How to Find & Reconnect Missing Photos in Lightroom Classic

[@ashleasnell831]

I want to send all the hugs. THANK YOU. you saved years of my life tonight finding and locating these images.

[@naturemikephoto]

Glad I could help! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂☺️

[@genesmith679]

Thanks for the video. I have been researching to set up my files in file explorer and that thought came to mind "what happens if I reorganize my folders". I learned that even if I move them, I can still find them with this tutorial. But even more, I learned to do it within lightroom. Because you replied to Larry Reich's questions below, I have subscribed to your channel. Anyone that is willing to help out someone like this is someone that I want to follow. Good luck with everything.

[@naturemikephoto]

Hi Gene, Thanks for your comment and thanks so much for subscribing. It really means a lot. I'm happy to hear that the video and my additional comments helped you organize your catalog. I lead photography workshops and I genuinely love to share my knowledge. photography is such a joy but sometimes it comes with a few roadblocks. I love clearing a good roadblock. Have a great week and don't be a stranger. - Mike

[@brucebohlen1149]

Holy Crap! I did not know that I should not change the name of my files on the hard drive. As a result, after changing the name of a folder, I got the dreaded (!) file could not be found. After watching this video, I synched the folder and was able to return to editing in LrC. However, I lost the changes that I made prior to renaming. Live and learn. I'm just glad I didn't lose the photos.

[@naturemikephoto]

You’re not the only one. It happens to a lot of people. Yes, you need to reconnect the photos before syncing but in the case of renaming there’s really no way to do that unless you have a photographic memory which unfortunately I do not. That’s why I’m a photographer. Haha! Glad you’re back up snd running. Sorry you lost your edits though.

[@KnotWorking-si8zu]

Excellent explanation!! Thank you.

[@naturemikephoto]

Glad to help! Thanks for commenting

[@dianebohlen636]

Thank you soooo much! You are great at explaining things. I've been trying to figure out how I lost photos. What do I do when I want to print photos in jpg so I export them to my computer to send them off to a company. Then they are now moved out of lightroom? Is that correct? So I have to reconnect them?

[@naturemikephoto]

Nope, once you export the photos, you have two copies. The original that is still being referenced by LRC and the jpeg or any other file type the you export. The jpeg will not be referenced by LRC unless you import it onto the catalog. I probably would not do that though unless you have a good reason to do so.

[@jaimebonilla4064]

Excelente explicación! gracias.

[@naturemikephoto]

Thanks for the comment!!! 🤠

[@ktnvls]

Just found you. Your videos are amazing. THank you for making these!!!

[@naturemikephoto]

Glad you’re enjoying the videos. Stay tuned. More to come.

[@SuperStephendunn]

thank you Mike love your whole feed! When I do locate my photo in LR under missing photos it no longer shows the ! but remains in the missing folder , how do I delete from this folder only please?

[@naturemikephoto]

Thanks for the comment. You reconnected the missing image? When you go to the Develop Module can you apply edits to the image? If it's reconnected you will be able to do so. When you say "Missing Folder" Are you talking about the folder that shows up when you search for all missing phots in LR? If the photo is in fact reconnected, it should automatically disappear from that folder. If that is not happening, it could be a bug in LR. I've seen reconnected images keep the excitation marks after reconnecting in the past. The best thing to do would be to try an restart LR and see if that resolves the issue.

[@nothingtoseeheremovealong...]

This saved me!! Thank you so much! Cheers.

[@naturemikephoto]

Glad to hear it! Thanks for commenting. 🤙

[@gary_michael_flanagan_wildlife]

Hi. I cleared all the caches in Adobe and all my photos and folders are missing in lightroom. They aren’t even visible at all like it’s brand new lightroom. My photos all come from my 8TB hard drive external. How do I get them back in lightroom? Thanks

[@naturemikephoto]

Hi Gary, I don’t think clearing the cache should affect your catalog. That seems strange to me. I’m not in front of a computer right now but are you 100% positive you are opening the same catalog? Clearing the cache might cause LR to open a brand new catalog which would explain why your photos are completely gone. I suggest doing a search on your computer and external HD for the following file extension: .lrcat This should pull up any Lightroom catalogs on your computer. See if you can find the catalog you were working on before clearing the cache.

[@gary_michael_flanagan_wildlife]

@@naturemikephoto thank you! My friend told me the same thing. I bet you are right that lightroom just opened a new catalog and I can’t understand why but it hopefully still exists. I actually made a new catalog from my external hard drive and it took a day to get all the photos added but it now mimics the old one. I’ll do the search you are talking about to find the original catalog. Thanks. Do you know how to prevent “photoshop scratch disk full” in the future? That’s what got me to clear cache in the first place. Thanks

[@Isaypreach]

I dont really create folders. I just import off my cf express card and go from there. As i did the past sunday and now im getting that exclamation mark on the photos and others alike and I dont understand why

[@naturemikephoto]

Are the excitation marks only on the newly imported photos or the entire catalog?

[@Isaypreach]

@naturemikephoto mostly on everything that I've imported from my cf express card and yes even the new stuff. I'd just import one photo off the card. Then remove my card and now here comes the exclamation mark. It never ever did that before

[@naturemikephoto]

Did you get a new card reader per chance? Lightroom is supposed to recognize card readers and automatically choose the copy option when importing from a card. I can tell you that I recently bought a CF Express card reader and Lightroom does not recognize the fact that it is a reader and I have to manually change the import setting from add to copy. If you just leave it as add then Lightroom will be looking for the photo on the card instead of your hard drive. My guess is something like that might be going on. Let me know if that’s the issue. @isaypreach

[@Isaypreach]

@naturemikephoto interesting but no i haven't. Its been the same card reader since last yr. Didn't know it was supposed to be on copy.

[@naturemikephoto]

Yep, always check that top banner and make sure it’s set to copy. Otherwise the files just stay where they are which in this case would be on your card. Hopefully you have not erased the card at this point.

[@mcrfreak3344]

I need some help. I'm not sure what happened but almost all of my old photos are visible in Lightroom, but when I try to export them or edit the it says the file cannot be found. There is no exclamation point to click and the folders have remained in the same location/ folder name on the hard drive.

[@naturemikephoto]

Can you try to increase the size of the thumbnails to see if the exclamation points appear?

[@mcrfreak3344]

@@naturemikephoto Tried that, but they're not there. I tried ejecting the hard drive and closed and reopened lightroom a few times. Some of the files on lightroom are just gray boxes but any photo I edited shows up, just won't let me edit. When I export it goes through the process then comes up with an "export result" window and says "file could not be found" and lists the image.

[@naturemikephoto]

You can take a look at this post on the adobe website. Maybe submit your own there. I'm not exactly sure what is happening on your end. It is hard to say without using your machine. community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/missing-files-without-an-exclamation-mark/m-p/10449676

[@cxiyy]

What if I got new computer and log in to Lightroom will all my photos transfer. As my old computer is broken. I’m scared that I have now lost all my photographs..

[@naturemikephoto]

I'm a little confused by your question. Were your photos stored on the old computer's hard drive? Did you have a backup? If you photos were stored on the old computers drive and you do not have a backup up you most likely lost your photos. Do you have that drive backed up to the cloud somewhere? I have a great video on how I backup my photos here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHbVXmqXoa6Xarc

[@artdawggy]

I haven't read through all of the comments so apologies if this has already been asked. What do you suggest one should do when that one hard drive with all your photos becomes full?

[@naturemikephoto]

I suggest starting a new catalog on a new drive. If you want to live some of your photo from the original drive watch the following video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKvPmpeZfbKCqqssi=CaddTiog9wedmQ0i Here is a video of his I set up my catalog kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaLacqRpm5yKlZosi=oGtEv6tI_c0FqVn8

[@Wistbacka]

Lol. Been using lightroom for edits since lightroom 3. But I never bothered to learn to understand the library tab and how to manage files and folders over the years until now. So many lost catalogues and edits over the decade.... Yes - I am obviously not a professional. But tbf, lightroom's folder management still feels very unintuitive to manage compared.

[@naturemikephoto]

You’re not alone. A lot of people get confused by it. I have a video on how to properly set up a LRC catalog that is very popular. You might want to check it out. I’m sure a lot of the info you’ll already know but there might be some good tips for you. Here’s the link: How to Properly Set up a Lightroom Classic Catalog kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaLacqRpm5yKlZo

[@larryreich5395]

Question: In Lightroom Classic I have a CATALOG called “All Photographs”, and it shows 4,563 photos. However, underneath the “FOLDER” tab it shows my Macintosh hard drive, and underneath that all the folders are dated (e.g. “2022-01-14). However, all these folders and photos show a QUESTION MARK (?) and the photos have an EXCLAMATION POINT. All these photos in my catalogue come from a 128 GB SD Card that i have downloaded into LightRoom since the end of 2021. I still don’t understand what would be the next best step in reconnecting these photos. I have backed up my SD CARD to both an external drive, and just now I copied them again to my internal drive. I have also copied them to Apple Photo and Dropbox. When i hit CONTROL and click on the the catalog “ALL PHOTOGRAPHS” it gives me the option to “IMPORT PHOTOS AND VIDEOS”. Should I try to reimport again. I have placed the the contents of the SD Card into a folder called “LIGHTROOM”. Any help you can offer would be appreciated. I liked your “Missing Photo” video and i have given you a thumbs up and subscribed. Thank you in advance.

[@naturemikephoto]

Hi Larry, sorry to hear of your troubles. It’s always frustrating to see the dreaded question marks and exclamation points. Do all of the folders have question marks? Are your folders located under a single parent folder like "Photos" or something liker that? What more than likely happened is that you either moved or renamed some or all of the folders outside of Lightroom. Moving them is not too big of a deal because you can always do a search for the folder name and reconnect it like I discuss in the video. Renaming them outside of Lightroom is a little bit of a bigger issue and there might not be a whole lot you can do without loosing your edits. Unless you can remember what folders were renamed to what. Speaking of edits. Have you processed your photos in Lightroom? if you did not have any edits then you can simply start a new catalog an import or sync your parent folder assuming you have one. I have a really good video about how to properly set up a Lightroom Catalog on my KZbin channel. It might be helpful for you to watch it that way this doesn't happen again in the future. You can check out the video using the address below. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaLacqRpm5yKlZo I hope this helps a bit. It's really hard to type out a solution to these sort of problems without seeing your screen. I do offer one on one consultation over zoom with screen sharing if you try and still can't get it figured out. No pressure, just wanted to toss that out there in case you have edits that you don't want to loose. Cheers - Mike

[@larryreich5395]

Mike thanks so much for your quick reply and your thorough advice. As I mentioned previously, I have the photos (they all came off one SD 128 GB card). And I have backed them up to an external drive, my internal drive, and the cloud (DropBox and Apple iCloud). I just don’t remember or know what the folder or file is called where the original uploads were placed. In the library module, I see at the top of the screen it says ‘Lightroom Catalog.Ircat - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic - Library’ . In my pictures folder I have a number of Lightroom files including LIghtroom Catalog.Ircat and Lightroom Library.Irlibary . Is any of this significant in terms of restoring the connection? Again, I truly appreciate your efforts. I also took at a look at your website, truly stunning and beautiful landscapes. I especially like the Weeping Forest. You made a fan for life! :) Thanks again for your insights. Regards, Larry Reich

[@naturemikephoto]

Hi Larry, The info in the Catalog dialog box is not important. That is just telling you how many photos that you have imported into that particular catalog. What is important is the folders dialog box which is where you're seeing the (?) folders. Are you missing every folder? If so, then maybe you stored them on an external drive that is not connected? Otherwise you might have just moved the parent folder that contains all of the images which would also cause all of the folder to go offline. It's hard to say where the problem lies without seeing your computer. You could look at the filename of one of the photos you are missing in the black bar on the bottom or in the metadata tab of the Library module and then do a search for that photo on your HD and any possible external HDs. This will offer a clue into what is going on. Once you know where that photo is look at the folder structure above it and see if it's the same as what LR is looking for. It shouldn't be since LR already knows that the files are not where they are supposed to be. Once you find the top folder, you will either have to rename it to what LR is looking for or move it to where LR is looking for it. You could also click on the folder in LR and direct it to the new location. I know that sounds very confusing and that's because it is. You might have a simple one or two click solution on your hands or you could have a mind bending puzzle that is unsolvable depending on what exactly you did. Again, it's hard to say without actually seeing your computer. At the ends of the day, good organization is key, If you have good organization and use a parent folder where you store all of your photos and never touch the folders or files outside of Lightroom you'll be able to avoid t=the current situation that you're in. I hope this helps a bit and sorry that you're going though this. It can be incredibly frustrating, but the good news is that no mater what, you didn't loose your photos since you have them backed up. Good man!

[@larryreich5395]

@@naturemikephoto Mike thanks again for your great replies. With your last reply I think I solved the problem. I found a folder on an external drive that seems to be the folder that Lightroom was originally using. I moved and copied it back to the main internal drive, and put the folder (titled 2022) back into the PICTURES folder. Everything fell into place at that point. I need to be more conscious about these requirements and get my workflow to be cleaner and direct. After i edit the photo I usually export as a JPEG to a folder on my desktop (for example, i was at the New York Car show yesterday, and after editing the images in Lightroom, I exported them to a folder called NYIAS for New York International Auto Show). Makes it easier to e-mail and post my images. Will keep watching and liking your videos (just watched the HDR 4 minute video). Again, your generosity and good will is deeply appreciated. Have a great week. Regards, Larry

[@naturemikephoto]

That’s great to hear! Glad you got it figured out. I’m traveling in Ireland now but will be working on more videos once I return home

[@divadshutter]

I understand moving the folder but how do you re connect clips simply?

[@naturemikephoto]

hi David, I'm not quite sure what you mean.

[@sandraransom2062]

Oh my word - I had no idea you couldnt rename them. My folders are an absolute mess in lightroom and I reorganised and renamed everything on my hard drive in finder and now I can't find anything. HELP.

[@naturemikephoto]

Uh oh. Yeah, you could be in a bit of trouble. Do you have a back up of the catalog and photos folders before you reorganized? If so that might be the best way out of this. If not, there still might be hope. Did you move photo between folders or just rename the folders and move them around a bit? If it’s the second scenario we can probably get back to a good working point. If it’s the first option you might be able to recover done stuff but probably not all of it. The good news is that you didn’t lose any photos. Just any corresponding edits and organization. If you’d like to troubleshoot and try and figure it out, I offer one on one consulting sessions via Zoom. I charge $100 per hour for that with a one hour minimum. I cannot promise that we can fix the situation without really seeing it, but I could at the very least take a look and see what we can salvage Plus give you some tips for organizing and setting up your catalog. If you’re interested, just go to my website Naturemike.com and send me a short message. I will then send you a link to purchase an hour session.

[@marceloaguirree]

Hey maybe weird question to ask but why do you chose to make tutorials in KZbin. I am doing a homework and i am just really curious to what are the reasons some people do tutorials. Maybe a bit of a personal random question to answer but yeah. Also thanks for the tutorial

[@naturemikephoto]

I do them because it help people find my business

[@mtbboy1993]

This is so silly, I want to be able to move photos into folders, cus I have uploaded folder, so I move them into it when I've uploaded them. Silly Lightroom does not create side cart files automatically. I hate I've lost my edits. I wish they did what Rawtherapee does, have a Rawtherapee file that saves the edit. So you could move it anywhere.

[@naturemikephoto]

You can move the files but you mix msg do it from thr LR interface.

[@mtbboy1993]

@@naturemikephoto I could reconnect it, but as it was in Lightroom, but older stuff I can't it's gone from Liightroom completely. It looks like I have an side cart file now, it's XMP but not a file I can open.

[@nickfanzo]

my photos arent missing but my entire external drive is gone and wont show up no matter what I do,

[@naturemikephoto]

Does the drive show up in the finder or explorer?

[@nickfanzo]

@@naturemikephoto yes I was able to go to light room and add it again by “finding missing folder”. However a lot of my images are missing after merging it all. Good thing I shoot film, and I don’t need to worry about losing images forever on a computer!

[@naturemikephoto]

Glad you got it connected again, but bummer about the missing photos. Try the techniques that I mentioned in the video to reconnect them. Funny you mention losing photos forever. I'm releasing a video about backing up tomorrow! 🙃

[@MaxwellAdventuress]

Waiting waiting waiting to get to the point…. 🙄 6:33 to get to the point

[@naturemikephoto]

Sure

[@marcusiahn]

Hello! Thanks for the information. Stop click your tongue on the videos. Thats irritating. I couldn't watch till the end.

[@naturemikephoto]

Thanks for your comment. You are actually hearing the clicking of the mouse and keyboard keys.

[@okmaxim]

scam

[@naturemikephoto]

Haha. Ok