# Can't move photos to other folders



## maiakphotography (Sep 26, 2018)

For some reason, I've lost the ability to move photos from one folder to another.  I've seen other posts about this issue, but each time it appears the problem was the person was grabbing the photo from the outside frame instead of the center. I know how to move photos, I've done it before for years but all of a sudden it's not working.  I've recently put the com.adobe.Lightroom6.plist in the trash, uninstalled and reinstalled Lightroom, restarted my computer, tried moving photos located on other external hard drives, nothing works.  I recently  I've spent hours on the phone with Adobe customer support, they couldn't figure it out and finally asked me to share my screen.  That makes me nervous, but I'll do that once I've exhausted all other options  I'm really hoping that someone here will have the magic solution for me.  

Thank you for your help!!


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## maiakphotography (Sep 26, 2018)

Also, I tried installing a trial version of Lightroom Classic CC but had the same problem, can't move photos to other folders.  I just tried opening my older version of LR 5.  I CAN move photos into folders with that!!??  The reason I upgraded from LR5 to LR6 is because LR5 crashes when the computer goes to sleep.  :(


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## Jim Wilde (Sep 26, 2018)

So what happens when you try? Any error messages?


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## maiakphotography (Sep 26, 2018)

Hi Jim - Nothing happens, no error messages, photo doesn't move to the new/existing folder.


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## Jim Wilde (Sep 26, 2018)

Is the destination folder on an internal or external drive? Are you able to try moving images to a different target drive, just to rule out some form of permissions issue?


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## maiakphotography (Sep 26, 2018)

All of the files are on an external drive.  I catalog them in LR using primary and secondary folders.  I'm not moving any files off of the drive, just organizing them within LR.  For instance, primary folder: BEES, 1st secondary folder:  Honeybees, 2nd folder: bumblebees.  I've always done this, I'm not doing anything differently.  The behavior in LR all of a sudden changed, but I don't remember what exactly precipitated that.  It didn't happen when I first changed to LR6.  The only other change I can think of is that I installed some third-party plugin for the Alamy site (I think this is it, Lightroom Plugins - Alamy-Lightroom Bridge).  I couldn't get it to work so I trashed it.  That was even before I uninstalled and reinstalled LR6, so I don't know how it could be causing problems now?

Thanks again for your help!


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## Jim Wilde (Sep 26, 2018)

Just a thought....is the Library menu option to "Show Photos in Subfolders" checked or unchecked?


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## maiakphotography (Sep 27, 2018)

Well, I didn't know about that setting.  I held my breath as I checked it off, but it hasn't seemed to make a difference.  ?


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## Jim Wilde (Sep 27, 2018)

The setting doesn't "fix" the problem, it's just that it can confuse people about the actual content of folders and sub-folders. 
Have you confirmed that the files that you're trying to move are not "missing".....check to make sure that tin the Grid view there are no exclamation marks or small white squares in the top right-hand corner of the thumbnails of the images that you're trying to move?


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## maiakphotography (Sep 27, 2018)

No, all the files are there. I've tried to attach screenshots but they don't attach to these messages for some reason. ?  I just tried opening an older catalog from LR5, that didn't work either.  It's definitely seems o be something in LR6, not the prefs, not the catalog, not the files. Stranger still though is that the prob still exists in LR CC but not LR5??  It seems that there's something in the newer apps, something the older one doesn't have, that needs to be turned on or off?


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## Jim Wilde (Sep 27, 2018)

Well, I'm a bit baffled. I've just checked and I have no problem moving images from folder to folder in 6.14 under MacOS 10.13. If you are certain that you're dragging correctly from the image and not the frame, then I don't know what to suggest. A short video of the problem would possibly help, are you able to make one (you'd need to upload it to Dropbox or similar)?


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## maiakphotography (Sep 27, 2018)

I just went to a folder in Library mode, selected a number of photos, and selected the option to create a folder in that folder.  I had the box for "include selected photos" checked.  A subfolder was created and all the previously selected files were then moved to that new just created subfolder.  I then went back to the parent folder, selected another photo, and tried to drag it into the subfolder.  It didn't move.  Ugh!  I'll put some screenshots or a video up on Box and send you the link later today.  Thanks again for your help Jim.  I'll write back later after work.


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## clee01l (Sep 27, 2018)

maiakphotography said:


> I then went back to the parent folder, selected another photo, and tried to drag it into the subfolder. It didn't move.


In the Grid view that are two components to an image in the grid:  The image thumbnail and the border area around it.  to drag and drop, you need to click on the image not the border and drag.   Then the pointer will turn into tiny thumbnails which you can then drag to a *different* folder in the folder panel.


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## maiakphotography (Sep 27, 2018)

@clee01l Yes thank you for that. I have been working in LR for over 5 years.  I've been organizing my photos in parent and subfolders for a long time.  I know how to do it.  For some reason, the behavior of the application all of a sudden changed for me.  I can move photos into subfolders with either LR6 or LRCC.  I can however do it in LR5.  I've been trying all sorts of different solutions, please note my conversation with Jim over the past week.


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## maiakphotography (Sep 27, 2018)

I just opened LR CC on a diff computer, downloaded some of my raw files to use, created a parent folder and then a subfolder.  I then selected a photo from the parent folder and dragged it into the subfolder.  I got a message I've never seen before, "Moving Files on Disk - This will cause the corresponding files on disk to be moved. If you proceed, neither this move or any change you've made prior to this can be undone." Strange.! The photo the DID move into the subfolder AND I was even able to move it back to the parent folder.

The one difference I can think of with this test, other than it was using a diff computer is that I wasn't using an external drive.  My next test when I get back home will be to import files to LR6 but use the HD instead of the external drive.  Wish me luck!


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## clee01l (Sep 27, 2018)

maiakphotography said:


> The one difference I can think of with this test, other than it was using a diff computer is that I wasn't using an external drive. My next test when I get back home will be to import files to LR6 but use the HD instead of the external drive.


Since it is an EHD.  You might have lost Write permissions to the source folder or the destination folder.


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## maiakphotography (Sep 27, 2018)

If write permissions were the cause of the problem, I assume I would not be able to create any subfolders or move any files.  ??  The only way I can move files to subfolders is if they are selected when the folder is initially created and "Include selected photos" is selected.  After that, I can't move any other photos into that folder.


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## maiakphotography (Sep 27, 2018)

I use a number of different external harddrives.  I'm having the same problem with every one of them.


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## maiakphotography (Sep 27, 2018)

I just imported photos into LR6 with destination set to a folder on my desktop. I then created a subfolder in LR to that parent folder.  I then tried to move a photo from the parent folder to the subfolder. As I clicked in the middle of the photo and dragged it to the folder, the cursor changed to a a green circle with a white plus sign appeared under the cursor.  The file didn't move.  I don't remember when this problem started, possibly only a few weeks ago.  This is the same behavior from the moment the problem started, nothing has changed.  :(


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## clee01l (Sep 28, 2018)

to be moved I followed your steps as outlined in your last post.   The green circle with the (+) is new in a recent update to LR7.  When  I drag a selected image from the grid view of the parent folder and hover over the test sub folder, the test subfolder is highlighted.  When I un-click while the folder line is highlighted, the image is moved.   If I select from the grid view of the parent folder an image that is located in the subfolder, I get a warning dialog that says the image is already exists at the destination.

If I change the permissions on the file in Finder to "Read Only"  and attempt the move in LR, I get the same tree circle with (+) and when I drop the file onto the destination folder, nothing happens.   Use "GetInfo" to check your permissions on one of these image files.


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## maiakphotography (Sep 28, 2018)

@clee01l  & @Jim Wilde thank you very much for your help, I'm so hopeful that a solution can be found!  I recorded my actions with Jing to show you what I'm doing.  I also included some screenshots that show the permissions on the files and the version of LR that I'm using.  The files can be downloaded here, Box.  To watch the video, drag the swf file into a browser and click play.  I'm crossing my fingers, thank again!


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## maiakphotography (Sep 28, 2018)

I just don't understand what has happened, LR is not working like I'm used to.  That subfolder that I initially created with "include selected photos" checked, cannot be removed without also deleting the photo that's inside it.  I thought that photo was actually in the parent folder, using a subfolder was just a way of viewing files in an organized way.  I can't move the photo anywhere, I'm stuck with that subfolder now, unless I want to reimport the original file. ??


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## Johan Elzenga (Sep 28, 2018)

maiakphotography said:


> I just don't understand what has happened, LR is not working like I'm used to.  That subfolder that I initially created with "include selected photos" checked, cannot be removed without also deleting the photo that's inside it.  I thought that photo was actually in the parent folder, using a subfolder was just a way of viewing files in an organized way.  I can't move the photo anywhere, I'm stuck with that subfolder now, unless I want to reimport the original file. ??


*Folders in Lightroom are real folders on your disk*. So no, creating a subfolder in Lightroom with the selected images in it is not simply a way to view files, it actually moved those images into a real subfolder on your disk. And so removing that subfolder from Lightroom again would also remove the images from Lightroom.


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## maiakphotography (Sep 28, 2018)

@JohanElzenga Previously I have been able to move a photo out of a subfolder,  back into a primary folder or another subfolder, and the delete that first subfolder. I can no longer move photos manually anywhere from within Lightroom.  If I move the actual file only external drive, I then need to sync the folder in LR.  Now it's as if that picture was never in LR before, all developing and keyboarding needs to be done again.  This isn't helpful.

I've been using LR for about 5 yrs. I've used it to categorize and organize my photos, just like the files and folders on my computer.  I could move photos and folders around within the application.  Anything I did in the application was of course mirrored on the drive where the actual files and folders were.  I can't do that anymore, my whole workflow has been affected.  I'll figure out a way to manage with this if I have to.  Since I can't remember what could have possibly caused this change to happen, it's worthwhile for me to try and figure out if a fix is available before I change my entire work flow.  Thanks for your help.


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## Johan Elzenga (Sep 28, 2018)

I don't know why you can't move a photo. That should not be a problem. In order to see if this is a problem with the catalog, you could do the following. Create a brand new catalog, shoot a few images and import them into this catalog. Then try to move them back and forth between folders. If that works fine, then the problem is with your current catalog. If that does not work either, then the problem is in the application.

Apart from that I would advice you to use collections and smart collections to organise images. Then you never need to move images from one folder to another. Using folders for this is not a good idea. Folders are physical storage locations, but they suck as organisation. The reason is that an image can only be in one single folder. I keep my folder panel collapsed 98% of the time.


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## maiakphotography (Sep 26, 2018)

For some reason, I've lost the ability to move photos from one folder to another.  I've seen other posts about this issue, but each time it appears the problem was the person was grabbing the photo from the outside frame instead of the center. I know how to move photos, I've done it before for years but all of a sudden it's not working.  I've recently put the com.adobe.Lightroom6.plist in the trash, uninstalled and reinstalled Lightroom, restarted my computer, tried moving photos located on other external hard drives, nothing works.  I recently  I've spent hours on the phone with Adobe customer support, they couldn't figure it out and finally asked me to share my screen.  That makes me nervous, but I'll do that once I've exhausted all other options  I'm really hoping that someone here will have the magic solution for me.  

Thank you for your help!!


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## maiakphotography (Sep 28, 2018)

@JohanElzenga Yes, I tried that test along with an online Adobe Support chat.  Still had the problem with the new catalog.  I've since uninstalled and reinstalled LR5 and even LR CC but still have the same problem.  I do NOT have the problem when I use my old LR5 app.  Problem with LR5 though is that it crashes when the computer sleeps.  Prob with LR5 started when I switched to a new computer.  :(

I've never used Collections before but will try it out.  So, for instance, one folder for a day's event and then multiple collection to organize photos from the day, ex. (1) planes (2) helicopters (3) officers (4) first responders, etc?


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## Johan Elzenga (Sep 28, 2018)

maiakphotography said:


> @JohanElzenga Yes, I tried that test along with an online Adobe Support chat.  Still had the problem with the new catalog.  I've since uninstalled and reinstalled LR5 and even LR CC but still have the same problem.  I do NOT have the problem when I use my old LR5 app.  Problem with LR5 though is that it crashes when the computer sleeps.  Prob with LR5 started when I switched to a new computer.  :(
> 
> I've never used Collections before but will try it out.  So, for instance, one folder for a day's event and then multiple collection to organize photos from the day, ex. (1) planes (2) helicopters (3) officers (4) first responders, etc?


Yes. A collection is like a virtual folder, with the advantage that you can add an image to as many collections as you like. So an image that shows a plane and a helicopter can simply be added to both collections. If you organise by folder however, then you’d have a problem if you have a ‘helicopters’ folder and a ‘planes’ folder in this case.


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## Blake F. (May 1, 2019)

I just had this same problem pop up in the middle of using Lightroom.  I'd try to drag one or more images from one folder to another and nothing would happen.  Group selection (shift-click) was also behaving oddly.  I tried the obvious (rebooting etc) and searching forums like this.  I finally stepped back and thought, "What have I done recently that I don't normally do on Lightroom?"

This led me to remember I had resized the thumbnails in the library grid view.  I simply resized the thumbnails using the thumbnails slider in the toolbar between the grid view and filmstrip on the bottom of the display.

Hope this helps.


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## Johan Elzenga (May 2, 2019)

There is no reason why resizing thumbnails should have anything to do with moving images between folders. Do remember that you have to ‘grab’ the image itself however, not the slide mount around it.


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## Blake F. (May 2, 2019)

Johan Elzenga said:


> There is no reason why resizing thumbnails should have anything to do with moving images between folders. Do remember that you have to ‘grab’ the image itself however, not the slide mount around it.



I worked through this thread before trying to resize, including making sure I was grabbing the image not the frame/mount.  I was amazed it worked, but it instantly fixed the problem.


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## seanith (Oct 30, 2020)

Was a solution found for this? I have the same error. It simply says, "Error while moving files"

I have full read / write for the folders where all my photos are. My primary lightroom classic version is 9.1, and I tried to upgrade to 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, and more recently 10.0, but I notice right away that I cannot move photos between folders in Lightroom. When I revert back to 9.1 it worked again. It's quite frustrating, and I have no idea what the issue could be.


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## Philippe Coudé du Foresto (Oct 31, 2020)

Usually, this error means a file with the same name already exists in the destination folder. Open this folder outside of LR and see if you see such a file.


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## seanith (Oct 31, 2020)

I wish that was the case, but I can literally choose any random image and it won't work. Also works fine when I reverted back to LR 9.1 with the same image.


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## clee01l (Oct 31, 2020)

seanith said:


> I wish that was the case, but I can literally choose any random image and it won't work. Also works fine when I reverted back to LR 9.1 with the same image.


Use Explorer/Finder to search for "DSC09819.JPG" and report how many instance of this file exist on your destination drive and the path to each. 

And Another thing to investigate, are the files that you are trying to move missing from the source folder?


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