# Smart previews fail to build



## Anthony Marson (Jan 28, 2017)

I've been using Lightroom 5 for 3 years, and recently upgraded to Lightroom 6.

In Lightroom 5, Smart Previews automatically built for every RAW file that I imported. Now I get an error message stating that "Smart Previews failed to build". I have checked my import settings and I have the Smart Previews box checked, so I don't know why I.m getting the error message.

Can  anyone help?


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## Gnits (Jan 28, 2017)

Try the following.

In Grid View select an image which does not have a smart preview and ....

  click Library > Previews > Build Smart Previews.

If you get an error message post a copy of the message here.

Report back either way.

Also check how much spare disk space you have where your catalog is stored.


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## Anthony Marson (Jan 28, 2017)

Gnits said:


> Try the following.
> 
> In Grid View select an image which does not have a smart preview and ....
> 
> ...


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## Victoria Bampton (Jan 28, 2017)

Hi Anthony, welcome to the forum!

Is it happening for all images, or just specific ones?

Has anything else changed on your computer, other than the LR6 upgrade? Something like a Windows 10 update that could have changed file permissions?

And can these photos be edited in Develop ok?


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## Anthony Marson (Jan 29, 2017)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Hi Anthony, welcome to the forum!
> 
> Is it happening for all images, or just specific ones? - *its happening with all images*
> 
> ...


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## Victoria Bampton (Jan 31, 2017)

Ok, my next port of call would be to find the catalog on the hard drive and delete the *SmartPreviews.lrdata folder and try again. You'd have to rebuild any existing smart previews, but hopefully it will solve it.


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## Anthony Marson (Jan 31, 2017)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Ok, my next port of call would be to find the catalog on the hard drive and delete the *SmartPreviews.lrdata folder and try again. You'd have to rebuild any existing smart previews, but hopefully it will solve it.



Victoria, thank you for your latest piece of advice, deleting *SmartPreviews.lrdata folder worked!


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## Victoria Bampton (Feb 1, 2017)

Excellent, thanks for the update!


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## PhilBurton (Feb 10, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Hi Anthony, welcome to the forum!
> 
> Is it happening for all images, or just specific ones?
> 
> ...


Same problem just cropped up for me.  I had to reset permissions on the Smart Previews folder.  It seems that in the middle of the night Windows does strange things like changing file/folder permissions.

Phil Burton


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## joonnie64 (Oct 29, 2020)

I found the SmartPreviews.lrdata *FILE*, but I could'nt fine a *FOLDER*. Where could I find it?
I am experiencing the same problem as Mr. Marson's after I upgraded to the new LR Classic version.


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## Johan Elzenga (Oct 30, 2020)

joonnie64 said:


> I found the SmartPreviews.lrdata *FILE*, but I could'nt fine a *FOLDER*. Where could I find it?


Smart previews are a folder on Windows and a 'package' on Macintosh. A package is really a folder, but it looks like a file in the Finder.


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## clee01l (Oct 30, 2020)

Johan Elzenga said:


> Smart previews are a folder on Windows and a 'package' on Macintosh. A package is really a folder, but it looks like a file in the Finder.


Just because it has a period (.lrdata) in the name does not mean that it is a file or folder.    Look at the icon assigned by the OS to determine type. "myFolder.jpeg.ext.another ext.ext" is a legitimate file OR folder name.    So is "IMG1234.jpg.                                  .exe".   Except that the latter is an executable windows file that some malicious person might send you hoping to introduce malware when you click on it hoping to see an image. 
As Johan points out, MacOS has a concept of a package of files and folders inside a folder wrapper.  Previews and Smart previews are packages on a Mac.  Adobe simply extended the package concept to Windows where it is not a special folder.


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## joonnie64 (Oct 30, 2020)

Johan Elzenga said:


> Smart previews are a folder on Windows and a 'package' on Macintosh. A package is really a folder, but it looks like a file in the Finder.


I got it! I use a Mac. Thank you!  Nevertheless, my problem with smart previews doesn't disappear by deleting the package...


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## BillyN (Oct 30, 2020)

Just Joined your group.
I've just upgraded Lightroom Classic on my Windows 10 PC to Version 10.0. Now it fails to create Smart Previews when importing images. It does however successfully create Smart Images if I select an imported image an request it to create one. I have tried removing the SmartPreviews.lrdata folder as suggested in previous responses and same problem exists.
Any suggestions welcome...


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## crshlagor (Nov 1, 2020)

Anthony Marson said:


> I've been using Lightroom 5 for 3 years, and recently upgraded to Lightroom 6.
> 
> In Lightroom 5, Smart Previews automatically built for every RAW file that I imported. Now I get an error message stating that "Smart Previews failed to build". I have checked my import settings and I have the Smart Previews box checked, so I don't know why I.m getting the error message.
> 
> Can  anyone help?


I wish I could but I’m having the same issue.  It started when I upgraded Lightroom CC on my MacBook Pro.  I now have to always go to “Library>Previews>Build Smart Previews” after every import to get them to build.  No idea why it started doing this.


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## LVO1-SBCGLOBAL.NET (Nov 20, 2020)

Same issue here. However, if you select the images you just downloaded into LR, and then click on Library>Previews>Build Smart Previews, it will tell you that smart previews already exist or were built.


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