Missing photos in LR Library view.

[Redcrown]

Infrequent LR user, I maintain all images outside LR but then Import all to search and view. Now I have several folders with missing photos in LR.

Example: When I target a folder in LR and Import, I see grayed out thumbs for 18 photos. LR thinks they are all imported. But when I target the same folder in Library, I see only 11 photo thumbs - 7 photos are missing in Library view (also missing in Develop view). So I empty the folder by selecting all in Library view and "Remove from Lightroom". Now Library and Develop views show nothing. But then when I Re-Import the folder, the 11 photos I removed show ready to import, and the 7 missing folders still show grayed out thumbs.

So, outside of LR (Bridge), I duplicate one of the missing photos. Then, back in LR, I Import the folder and LR finds the new duplicate but not the original.

Seems like the catalog is corrupted, any way to fix? Other than trash the entire catalog and rebuild 49K images in 800+ folders?

[digitaldog]

So, outside of LR (Bridge), I duplicate one of the missing photos. Then, back in LR, I Import the folder and LR finds the new duplicate but not the original.

The fix is to Sync Folders using the context menu for each.
The other fix is, never do anything outside of LR you'd do in Bridge or the Finder etc. How can LR know what you've done? In LR, you can do any of this; delete, duplicate, rename, move: then LR 'knows' what you, the user wants it to track.

[Redcrown]

Thanks. Syncing folders didn't work either, but it helped me see the problem. The missing images were duplicates, and the "don't import duplicates" option was enabled. So, LR would find them, say they would be imported, but then do nothing. Just a rookie oversight. Untick the "don't import dupes" and all is good.

[john beardsworth]

Infrequent LR user, I maintain all images outside LR but then Import all to search and view. Now I have several folders with missing photos in LR....

Seems like the catalog is corrupted, any way to fix? Other than trash the entire catalog and rebuild 49K images in 800+ folders?

So move them around or rename them using LR. That's how it's designed to be used, keeping picture management and processing and printing all in one place.

The catalogue isn't corrupted - it's simply recording where the files were.

[PeterAit]

So move them around or rename them using LR. That's how it's designed to be used, keeping picture management and processing and printing all in one place.

The catalogue isn't corrupted - it's simply recording where the files were.

I agree--LR can do pretty much anythng you need, and if you do all your asset management in LR you will not run into poroblems as you describe.