# Duplicate (Phantom?) entries in catalog.



## Gi2 (Jul 14, 2018)

I have two sets of folders listed in my Lightroom catalog. Both include the same images, each has a different folder structure. I recently moved Lightroom to a new computer, and also began using OneDrive. I have tried removing the second set of folders from Lightroom, but they come back again, apparently (but not for sure) when I import photos into Lightroom.

The second set of folders as fewer sub folders than the first set. Way fewer. The first set is correct.


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 14, 2018)

Is it just folders, or also the drive? If it’s just the folders, then this may be the ‘capitalisation problem’. See more details and a solution here: Lightroom 4.3 Duplicate folders being created o... | Adobe Community
It you see the disks twice as well, then see Folders panel displays same hard drive twice


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## Gi2 (Jul 14, 2018)

I don't think so. 

Here is the folder structure, at a fairly high level. There is a capitalization difference between Gi2 and gi2. It is Users >* Gi2* we want, not Users >* gi2*.




The import dialog, on both the Source and the Destination side, does not list *Gi2* set of folders as a possibility for import processing.

Source:



Destination:


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 14, 2018)

Why do you say “I don’t think so”, and then confirm this is indeed the capitalisation problem? It’s right in front of you. The Gi12 and gi2 folders are the problem. For Windows this is one and the same folder, because Windows is case-insensitive. The import dialog is driven by Windows. That is why you only see one of the two folders.

For Lightroom these are different folders, because Lightroom is case sensitive. Follow the instructions in the thread I gave you to solve it.


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## Gi2 (Jul 15, 2018)

I guess I don't know the correct folder from the incorrect folder. I tried the solution :"right in front of me" and got this:





I guess I should have moved the folder that has the correct file structure to the folder that does not - - because that is the capitalization that exists in my actual file structure. So, how do I get well from this?:


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 15, 2018)

If you look at the import panel, then you see that the ‘gi2’ folder is the correct folder. Apparently that is your user folder. That means you have to use the fix on the ‘Gi2’ user folder. So:
1. Start again with a backup catalog. Make an extra backup copy of your catalog first.
2. Create a root level folder on the C drive, call it whatever you want, say "Capitals Fix".
3. Right-click on the "Gi2” folder in the Lightroom Folders Panel and select "Update Folder Location". In the file browser that then opens, browse to and select the "Capitals Fix" folder on the C drive.
4. Don't be alarmed as the Gi2 folder will disappear from the Folders Panel, "Capitals Fix" will appear but all the sub-folders that were listed under Gi2 will now have "?" marks.
5. Now right-click on "Capitals Fix" in the Folders Panel, and again choose "Update Folder Location". This time browse to and select the correct "gi2" folder on the C drive. You may get a "Merge" dialog box, select "Merge" and everything should resolve itself.


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## Gi2 (Jul 15, 2018)

Should I worry  that the file structure in the backup catalog is not the same as the one that exists now?  Capitals Fix, for example,  was not there when I made the backup.


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 15, 2018)

Gi2 said:


> Should I worry  that the file structure in the backup catalog is not the same as the one that exists now?  Capitals Fix, for example,  was not there when I made the backup.


No, that is exactly the reason why I advised you to start again with a backup. It _should_ not be there because you should start from scratch.


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## Gi2 (Jul 15, 2018)

is the result at step 5.  "select the correct "gi2" folder.


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 15, 2018)

I think you are doing something wrong. Can you describe *exactly* what you did before this happened?


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## Gi2 (Jul 15, 2018)

5. Now right-click on "Capitals Fix" in the Folders Panel, and again choose "Update Folder Location". This time browse to and select the correct "gi2" folder on the C drive


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 15, 2018)

Gi2 said:


> 5. Now right-click on "Capitals Fix" in the Folders Panel, and again choose "Update Folder Location". This time browse to and select the correct "gi2" folder on the C drive


If you get this error when you update the folder location, then perhaps you have a corrupt catalog as well. Maybe Jim Wilde has another idea, but we have helped dozens of people who had this problem and it’s a pretty straightforward procedure. I have never seen this error coming up as a result, so I have no answer to this.


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 15, 2018)

OK, let’s try to find out what is going on here. Can you post some screenshots of the Lightroom folder panel, and of your folders on disk (as seen in Windows Explorer)?


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## Gi2 (Jul 15, 2018)

It is more difficult to show the hierarchy in explorer. There are photos in the folders in 2018. Here is an example:


Thank you for your help. Do you need anything else?


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 15, 2018)

I’m not sure what you are doing, but you are doing something wrong. The ‘gi2’ folder in your folder panel should still show 8970 images at this stage, but it does show only one image. I think you are not following the procedure correctly. Perhaps you are using ‘Update Folder Location’ on the wrong folder, although it seems to be done correctly. Another possibility is that this has something to do with the fact that you are using OneDrive. Is this folder also synced to another computer perhaps? A computer that has ‘Gi2’ as user name?


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## Gi2 (Jul 16, 2018)

There is not other computer with Gi2 as a user name. I will go through your steps again, and make a screenshot at each step.

So, here we are ready for Step 2. I have started again with a backup catalog, and make and extra backup copy of my catalog.




I have created the root level folder in Step 2, so I am ready to go on to Step 3, which is to update the folder location of Gi2 to Capitals Fix. 




and here is the result:




Not how it should be.  Correct?


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 16, 2018)

It looks like you are doing everything right, but I don't understand why suddenly the remaining 'gi2' folder shows only one picture. The number of pictures in that folder should normally not change, because you did nothing with it. What makes it even weirder is that the image count seems to be incorrect as well. Your 'Gi2' folder shows 8971 images in total, including a '2017' folder with 2652 images. Your 'gi2' folder shows 8971 images as well, but it is missing the '2017' folder. We normally see that Lightroom shows independent image counts on the two folders: that's because Lightroom sees a folder that is really there, but that Windows doesn't see as a different folder. This problem seems to be different, because also Lightroom seems to be confused about what is and what is not in which folder.

I've seen a similar problem (but not exactly the same and not the error message) once with somebody who used Dropbox, but he had another computer synced to Dropbox as well with the same user name and different capitalisation. I do wonder if OneDrive has something to do with this, but let's try something else first.

Let's first try the next step. Can you show a screenshot of which folder you think you should select when you take the next step (when you use 'Update Folder Location' on the 'Capitals Fix' folder)? You could take that step right away, but let's make 100% that you will select the correct folder.


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 16, 2018)

In the meantime I've done some searching, and I stumbled over two examples that may be related. First there is a strange problem mentioned here: Lightroom CC Classic - Phantom / Blank values i... | Adobe Community. It could be the same problem, but because this user has selected the images through a smart collection, we can't see his folder structure. The error message does look the same, though.

I also found another message about the error occurring when you select 'Find Missing Folder' and then select another folder than the one Lightroom is missing. That is what we are doing in the fix procedure with the subfolders of 'Gi2', so this might be the same thing. I can't give you a link to this one because this is a non-public forum. Adobe has seen this too however, so I'm waiting to see if they have an answer. It means that if you still get the same problem, it may be a good idea to ignore it for the time being, because the fix might be plagued by a new bug.


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## Gi2 (Jul 16, 2018)

I am going to sit tight hoping you hear from Adobe on the private forum. I have reverted to the catalog I was using before we started testing, and I have done some work in Lightroom. So, I will have to start at Step 1 when we test again.  That doesn't take long, but I don't want to do it until we understand what is happening in Step 3 and 4.


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 16, 2018)

Gi2 said:


> I am going to sit tight hoping you hear from Adobe on the private forum. I have reverted to the catalog I was using before we started testing, and I have done some work in Lightroom. So, I will have to start at Step 1 when we test again.  That doesn't take long, but I don't want to do it until we understand what is happening in Step 3 and 4.


Might be a good idea. I'll keep you posted.


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## Laura Shoe (Oct 5, 2018)

I have been working with a client. She has "pgh", "Pgh" and "PGH" on her external drive.  The last one is what shows in Finder.

- I created a "temp lr" folder at the root of her external drive,
- updated the location of "pgh" to "temp lr",
- I updated "temp lr" to "PGH".

I got this error: "An internal error has occured: ?:0: attempt to index field "?" (a nil value)." I am sure that I was updating the location of one of the incorrect folders.

Ideas?  Thank you!


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## Johan Elzenga (Oct 5, 2018)

Try what happens when you create the temp folder on the internal disk.


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## Laura Shoe (Oct 11, 2018)

It didn't work, Johan - same message. I have advised her to back up everything, photos and catalog, and then call Adobe Technical Support ... but if you have any other ideas, I'm all ears.  Thank you for your help thus far.


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## Jim Wilde (Oct 11, 2018)

Laura, a couple of screenshots (of the Folders Panel, and the corresponding Finder view) might throw some light on the issue.

Normally with the capitalisation problem there's only one "duplicate" folder, it's unusual to encounter 2. Could you get your client to hover over the three folders and note down each exact path that will appear in the pop-up when she does that. Would like to see what Lightroom thinks the situation is, so maybe we can then figure out how to get things resolved.


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## Laura Shoe (Oct 11, 2018)

Thank you, Jim. Here's a screenshot of the Folders panel with three versions of Photos Go Here. I didn't take one of Finder, but it just  shows F:\Photo Library\PHOTOS GO HERE. (I'll get a screenshot.)





I'll get back to you on the paths.


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## Gi2 (Jul 14, 2018)

I have two sets of folders listed in my Lightroom catalog. Both include the same images, each has a different folder structure. I recently moved Lightroom to a new computer, and also began using OneDrive. I have tried removing the second set of folders from Lightroom, but they come back again, apparently (but not for sure) when I import photos into Lightroom.

The second set of folders as fewer sub folders than the first set. Way fewer. The first set is correct.


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## Laura Shoe (Oct 13, 2018)

@Jim Wilde, the paths for these three folders are
X:\Photo Library\PHOTOS GO HERE (this one, and only this one, shows in Finder)
X:\Photo Library\Photos go here
X:\Photo Library\Photos Go Here

(The drive letter has changed since I wrote previously, from F: to a permanent assignment of X)


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## Jim Wilde (Oct 13, 2018)

Laura, which folder did you try to update the location for? You said "pgh", but which one is that.....I see 2 x PGH (one all caps, one only the first letter of each word is caps) and one Pgh, I don't see a "pgh". And at which point did the error message appear? After the first update to "Temp Lr", or after the second one back to "PHOTOS GO HERE"? 

I'm also confused as to how the drive letter has changed, and how LR was able to deal with that in view of the fact that 2 out of 3 paths are invalid. TBH, I'm beginning to worry that  you might have a corrupt catalog there, as the "normal" capitalisation problem doesn't show the same photo count for each of the 3 duplicate folders.

I think the first thing I would do is get rid of the faux "F:" top level folder (which is presumably now "X:"?) by doing "Hide This Parent", as this might be confusing things. Then try the "Update Folder Location" trick again on the "Photos Go Here" folder. If that works it would be interesting to see an updated screenshot at that point.


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