How do I force lightroom to import duplicates

<p>I have been migrating my images and Lr Cat from Hard drive to and have found myself in a position where I cannot see how to copy files from one drive to another using LR4. So I copied the files using Finder. I tried to import them again but LR would not do so as the files were still in the Catalog. I deleted some non critical CR2 files from Lr cat thinking that I was leaving the original Raw and XMP files in place and imported again.<br>

I now have lost the LR Edits on the ones I copied.<br>

I can see the Original and XMP files in the trash but the "Put Back" on the menu is grayed out. So how to I reinstate the files?<br>

And how do I move the files using LR so as to preserve the edits so this does not happen again?</p>

 

<p>When you move photos that are already in the lightroom catalog, you don't re-import them. You just tell lightroom where the new files are located. In Lightroom, the folder icons of the folders you moved should have a question mark next to them. Right-click on the folder and choose the option to locate the folder. If you do this on a top-level folder, it will find all the sub-folders, assuming you didn't rename them.</p>

<p>And to answer your last question, you can just drag and drop in the Folders panel to move files within Lightroom (which will move them on the disk for you).</p>

<p>When I look at the Folders in LR I see 0 images; but when I look at the folders in Bridge or Finder I can see them. I try to import but the images are greyed our and get a message that they are duplicate files?</p>

<p>That's because the files are already known to Lightroom, because you've imported them previously.</p>

<p>Here's a lesson to learn from this: in Lightroom, re-importing is almost never the right answer.</p>

<p>There's nothing wrong with what you did, moving files in Finder. As Rob said, you just need to tell Lightroom about the moves you made. If you moved whole folders, then the folders in Lightroom's Folders panel will have question marks next to them indicating that they are now missing. Right-click on the top-level missing folder and choose "Find Missing Folder..." from the context menu. Navigate to the new location and you're good to go. Repeat as needed.</p>

<p>If you moved individual files rather than whole folders, the same thing applies, but there will be question marks in the grid. Click the question mark, navigate to the new location, and you're good to go. Repeat as needed.</p>

<p>[[2) Put the lrcat for that photoshoot in that folder.]]</p>

<p>There is absolutely no reason to use a separate catalog for each event. In fact, that is a terrible practice. Use Lightroom's Collections feature to organize your images, not separate catalog files.</p>

<p>[[The larger your catalog, the slower every process in LR will take.]]</p>

<p>This is false.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>in Lightroom, re-importing is almost never the right answer.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That should be added to the other LR 'rules'!<br>

Once images are in LR, use LR, not the Finder (or Explorer) to move, rename or affect the files. It just confused the poor thing. </p>

<p>What Rob said, x 100.</p>

<p><strong>"And how do I move the files using LR so as to preserve the edits so this does not happen again?"</strong><br /> <br /> A few ways, Dave. As I work in LR, I have my preferences set to "write to changes to xmp". You can find this under Edit>Catalog Settings and then under the Metadata tab. This is important if you work in Bridge etc to make sure your edits in LR, show up elsewhere in other Adobe products. Also, before I move a files or folders like you are doing, I click on it (Library module) and "synchronize folder" and this makes sure all new files are added or deleted files are purged along with updating metadata. And lastly, when moving files outside of LR, move the xmp files with your raws :)<br /> <br /> It's always best to move the files within LR if you can.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice on synchronizing an re-importing as well. <br>

The problem is arising as I do my initial editing on my mac for speed and then need to move the files to a separate drive later where I link my LR Catalog to.<br>

Moving the files in LR Works; but having image copies on separate drives is confusing things. I may just have to export all the images to my backup drive instead of copying them so that Bridge can at least see the final edit. The difficulty arises with this is that If I have cropped an image and want to uncrop later will an earlier version of Bridge CS5 still enable me to see the history?</p>

<p><strong>"I may just have to export all the images to my backup drive instead of copying them so that Bridge can at least see the final edit."</strong><br>

<br>

Moving, copying, or exporting has nothing to do with what Bridge can, or can not, see. I'm not sure if you are aware, but your LR edits are stored in LR's CSS database and in order to write these edits into your xmp so you can see them in Bridge etc, you need to go into your preferences like I suggested, and set your changes to write to xmp. If you then move your files, export them, or copy them, (inside LR or not, like with Finder) it will have <strong>no effect</strong> on Bridge as long as you take the xmp with you. If you don't want to save your edits as you work (some claim it slows down their system) you'll have the same success with Bridge if you instead save your metadata afterwards, or synchronize the folder.<br>

<br>

<strong>"The difficulty arises with this is that If I have cropped an image and want to uncrop later will an earlier version of Bridge CS5 still enable me to see the history?"</strong><br>

<br>

Bridge will be able to read your edits (the xmp) just fine. You'll open in ACR, crop tool and you'll see your original </p>