June 13, 2007
Locating Missing and Folders in Lightroom
Ian Lyons, from Computer-Darkroom, has posted an article on locating missing files inside Lightroom.
Question – My thumbnails have a ? symbol on the top right corner – what does this mean and how do I remove it?
Short Answer – The ? symbol is used to identify a file that Adobe Lightroom can no longer access; probably because it has been moved using one of the Operating System tools such as drag/drop or possibly the Move command. Unfortunately, Adobe Lightroom currently has no way of tracking such changes, so the ? symbol is displayed to warn the user that the file or folder containing the file can no longer be accessed.
Long Answer – Locating Missing Files and Folders
Even though Lightroom now uses the Folder paradigm rather than Shoots (as was the case during the public beta), it doesn’t display the full disk/folder hierarchy in the tree form that most users would be familiar with. This means that moving folders from disk to disk or even to a section of the hard disk not shown on the Lightroom Folders panel very often needs to be done using OS level tools such as Drag/Drop or even the Move command. The problem with this approach is that Lightroom can easily lose track of your files, and this results in the ? symbol being displayed.
Read the whole article.
Ian Lyons runs Computer-Darkroom.com and is Forum Host for the Adobe Lightroom User 2 User forum.
Via John Beardsworth