To avoid this headache in the future, make sure you only move files and folders within Lightroom. This will prompt Lightroom to look for any other missing photos in the same folder and re-establish links with them as well. If you have a number of “missing” photos in that same area, select the Find Nearby Missing Photos in the Locate dialog box. From here, click the Locate button, navigate to the current photo location, and click Select.Ħ. This will bring up the Locate dialog box.Ĭlick the ! in the grid view or the missing photo icon in the histogram in the Develop module to bring up the Locate dialog box.ĥ. This will show all the missing files in Grid view.Ĥ. Once you know where the photos are on your hard drive, go back to Lightroom and from the Library module, choose from the top toolbar Library -> Find All Missing Photos. (Yep, let’s hope you back up your photos!)ģ. If you can’t find the original files, you’ll need to reload them onto your hard drive from backups. If you’re not sure where they went to, use your operating system’s search options (Windows Search or macOS Spotlight).Ģ. Find the actual location of the images on your hard drive. This could make you lose all the work you’ve done on these photos!ġ. DO NOT re-import the photos or synchronize the folder yet. If this is your problem, be sure to follow these next few steps. This breaks the link between the files and Lightroom Classic’s catalog. More likely, though, your missing photos are due to using your computer’s operating system to move, delete, or rename image files rather than doing it through Lightroom.

Missing photos can happen as a result of unplugging an external drive that was the source for the photos or if the drive mount point (Mac) or the drive letter (Windows) has changed.įor these issues the solution is simple – plug the external hard drive back in and/or switch back to the drive letter Lightroom expects. The preview will come up, but the image itself will be uneditable (unless it’s a smart preview). There comes a time in just about every Lightroom user’s experience when Lightroom claims that your photo just simply isn’t there. Here’s a list of the 10 most common problems we’ve found troubling users today. However, that doesn’t mean that things don’t happen at times – especially if you’re working with the newest releases. Most of the older bugs have been fixed or worked out by Adobe’s frequent updates. Overall, if you buy Lightroom you won’t have too many issues – it’s a stable app. 10 Common Lightroom Problems (and their fixes)

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