# How to restore (refresh) catalog



## aster (Jun 12, 2010)

Hi

After an hour searching, I decided to ask for help.
How do I refresh main library catalog to find new images or to restore accidentally removed ones?

I converted several raw images to dng and as a result raw's were removed from catalog.
After I deleted dng's - raws are present on disk but how to get back to catalog these removed raw files? Do I need to reenter also keywords each time?
Catalog is distributed between very many folders.

Thanks

Thanks


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## dj_paige (Jun 12, 2010)

[quote author=aster link=topic=1''59.msg6811'#msg6811' date=1276341569]
I converted several raw images to dng and as a result raw's were removed from catalog.
[/quote]

It would help if you told us how you did this. Did you do this inside of Lightroom when you imported the photos, or outside of Lightroom?

[quote author=aster link=topic=1''59.msg6811'#msg6811' date=1276341569]After I deleted dng's - raws are present on disk but how to get back to catalog these removed raw files? Do I need to reenter also keywords each time? Catalog is distributed between very many folders.
[/quote]

I believe to get the Raws back into your catalog (are you sure they aren't in the catalog now?), you would have to import them again. If, at some time in the past you stored your keywords with the Raw files (something that doesn't happen automatically in Lightroom, you the user have to tell LR to make this happen), then your keywords will be there on import. If you didn't tell Lightroom to store the keywords, then they are gone.

I point out that your sequence of actions isn't a good workflow. In general, you import a photo into Lightroom once, and you leave it in the Lightroom library module for the rest of time, or until the solar system ends, whichever comes first.


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 12, 2010)

Hi Aster, welcome to the forum!

So are the references to the DNG files still in the catalog safely? And do they have question marks on them? Did you have settings on them that you'd like to restore? Is there any particular reason you decided to delete the DNG's? And here's a daft question, but do you have a backup of the catalog before you did the conversion, because it may be possible to pull the details back from there.


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## aster (Jun 12, 2010)

Hi

Thanks for the help.
I used few days ago a Lightroom Library menu command "convert to dng" and later deleted these dng files with Lightroom right mouse button delete command, hoping that original raws, which were removed against my will, are restored. There is a lot of images and now I have found that several are missing.
Do you really mean that Lightroom doesn't have any basic refresh function, to check that all content of folders is still present?


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 12, 2010)

Ah, if you used the Library menu command, it basically does a 'swap'. If you ever need to just create DNG's without touching your raw files, try Export.

You can use the right-click on the Folders to do Synchronize to find any photos in those folders that aren't in the catalog, or just import those folders again to pick up any stragglers.


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## aster (Jun 12, 2010)

Thanks Victoria,
Yes my mistake, I'm new to Lightroom and just was too curious 

but if I don't remember the folder and there are over 1''' folders?
How can I sync the whole root folder f:/photos where image sub folders are stored, which are displayed in Lightroom now? Right now I just can't see this root folder from Lightroom.
And what's about keywords, are these lost with dng images?

Thanks!


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 12, 2010)

Ah, ok, right-click on the folder and choose Add Parent Folder and keep repeating on the top level folder until you reach a folder that contains all of the photos, and then you can synchronize the parent folder and it'll do all of the others. More extensive instructions here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/blog/2''8/12/17/i-have-a-long-list-of-folders-can-i-change-it-to-show-the-folder-hierarchy/

As far as the keywords go, possibly. That's why I asked about the catalog backup, which would contain your previous keywords. The other possibility is if you wrote out to XMP, they might still be with the raw files. You'd see them as *.xmp files next to the raw files on the hard drive.


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## aster (Jun 12, 2010)

Thanks, Add parent folder did the restore job.

But how to get rid of displaying parent folder?

My Folder structure is as following - f:\photos\backup_dvd_number\folders - by date with content description. The deepest level was nicely chronologically listed when imported from backup_dvd_number level. Now backup_dvd_number has interrupted the folder listing.

Thanks!


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 12, 2010)

Show me a screenshot?


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## aster (Jun 12, 2010)

I should add even one more parent folder if there is a way back, which restores original view of folder listing.

Screen image added.

Thanks!


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 13, 2010)

So they're in dph24 etc folders on the hard drive?

Yeah, you can either use the 'promote subfolders' to get back to where you are, or add another parents folder to take them one higher. I prefer the latter, because if the drive letter ever changes, losing track of photos, it's very easy to relink.


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