# File associated with another photo



## renyswld (Aug 31, 2015)

In searching for missing photos, of which I have 4,645!!! I get this error message when clicking on the ? to locate a missing photo: 
File 440_D052276.tif is associated with another photo in the catalog. Each file can only be associated with one photo. 
There is a "show in library" which I've done but don't know what good that does me. How do I get rid of missing photos in this situation? :thinking:


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## Victoria Bampton (Sep 2, 2015)

That's because you've imported the same photos twice.  Imagine your photos hard drive is originally called Drive D, and you import your photos and edit them. Then, at some point, Windows changes the drive letter to Drive F. Later, you want to edit one of these old photos but it’s marked as missing, so you import it again (big mistake!). Time passes, and when you try to relink some of the files, Lightroom says “The file is associated with another photo in the catalog” and won’t let you continue.
To fix it:
1. Back up your catalog, just in case you make a mistake.

2. First, you have to determine which of the duplicates to keep. The original one that’s marked as missing? Or the newer one? In most cases, you’ll choose to keep the version that you’ve edited.

3. When you’ve decided which record you’re going to remove from the catalog, make sure you have a folder selected (not a collection) then select the photo and press the Delete key. If Lightroom asks whether to Remove or Delete, make sure you select Remove.

4. Once that duplicate record has been removed from the catalog, check the photo you’ve decided to keep. If it was marked as missing, click the rectangle in the corner and navigate to the new location. Lightroom now allows you to select the photo.

5. Repeat for each of the photos with the same problem. If you have the same problem on a large number of photos, you may be able to check and delete a whole folder at a time, rather than fixing each photo individually.

It's a bit of a job, but just a methodical process will fix it.


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## renyswld (Sep 6, 2015)

Excuse the delay in responding, holidays and all. I understand what you are saying, but odd that photos have been imported twice as I have the do not import duplicates checked when importing. But, somehow...
Now what is happening that I am trying to delete one of the unwanted photos but no matter what I do it is not deleted - delete button, right click delete, backspace, photo delete - it just stays there! Ah, I just found if I do photo-remove photo from catalog it works.


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## renyswld (Sep 6, 2015)

Ok, because I have so many missing photos, 4333, when I come upon a file that is associated with another photo in the catalog it seems I have to go through a two or three step process. Select the photo, get the already in catalog message, choose "show in library", remove that file from the catalog, go back to my missing images, find that photo and then the original. Is there a simpler process?????


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## boswachter (Sep 19, 2016)

Ok, so this just happened to me too. A complete external HD went "missing". LR insisted that the picture already existed in the catalog elsewhere but was unable to fetch it for me. Tried locating the picture, nada. Tried locating the FOLDER, nada. The I kept the drive connected and restarted LR. Suddenly the pictures were all there as they were supposed to be. No duplicates to be found!

So if this happens with an EHD, restart LR and it may find those pictures after all.

Hope this helps someone...

Henk


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