Missing or Offline Images

Question

Hi;
I have about 9000 missing or offline images according to my Lightroom3 software.
However, they're not! I can see them in the folders on an external drive where Lightroom says they are not. I'm confused, baffled, fed-up!
When I try to reimport them, Lightroom says they are already there, doubly confusing?!
Can someone please help me get them back in my Library so I can use them.
Many, many thanks.
PS I've had this same problem for a while, predating my recent update to v3 from v1.

Answer 1

When you have missing or offline images do NOT re-import. Since LR stores the edits and everything else you do in the catalog and not in the image file, you would loose everything you did by re-importing.
The correct way is to point LR to the missing image / folder. LR stores the location of an image (and its file-name) in the catalog, too. When you then move an image (or an image folder) or re-name them outside of LR, i.e. in Mac Finder / Win Explorer then there is a discrepancy for LR between what the catalog says and the actual situation on your hard drive(s). That creates the missing image message. "Missing" in this context means that LR does not "know" where the image is - it does not mean that the image is not somewhere on your hard drive.
For this reason, it is best practice to do all your image management (renaming of files/ folders or moving them) in LR. That way LR keeps track of where the images are.
You should see - in the folders panel (left side in Library Module - question marks besides the folders. This is LRs way of saying :I don't know where this folder is".
Right-click the top-most folder in the hierarchy of folders that show the question mark and select <Update folder location>. Navigate to the correct location of the folder and click on it. LR should then find the sub-folders on its own, provided that you have not changed the folder names or folder structure outside of LR.
If you have done this you have to do the <Update folder location> for each individual folder.
If you still have missing images after that, that means that you have moved images between folders 9outside of LR).
You then have to go the painfully slow route of pointing LR to each missing image. In the Grid View, the missing image should have a question mark on its frame. Click the question mark (hit it directly) and select <Find missing image>. Then navigate to the location of the image and click on it. If the file name has been changed you will be asked to verify that this is the correct image.
WW