How do I re-link missing photos

I recently had to rebuild my iMAC OS X 10.9.4 and I restored lightroom 5.5 from the Adobe download. I tried to restore the catalog and photos to their original location using my Time Machine backup. When I open Lightroom I see the photos but they come up as missing. How do I re-link the original photo to the catalog? I am looking for a bulk method as I have over 2000 to relink.

Go to your Folders panel (LH side of Library). Do the folders have question marks on them?
If so, right click on the folder name and choose Find Missing Folder…
Point Lightroom to the correct folder.
All subfolders should be found at the same time and the images within relinked.
Depending upon your folder structure this can be one click on a top-level folder (if you have one) or many clicks on many like-level folders.

Similar Messages

How to reset paths (NOT missing photos)

I have created a new folder with all my photos. Within it are individual folders named by year (2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009...).
I have several old catalogs with photos pointing to different files on several external HDs. I want to relink them nice and neatly so that they all point to the photos on my newly created folder on a dedicated external HD.
How can I relink all the photos? I've searched all over the internet but the only information that I can find are those related to "missing photos and question marks in the corner (and not just "resetting paths" as in Expression Media/iView). I have attempted to FORCE the question mark and relink it that way but Lightroom will not find nearby files. It only finds photos taken on the same day.
There must be some easy way like in Expression Media/iView to simply reset the path, i.e., manually relink in big batches (all photos in one folder).
I'd be so grateful for any insight and solutions anybody could offer me.

You've a couple of routes - for individual images, or for folders.
With individual images, it depends on the image being missing. If it has a little question mark or exclamation mark in the corner in grid view, click the missing file marker and point to where the photo is now located. Ensure "Find Nearby" is ticked, and press OK. LR will read the filenames of other missing files and try to find them too. This route is no use if the image is not missing.
With folders, you can right click any folder. You get a question mark if the folder is missing, and right click - "Find Missing Folder". If the folder is not missing, the context menu is "Update Folder Location". In each case you can now point to the new folder location.
To make it easy on yourself, right click a parent folder and update its location. Its child folders will then be updated too.
Does that help?
John

How do I make link from photo to website

I want to post a jpg twitter an facebook PR material with a feature that ensure any one clicking the photo will be linked to the website in question for further information. How do I do that?

You would need to do this through twitter or Facebook, not Photoshop??? I suggest you look into this via the social media platforms, Photoshop is for art working, processing and manipulating images not creating links?

How do I find my hidden/missing photos?

On my iPhone4 my Camera Roll is showing 925 photos, which I have recently backed up to my computer. However iTunes shows I have 2103 photos using 4.47 gb. On my phone under settings>general>usage>photos & camera it shows that I have used 4.6 gb. And on my phone under settings>general>about>photos it shows 2,065.
This is my 2nd iPhone, which replaced the 1st iPhone4 when it had a problem and stopped working. I am missing a whole lot of pictures, and so the over 2000 number makes sense. I just don't know how to find the hidden/missing photos.
Can anyone help me with this?

I think your numbers add up --- as follows:
iTunes says you have 2.103 photos. I claim they consist of:
925 photos on your Camera Roll
178 photos in your Photo Library
1,000 photos in your Photo Stream
2,103 total photos
If you're having trouble finding the Photo Stream photos, maybe this will help:
iCloud: Photo Stream FAQ

How can I restore to the Browser View of Book, several missing photo's?

Ten photos are missing from the Browser View of the Book. The photos show up in the Photo View and are checked as being used. They also show up in the working screen view of the book. All other photos in the book show up. Why are the 10 missing? How can I restore just those photos and not all photos for that book? What difference would it make in sending that book to the printer?

Ten photos are missing from the Browser View of the Book. The photos show up in the Photo View and are checked as being used. They also show up in the working screen view of the book.
I'm not sure of your question
Are you saying that when you view the thumbnails of the book at the top or the screen that some pages do not show the photos even though they are in the book below?
If so that is a minor bug in iPhoto '09 - you can ignore it - it is just a display issue -- I forget exactly how but you can force a refresh of the book thumbnails - maybe double clicking on the book page - or maybe on the thumbnail
But in any case your book is fine (you should preview it before sending - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1040 )
LN

Missing photo links - changing name of external Hard Drive location

I have searched for the answer to this high and low without success if someone can help...
I have a large collection of photos that I store on an external firewire hard drive (too many to store on my macbook pro). My iphoto library is on my Mac and when importing photos to iphoto I did not import the files so the originals remain on the external hard drive and are therefore linked to in iphoto.
I did it this way, rather than storing the library database on the external drive, so that I could access the information and thumbnails when travelling and not connected to my external drive.
I've upgraded my external hard drive and it will have a different name. I need to transfer all the photos across to the new hard drive.
Is there a quick way to reconnect all my original photos when transferred to the new hard drive or a better way to transfer them? Having tried to copy them across manually, obviously as expected I get a missing photo exclamation mark and am asked to browse to the file to relink. This is OK to reconnect one or two photos, but would take me forever with 17,000.
I remember Adobe Photo Album had a command reconnect missing files, and it would go off and search for the files you may have moved location (or changed the directory name in which they were held). Is such a function available in iphoto? I've tried the iphoto re-build functions, but this doesn't look in other attached volumes for the photos.
Alternatively, is there a way to edit the iphoto library database to do a search and replace of the Volume name to the new name and reconnect the link to then photos? e.g. Can you manually edit the albumdata.xml file (and would this be the file to edit) for example, and rebuild the database with Photo Library Manager?
Can you re-import all the photos from the new location, and rebuild the links that way, or does this create duplicate entries and not merge album, keyword event data etc for each photo?
My last resort is re-importing all the photos again, but of course I'd loose all my keywords, albums, events and other info I've spent a long time entering into iphoto.
Thanks
Phil

I just wanted to close this off to say that my solution worked fine and my iphoto libraries are up and running in perfect order again. And to summarise the solution so you don't have to read the entire post above.
This solution is for those wanting to have the iphoto library on your Mac and store the original photos linked elsewhere on an external / network drive (i.e. not imported into the iphoto library). Then you want to change the location where the originals are stored (say for example you get a new bigger external Hard Drive - like I did), and that new location will have a different name. Most people recommend importing the photos into the iphoto library, keeping everything together, and this can then be moved anywhere and accessed.
So to summarise, if you are moving original photos linked into iphoto:
1. Back up everything you can first...
2. First try moving the files (not copying and deleting) - the aliases may reconnect, especially if they are on your main HD. You may need to manually reconnect one file in each sub-directory.
3. Move your photos to your external HD / network drive. Note if the new place has the same name as your old external HD then the aliases probably won't need to be fixed.
4. Download and install File Buddy or similar Alias 'fixer'
5. Go to your iphoto Library, right click, "Show Package Contents"
6. Copy the "Originals" directory to another location so that file buddy can read it.
7. Run File buddy, fixing the aliases in your copy of the Originals folder, pointing to where you've moved your photos too (restrict the directories as much as possible where you point file buddy to search for the missing files to speed it up). You will only have issues if you have multiple copies of the same file - i.e. that have the same file name and creation date, and file buddy will give you a list of these. This in itself is a good check to see you don't have the same file in two places - I only had issues with folders of photos that I'd been given from family in which there were multiple copies of the same photo. I've now cleaned these up, saved space and ran file buddy again to finish the job off.
8. Finally, move this now fixed "Originals" folder back into your iphoto library (package contents) - writing over / replacing the original "Originals" directory.
All being well, should be fixed!
Just to share with you the benefits I find of having my photos stored on an external HD and the iphoto library on my Macbook:
-- Saves space on my limited internal HD
-- others can access the photos, set up and manage their own iphoto libraries pointing at the same originals, and we don't need two copies of the original files
-- I can access the iphoto library and manage albums, add keywords, titles, etc when not connected to the External HD, though you're limited to viewing the (not too small) thumbnail pictures iphoto stores in its library
I'm loving iphoto even more now, it makes managing and viewing my 1000's of photos a pleasure.
Cheers
Phil

How do I recover missing photos in iPhoto 11?

HI!
     I recently upgraded to iPhoto 11 (from iPhoto 9, I believe). There are 12 photos missing from the 'Photos' section of my library. There are dashed lines around the locations where the photos should be (it is a sequence of 12 pictures), so I assume the originals are in the iPhoto Library somewhere. How do I have the placed back where they should be?
     Thanks for your help.
Doug Chisholm

Give these two fixes a try to see if they can recover those missing photos. But be sure to have a backup of your current library in case the results are not to your liking:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button,
and select the library you want to add from those in the selection window.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.
Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
Starting over from scratch with new library
Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:
1. Open the library package like this.
2. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
3. Drag the subfolders of the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the open iPhoto Library package into the open iPhoto window a few at a time.
This will create a new library with the same Events (but not necessarily the same Event names) as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects.
Note: your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.

PSE 6 Missing Photos How Can I merge ALL photos to PSE6?

I have three versions of elements on my pc..
starter 3
PSE4
PSE6
in all the programs there are photos missing with the (?) or the torn photo image..
in PSE6 when I click on the (?) the program searches and finds the photo quickly BUT I dnt want to do that for thusands of photos.
I WANT to free up space on my hard drive and delete copies of my photos and ran a duplicate photo program which found some photos to have as many as 6 copies most have doubles..
I have 54,000 files of photo duplicates and about 120GB of space taken up.
I am sure that is double the amount of actual photos but as I started to delete the ones with 5-6 duplicates first saving just one copy I realized the
duplicate finder is not perfect...sometimes the one duplicate to be saved is in an odd location compared to the ones it listes as the duplicates.
I have deletd about 5,000 duplicates so far and got back about 10GB of space on my hard drive but I am afraid I am making it harder for the PSE6
to find all the photos. There is a one click button that will highlight ALL the duplicates and delete them in one swoop but I am worried PSE6 will not be able to find them and with just a (?) and a date I have no idea what photo is missing or how to find it.
I just deleted a trial version PSE6 and was finally able to install the one I was given on CD.
but when it loaded hundreds of photos have the (?) and so I opened ALL 3 versions of PE to see if the photos are still on my hard drive or if I deleted
them with this duplicate finder program.
I really just want to have ALL the photos in ONE place and delete the early versions of PSE4 and starter but I am afraid I will be deleting the photos
that are loaded in that catalog....
How can I merge ALL my photos to PSE6?

Here's a method for finding duplicates using PSE 6:
http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/photoshopelements-6-7-faq.htm#_Find_and_delete
The advantage of this method is that you can control which duplicate you want to delete based on catalog information (e.g. one duplicate may have been tagged, the other not). And you don't need to worry about reconnecting files after you delete.
This method requires that all the files be imported into your PSE 6 catalog.

Random sequential groups of photos missing from Events and iPhoto Slideshow but are in an Album. How do I recover or copy photos back to Events and rebuild slideshow?

Random sequential groups of photos missing from Events, an Album I created, and a slideshow using the photos. This "appears" to have happened when upgrading to Yosemite. When I use iPhoto Library Manager, I see two entries for the Event Information for the date in question, same name, same number of photos, but different sizes. The smaller has the image number but no photo for the given date; the larger has the photos.
Image path for the version with all photos: /Volumes/Promise Pegasus/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2010/2010_05_24/IMG_0697.jpg
Image path for the version with missing photos: /Volumes/Promise Pegasus/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2010/2010_05_24_2/IMG_0697.jpg (NOTE the _2 added to the image number.)
I assume that I have to get the missing pictures back in Events so I can reload back into the Album. Hopefully, the slideshow will magically be better.
Help!

That's an indication that the link/file path between the thumbnail and the master file has been broken. Do the following:
1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down to open the First Aid window. Be sure to follow the circled recommendation in the screenshot.
2 - run Option #4, Rebuild Database.

HT1692 After synching, I updated to newer version of iTunes. I do not have contacts on my phone - but I have all the messages and photos there still. How do I find my missing contacts?

After synching, I updated to newer version of iTunes. I do not have contacts on my phone - but I have all the messages and photos there still. How do I find my missing contacts?

Still no success.
My problem, in part, is that I have 2 iphones. I transferred one to another computer that now syncs with iCloud. The other phone I was updating today on my old computer. It was recognised by iTunes, and automatically synched. Then I updated it to a newer version of iTunes, and lost my contacts on that iPhone. I have trawled to Windows Contacts but to no avail.

Automatic way to detect missing photos?

Hi All,
I suspect the answer will be 'no' but I live in hope... =)
My iPhoto library has become slightly corrupt. So far it seems to only affect 10 photos in one directory. It's the problem where the thumbnails show but the link to the full image is corrupt.
So, how do I discover if more photos are affected?
There are over 21,000 photos in my library so opening each in turn could take a while! Can anyone suggest a faster way. Or perhaps an automated method?
You know, I'd upgrade to iLife 09 but with the British Pound being weak against the Dollar the price of iLife has gone up about 50%. <grumble....>
Dave

You don't want to update with a corrupt library - you'll just roll the issue along. Upgrading the app will make no difference to the Library.
No, there's no way to find all and or any missing links. But it doesn't matter. That database is now toast. You know it's damaged and it needs to be replaced, there's no way to repair it.
Try these in order - from best option on down...
1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 08* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
Regards
TD

Relinking missing photo/exclamation mark

I have a photo that "can't be found" in LR and has one of those exclamation marks i the top right of the photo.
I have clicked on it and pressed the Locate button on the pop up message and comes up with a Folder "iPod photo cache". clicking on the Folder, it has a series of empty Folders numbered F00-F50, an Apple tv photo database and a photos database. I don't see my photo anywhere. I have clicked on a number of the folders and they all appear empty.
I thought that the idea was that the missing photos would appear so can you tell me how to find and re link it.
Seeing that the file is called IPOD Photo cache, I have plugged my iPod into the laptop but that does not appear to make any difference and the exclamation mark is still present and cannot find the photo.
Hope there is a simple trick that I am missing here and that you can point it out to me.
thanks
john

Missing photos don't just automatically appear when you choose the find missing photo option. You have to browse to the folder where you know the image is located and select the image. This will show Lightroom where the image is located on your hard drive. When the browser window opens in showing you the folder structure for the preview cache. These are previews are generated by Lightroom to facilitate the editing process. You need to use that dialogue box to navigate to the folder containing the real image and select the image. If you have a missing image, it's possible that you also have a missing folder. If you right-click on the missing folder you can choose to update the folder location. But again, you have to navigate to where the folder is located. Lightroom isn't going to find it automatically.

How do I export all the photos I imported back to their original folder

How do I export all the photos I imported back to their original folder just as they were, they haven't been modified, adjusted etc. I imported them by mistake.

You don't need to worry. You won't lose photos when the 30 day trial expires.
Lr is different than other photo editing software in that it works with a data base (called the "catalog"). Lr does not write anything into the image pixels but stores everything that you do in Lr into its catalog (=data base). That way, when the trial expires your images will still be there, but - since you cannot access the Lr catalog anymore - your photos will be in the state they were before you imported them into Lr.
When you work with Lr you have to really understand the concept of the "catalog", if you don't you will come into very frustrating situations. The concept of "catalog" involves above all that you need to think of your images based on two different files that are in different locations on your computer. One is your image file (Raw, JPG, TIFF) and the other is the data entry written for this image into the Lr catalog. Lr constantly updates this catalog (without you having to hit <save>) and constantly combines the image file with the data from the catalog. From this follows the demand that you take care of the Lr catalog as much as you take care for your image files - by knowing where they are located on your computer and by doing regular backups.
Would it be worth the investment? In my opinion definitively "yes"! I work with Lr since version 1 on a daily basis and would not want to miss it. Lr gives you superior image editing possibilities (in the Develop Module) but - as already said - is also a superb image management tool. Lr will keep track of all of your images irrespective if they are on internal or external hard drives. With Lr you have all of your images available all the time.
But Lr has also a steep learning curve. You cannot just jump in and do things because you'd create havoc and become frustrated. There are excellent books but for starters I would recommend that you watch the video tutorials on Adobe's website. You learn from them easily because you see on your screen what the instructor does, where he clicks, where the different tools are, etc.
Here are some links:
http://tv.adobe.com/product/lightroom/
http://tv.adobe.com/show/adobe-evangelists-julieanne-kost/
http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-lightroom-3/
If you decide to buy, you can do so on Adobe's website. You will then be e-mailed a serial # that will unlock your trial version for indefinite time.

Missing Thumbnails and Missing Photos

**** iLife!!
I updated iphoto to 6.02, and now I'm getting blank spaces for a bunch of photos in the thumbnail section, and I'm getting the empty grey square with the exclamation point in regular sized photos.
Everything was just fine before the upgrade.
HELP!!!

Yes, ditto. I have same problem as Ted if not worse with iPhoto 6.02. There must be 10000s of us out there which means that someone must have figured out a solution by now. Please!
I followed Niantic's instructions but nada. I also updated my OS and followed the link to the Apple com article on images with !s but Show file got no response nor did show original file etc.
Before I rebuilt the library I could click on some (but not all) the blank thumbnails and see the whole photo, but now all the blanks remain blank with the ! in the middle.
Checking the missing photos I noticed two things that might help. First, a great wodge disappeared from those taken between July and September 2005. Although some were still showing.
Of the other that went missing it seemed pretty random with a few here and there from the beginning of my library (2002) onwards.
Also a bunch of photos I gave names to so I could identify them easily in the iPhoto library folders got jumbled in the library so they are now out of sync with when they were taken.
Also some photos have renumbered themselves so 015_13 has duplicated itself as 015_12
Also the dates are wrong (this must be pretty easy to fix), so for example photos I took in March 2006 say Jan 2005
Also when I examine the file directory on iPhoto library none of the dates correspond to when I took them (one strand starts 1970) and many of the subfolders are empty (so I cant quite understand how they came to be created).
Finally, yes I do have backups though I am not looking forward to the hours it will eventually take identifying all the missing photos by number and then reimporting one or several at a time.
I already tried to do this with several different photos and each time it read: "Unreadable file: the following file could not be imported: users/etc/etc/IMG_xxxx.jpg (The file is in the iPhoto library folder). Please could someone translate what this means!
Please excuse the length of this posting but I figured the more info I give the more likely there might be a clue for some bright spark to figure out what the xxxx is going on. Like Ted, my digital photo life was simple and peaceful until iLife 6 came along.
I suspect that messy file management that was tolerated in my earlier version is no longer tolerated by this new version. Whatever the reason i am completely stumped. Over to you, Sherlock…
iMac G5 (3.0) 512 MB Mac OS X (10.4.6) Bought July 2005

Having an issue with "offline or missing" photos in LR

Im trying to save space on my Mac so I have moved some photos to an external drive. But now LR will show a preview of the pics, but can't find them for editing, etc. I was under the impression that LR could locate them on an external drive so that I could work on them without taking up so much space on my hard-drive. Is this correct, or am I just wishin?!?!?! If this is the case, how can I get LR to find those photos? And as a disclaimer, I'm super simple minded when it comes to the computer/tech stuff...so please explain in laymans terms (ok, idiot terms would be best!)
Thanks!

You should have made the move of your images inside LR by drag and drop.
Now you have broken the links to the images that LR knew by moving them outside via finder, and now you need to tell LR where the new destination is.
Hopefully you have not changed the folder structure.
Ctrl-click on the missing folder highest in your folder hierarchy and relink it to the new destination on the external drive.
Then all questionmarks for missing images should disappear.
Should you have changed your folder structure during your finder-move you have to relink individual images, but can click on "find nearby missing photos".
Cornelia

How do I re-link missing photos

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