed until you confirm they are what you want. The presets seem to work but I admit to screwing up the import carelessly.

Finally, they could itemize the settings to make it easier to check. They do show the destination drive at upper right corner. And please please log date, time and all import settings to a file that could be used to investigate and correct the crime.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Lightroom is a very flexible tool, letting people use it in ways that best fit their own personal approach. Alas, with so many options, it can get hard to find the best (better) way of all the multiple options the software provides. Many of us feel the 'best approach' is to work outside LR to copy the image files and organize your new images into folders, before ever getting LR involved. But, all that same work can be done inside LR too.

Let's assume the professionals at Adobe have decided the import dialog, with all its confusing flexibility, is their best approach, best possible option. Each individual can find the way that best fits their needs, their understanding, their desired ease of use.

Our OP referenced Scott Kirby as a source of information. Without reading the details of the suggested process, I'm unsure of the level of detail and / or the complexity of that approach vs the simple a-b-c referenced above. Hopefully, using the idea to ask the LRCAT where the file used to be will help determine what happened. Also, hopefully, we'll hear back from the OP.

Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

I suggest you misunderstand my suggestion. In no way would I suggest eliminating its flexibility. Nor do I believe its flexibility is problematic. And I originally bought Photoshop Lightroom about a dozen years ago BECAUSE IT IS A DATABASE interface.

So what is the point? Well, due to decades of experience putting together some complex systems in defense of our country I am very familiar with database management man machine interfaces. So the Library module including the import were natural to me. (And it was my instinct to organize the File structure by date shot only. Which is now one of the canned destination choices. But let’s not go there.) But about a dozen years ago I signed up for a workshop intended to introduce Lightroom to photography students and the community at large. The instructor was a local photographer who is I assume an Adjunct Professor. I went with a buddy who was not yet retired and a lead EIS guy. Six weekly evenings which turned out to be very through. About three weeks in we were asked try it out. I brought in a thumb drive with a catalog creates with my best attempt of 15 photos from a 2010 Africa Safari. There were three girls that knew each other and the instructor. I assume students or camera club members. Well the fell flat basically over the import. Granted they only had access to Lr during class. So the two of us huddled with the instructor to figure out how to help. My buddy put together a set of slides trying to use the library catalog analogy. Guess what? They had never use a library catalog! Crash and burn. I have subsequently given up. If I were to sit down at someone’s keyboard for a few hours I can break through. The thought that import was hiding their files was a universal stumbling guide. Apparently they had tried Aperture which apparently did just that. So I think the bare bones nature of the Import module exasperates the problems. That is all. If you like to organize folders before import I would not choose argue with it. I like a mindless import that I can’t mess up. Then leave the folders alone and use collections for all orginization. My latest computer rips through the import process for a batch of a few hundred images so that I don’t get bored and wander away.

Peace?

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I think this is OT.

We have an OP who has a specific problem with an import. You are discussing a more general problem, which might well warrant discussion but in its own thread.

kitrn23

I appreciate all info I can get. Thanks to CHG-CANON and Jack. I have used LRC for many years although I most likely do not understand the program fully. I think I am going back to my old system of d/l to folders using date format and then copying to collections and external drive. I will do a follow up on my progress of finding photos. These 30 photos were taken with my handicapped daughter and me. We like to go out during the week and find interesting places and snap away. These were her pics., and they were not bad, so I would like to save them and do some developing on them. Again thanks for all the info.