# Missing photos are not missing after all



## Arnold (Dec 20, 2019)

Lightroom Classic 9.1 says 4332 photos are missing from folder 2019, but they are all in the catalog. I can rightclick and choose Go To Folder in Library, and Lightroom opens the folder, and shows the photo every time.
Optimize catalog does not change this. The file names have not been changed. I am conserned  that removing the missing photos will remove the existing photos - as they are the same, so how can I solve this issue?
I really wonder how this can happen.


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## clee01l (Dec 20, 2019)

Arnold said:


> Lightroom Classic 9.1 says 4332 photos are missing from folder 2019, but they are all in the catalog. I can rightclick and choose Go To Folder in Library, and Lightroom opens the folder, and shows the photo every time.
> Optimize catalog does not change this. The file names have not been changed. I am conserned that removing the missing photos will remove the existing photos - as they are the same, so how can I solve this issue?
> I really wonder how this can happen.



Can you post a screen shot of the dialog that opens when you right click on a grid thumbnail of an image that is missing? Also another screen shot of the Folder panel showing that folder of the missing image file and it’s parent.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Jim Wilde (Dec 20, 2019)

Did you just run that Find all Missing Photos command? If it was some time back, run it again (it doesn't automatically refresh when missing photos are subsequently found) to see if you get the same results.


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## Arnold (Dec 22, 2019)

Thank you, Jim. This was a bit strange. Lightroom listed photos as missing, even thou they were not missing. 
The command Library > Find All Missing Photos was not run. Suddenly, yesterday the Catalog collection "Photos Missing from Folder "nnn"" was correct, when opening Lightroom. 
Even thou Lightroom can list all missing photos upon the menu command, there must bee some internal housekeeping in the catalog, as it was automatically updated after starting Lightroom yesterday.


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## PhilBurton (Dec 22, 2019)

Arnold said:


> Thank you, Jim. This was a bit strange. Lightroom listed photos as missing, even thou they were not missing.
> The command Library > Find All Missing Photos was not run. Suddenly, yesterday the Catalog collection "Photos Missing from Folder "nnn"" was correct, when opening Lightroom.
> Even thou Lightroom can list all missing photos upon the menu command, there must bee some internal housekeeping in the catalog, as it was automatically updated after starting Lightroom yesterday.


So did you actually recover your photos?
To keep things simple, first locate the photos, notably the top-level folder that contains any and all subfolders.

Then run Lightroom and run Find All Missing Photos.  Navigate to that top level folders.  When you are there, the photos will "snap in" quickly.  Then just be really careful, exit Lightroom and be sure to run the Integrity Check and the backup.

Then restart Lightroom and have fun.

Phil Burton


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## Arnold (Dec 22, 2019)

Thank you, PhilBurton for kindly sharing really good guidelines about folders, which I have followed strictly from the beginning of Lightroom 2 - Only one top folder. Sorry you did not understand my post. The photographs were NOT missing, just listed as missing.


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## PhilBurton (Dec 22, 2019)

Arnold said:


> Thank you, PhilBurton for kindly sharing really good guidelines about folders, which I have followed strictly from the beginning of Lightroom 2 - Only one top folder. Sorry you did not understand my post. The photographs were NOT missing, just listed as missing.


Arnold,

I realize that the photos aren't missing.  They are listed as missing by Lightroom only because they are not in the same location that they were when they were initially imported into Lightroom.  Jim Wilde's advice, above, is spot on.  That process is exactly how you tell Lightroom that the photos are now in a different location.

I'm speaking from personal experience here.  Early in my Lightroom experience, I "improved" the organization of all my photos on disk, thereby causing Lightroom to identify them as missing.  After repeated runs of Find All Missing Photos, I was able to reconnect Lightroom with all those photos.  In doing so, I completely undid my "improvements."  The proper way to reorganize my photos on disk was to move folders _within _Lightroom.

Phil Burton


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## Arnold (Dec 22, 2019)

The Lightroom catalog has a link to every photo on the disk, and moving files with Finder/Explorer is breaking the link. I have helped hundreds of people solving such issues over the years. Using Folders,  Lightrooms own File handler, is the easiest way for most people to move files and folders.
Theese photos had only been moved by the file manager Folders within Lightroom Library.


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