"Sidecar file missing" - LR 1.1 can't read XMP files

I am getting a "sidecar file missing" icon for 150 out of 2,500 photos I've imported into Lightroom. The .XMP files are present in the same folders as the photographs, LR is just not recognizing them. It is just a few files from several different folders, but not all the files in any folder. The photos appear as "Missing Files" in the Library heading on the left panel in Library mode.
The metadata appears correctly saved in the LR cache. I have tried writing the metadata from the cache to the disk, but that does not help. If I try to import the files or folders again, Lightroom will not allow it saying that the images are already in the catalog.
Sometimes I add metadata (i.e. rankings) to the files in IMatch 3.6, but I seriously doubt that has anything to do with this problem.

Robert, thanks for the reply. I did find a work-around, eventually, but still haven't figured out what went wrong; I'm still investigating that.
The work-around:
1) I went to the Missing Files "filter" in Library mode.
2) I selected the missing files
3) I went to "Metadate/Write to File" and chose that.
4) If Lightroom said that the metadata had been updated in a different program, I chose the "Overwrite" option.
5) I then Removed the selected files from the Catalog (Alt-Backspace on my PC)
6) I then Imported the folder(s) with the missing files again.
Lightroom then read the XMP files without a problem.
I previously had tried your suggestion of opening the file in Breezebrowser Pro, modifying the metadata and saving the file. This did not cause Lightroom to able to read/find the XMP files.
I printed out various versions of the XMP files from instances where Lightroom could and could not find the XMP file and am going to compare them when I get a chance.
Thanks for your help

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Missing sidecar files

I've just discovered a few directories containing my CR2 Raw files are showing a question mark in the Lightroom Gallery. This says that
"The following files (related to this photo) were present before, but are now missing", with the name of the .xmp file, and "The photo negative file is still present. Do you want to forget about the sidecar files, or continue to track them?"
I searched the forum and found one question on the same issue, but no answer.
I have copied over a few of these files from by back-up directory, but the question marks have not dissappeared.
Any ideas how I might have done this. (I didn't knowingly delete xmp files). and how can I rescue the situation. Do I risk losing my keywording and devlop settings?
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Colin

I'm pretty certain that the ? does not relate to the image's location being moved, as there has been no movement there at all.
The xmp files in fact contain GPS data. TThe images still show the gps data in the metada column so does that mena the lrcat file hold that as well?
If so it seems that I can tell LR to "Forget" the xmp file.
Is there a way to find all images where the sidecar is missing?
Ta
Colin

Sidecar file missing - correct status on selected items

Hello,
how can I correct the 'sidecar file missing' issue on several selected items in a LR2.3 Catalog?
With an external program named 'exiftool' I have manipulated xmp data (xmp:urgency) on selected images by means of a filelist.
During this process LR was running and the LR catalog setting was set to 'automatically write changes to xmp'.
Before Exiftool writes into an exisiting file, it creates a copy and renames the file ending with '_original'.
Hence, since LR was running LR was aware of what's going on and took notice of the changes for each file.
After I verified the process to have completed as anticipated, I went to delete the '_original' copies.
Back in LR the question-mark icon appeares for the manipulated files (that are fully intact - not a problem there).
Clicking the question-mark on a catalog item provides two choices:
- continue tracking
- forget (meaning clearing the link to the missing file).
So far so good. But what about when this is the case for many items?
Selecting these items and then clicking the question-mark does not apply the selected choice 'forget' the selected items.
I wonder if there is another way of getting rid of this question-mark (indicating missing links).
I am aware of the workaround of simply removing the items in question from the catalog and reimport them (synchronize folder).
Tried to importing the metadata from disk, but that does not help in this case (this is logical and correct).
But I also wonder why this function cannot be applied to a selection of items while most other functions can.
Feedback is appreciated.
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LR2.7 "Missing Sidecar Files" issue

Hello,
LR2-7, Win32 Vista:
in a folder of 182 photos within catalog of 16 k photos:
suddenly, most photos show in Library view and the stripline a top right corner question mark and icon stating "sicedar file missing". In Catalog preferences the checkbox for "automatically write changes to XMP files" is not set (was never set), the folder does not contain any other files than the photos:
- in the beginning of this problem, these were cr2 files. It was then possible, to click on the icon/questionmark and trigger a dialogue "forget sidecar / continue?" but only for single files, NOT for a selection on click - come on.
- I converted the entire folder to dng files (my usual setting), NOW, the question marks all are still there, but NO dialog available any more on click.
- I pressed ctrl-S to create a sidecar file - zero reaction, nothing. Is there a secret place for sidecar files I would have to know?
I can of course remove photos from the catalog, and re-sync - this cures the issue.
- Up until now, I had a reliable catalog of approx. 16k photos - is this the end of it? I do do backups, but I can't afford a "sometimes" performance of Lightroom.
- what do I do about development settings already done when removing /re-syncing photos to get rid of the icons and "missing sidecars" (I don't miss them, why does LR)??
Anyways, this issue pops up on the forum on 1.1 and 2.3 versions... any sugggestions how to go about this on 2.7? Is this a feature?
thanks,
Gerd

Dear dj_paige,
thank you for your note,
please see my comment to your email below in your text
DNG photos do not have sidecar files. So, their absence is not a problem.
- I know, I never generated any sidecar files and understand that there should be none for DNG. However, for the CR2 files, LR displayed the prominent ? and tooltip "sidecar file missing", and this persists even after converting to DNG.
I'm not sure what problem re-synching will cure. I do not recommend you "remove photos from the catalog, and re-sync", as you lose information that is catalog only (such as collection membership, edit history, color labels, pick flags and a few other things). In fact, I think it is a terrible idea.
- agreed. For this reason, I sent a note to the forum
If your catalog within Lightroom is working properly (and you haven't really convinced me that there is anything wrong), then again I don't know what the problem is.
- See above: for the CR2 files, LR displayed the prominent ? and tooltip "sidecar file missing", and this persists even after converting to DNG. Nothing else is wrong, HOWEVER, this icon and message is nonsense and should not be displayed
It sounds as if you are using the metadata as some form of backup of your catalog. It is not a backup; metadata enables you to share *some* information from your Lightroom with other applications. Other information in your catalog is not stored in the metadata written to files. The only way to create a backup of your catalog is to actually make a backup of the catalog file, which is a Lightroom option you can turn on. I consider making backups of your catalog file to be mandatory.
- NO, your assumption is incorrect. I do backup the entire catalog file.
Best regards,
Gerd

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I have raw files that had metadata written to XMP sidecar files, the XMP are now missing, and I don't want to have LR create new sidecar files. The files show up as missing in the catalog. How can I get rid of the missing status and the little "metadata status warning" icons without having to write new sidecar files? If I can't that's pretty insidious and I would call it a bug.
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Writing to xmp and then deleting the xmp is how I got to this stage. They show up in the Missing Files folder in the library tab of the library module. If I hover over the little question mark icon it says sidecar file is missing. If I click on the question mark it writes the metadata to xmp, even if "auto write changes to xmp" is unchecked in the catalog settings>metadata preferences.
But there's no way to delist them from missing files without creating a new xmp, as far as I can tell. You're basically stuck with "missing files" warning forever unless you create new xmps.
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Currently I'm a little bit confused about what is happening to my LR cat.
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now it shows up a DNG-image with the question mark on top right of the thumbnail in grid view. Moving up the mouse over the icon gives me the hint that the sidecar file is missing!
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Can I export my sidecar files to two or more hard drives at the same time from one computer?

Can I export my sidecar files to two or more hard drives at the same time from one computer? How do I do this, if it is possible?

Each image is imported into the LR Catalog from just one stated location on disk. And that is where the sidecar gets written.
But if you want, outside of LR, you can have a file sync utility replicate all physical changes within those folders on disk, into other corresponding locations on other drives - which hold a copy of all the same images, and a copy of the sidecars too. This might happen continuously, periodically or on demand depending on the particular tool you use... for example, the Dropbox desktop app.
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How can I generate XMP sidecar files?

Hello,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I am trying to figure out how to generate XMP sidecar files for my DNG RAW files in Adobe Bridge. How do I do this? The reason why I ask is because my instructor is really getting on my case because I'm not able to generate the XMP files.
Love is the Law, Love under Will.
Most sincerely,
Jessica Sideways

Might do a little research as either you are phrasing the question wrong, you misunderstood the instructor, or instructor does not know what he is talking about.
Here is a link from other authors from Lighroom that also backs up what I said - To avoid sidecar files, consider converting your raw files to DNG. Metadata is written to these files in XMP format, but within the DNG..
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4306185

How do I force lightroom to (re)load an XMP sidecar file?

Good morning from Boston!
I am new to Lightroom and just finished importing my Aperture library into Lightroom 5 on a Mac. For that, I followed the instructions on Adobe's landing page and Lightroom solutions. For those not familiar with the instructions, you essentially export all your originals with an XMP sidecar file and then export all the adjusted/edited files as 16-bit TIFFs. Then you add them all back into Lightroom and get everything back into Catalogs, Labels, Ratings, and such by using keywords that were added while in Aperture. It took forever, but worked pretty well overall. I had about <1% fewer images in LR5 than in Aperture, which were likely suspected duplicates. So far, so good.
Here's is my problem. My keywords didn't always transfer over (the Keywording panel is empty). I did search forums and plug-ins, but seem to only find issues related to EXIF and GPS data. I also used "Metadata:Read Metadata from File" and "Metadata:Update DNG Preview & Metadata," which didn't do anything. I am suspecting that "Read from File" means "read from the image file itself but not from the sidecar file." Take file IMG_5888 as an example. This particular one was taken as RAW (.CR2) + JPEG on a Canon Rebel XS, but I am having the same issue with RAW only on my Canon EOS 6D. Same goes for JPG + XMP. Puzzling thing is that other files loaded just fine.
In the directory/folder where the file is, it looks like this:
IMG_5887.CR2
IMG_5887.JPG
IMG_5887.XMP
IMG_5887.dng
IMG_5888-2.JPG
IMG_5888.CR2
IMG_5888.JPG
IMG_5888.XMP
IMG_5888.dng
IMG_5889-2.JPG
IMG_5889.CR2
IMG_5889.JPG
IMG_5889.XMP
IMG_5889.dng
The .dng were generated by Llightroom. Now, the sidecar files typically have something like so in them (I cut out some keywords for clarity—you get the idea):
<rdf:Description rdf:about='' xmlns:photoshop='http://ns.adobe.com/photoshop/1.0/'>
</rdf:Description>
<rdf:Description rdf:about='' xmlns:dc='http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/'>
<dc:subject><rdf:Bag>
<rdf:li>Black Head Trail</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>Cliffs</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>Maine</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>Monhegan</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>RAW</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>Sunrises</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>United States</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>Waves</rdf:li>
</rdf:Bag></dc:subject>
</rdf:Description>
So, the keywords were exported from Aperture, but for some reason, Lightroom isn't always loading them from the XMP file.
On a related note, the keyword hierarchy that was exported as text file from Aperture and imported into LR5 worked well. Everything appears to be there and in its place.
Any ideas for a Lightroom rookie as to how I can get LR5 to read those XMPs? Over 20,000 didn't tag, so I would rather not do this by hand!
Many thanks in advance,
Paul

John, what a pleasure. Well, here is the update. First, copying over 300GB of pictures to a drive and then backing up said drive takes a bloody long time. But here is what happened, for others who might run into the same issue.
I first tried a small set of files to narrow down whether the issue was the Aperture export or the Lightroom import.
Conclusion: the "issue" is mostly on the Lightroom side.
What I found: Although Aperture will export an XMP sidecar for a JPEG, Lightroom will not read it, ignoring all keywords. I exported a set of JPEGs only and then opened the XMPs with an editor (well, the UNIX cat command, to be exact). The information was there, keywords and all. However, LR appeared to ignore XMP for JPEG. That said, if you have a RAW+JPEG in Aperture, the RAW XMP sidecar will overwrite the JPEG one, effectively leaving you with only the keywords for the RAW version. That shouldn't be an issue for most, but just in case you have different keywords for your RAW and JPEG images, be aware of this.
What I did:
Back up all the images and catalogs/libraries from Aperture and LR.
Make sure #1 worked out.
Make sure #1 worked out (not a typo; you really need a backup, as you will find out below).
Delete the old JPEG files that were uploaded into LR. I had them in a From Aperture folder, as instructed by John's article and Adobe's landing page (referenced in John's article), so I deleted all JPEGs in that folder. My Aperture database was not affected and in fact resides on a different drive.
Run find . -iname "*.JPEG" -delete [if you do not know how 'find' works, ask someone, as this can potentially delete every single file accessible to your computer!]
Run find . -iname "*.JPG" -delete [ditto! Don't tell me I didn't warn you!]This is why you need to backup everything. I was deleting copies/exports of the originals in Aperture (again, read John's article for the difference) and still had the originals in Aperture, on a different drive.
[I didn't worry about the unmatched/orphaned XMP files for the JPEGs only; they are tiny and don't hurt.]
In LR, select 'Library:Find All Missing Photos.' If asked, remove them from the Catalog only.
Create a Smart Album in Aperture and include only 'Filetype is JPG.'
Select all images in that album.
Export those original images per Adobe's landing instructions, but for this set of images, select 'Include IPTC' instead of creating a sidecar file.
When Aperture is done, open LR and Add the whole 'From Aperture' folder back to LR (make sure 'Ignore suspected duplicates' is selected.
John, as you rightfully pointed out, this is tricky. If my experience is any indicator, I would suggest migrating in 3 steps:
Export all RAW originals with IPTC in XMP sidecar files.
Export all non-RAW originals (which I would guess are mostly JPEGs) with IPTC included. (not a sidecar)
Export all versions as 16-bit TIFF.
If #2 is added, then the process is actually most straightforward. Steps 1–5 in the first block above were to clean up the mess that I had created and should not happen otherwise (famous last word...)
If the above is unclear, please let me know and I will expand on it. If I had the issue, I suspect others will as well.
Thank you for your help and suggestions. I am officially migrated to LR and up and running!
Cheers from Boston,
Paul

Sidecar files

Opened LR this evening and an error message appeared - sorry, didn't make a note of it.
Anyway, went to one of my folders and approx 14 images (dng files) reverted back to their original state and orientation. Each photo then had, in the top right corner in grid view, the ? telling me that the sidecar file was missing.
What's going on here and how do I get this sidecar file back or, more importantly, stop other sidecars going missing?

Try what John says. It may well be that somehow you moved them, etc, or LR simply lost rack of them.
However, LR will also put up ?s when in fact the images are not lost. Usually just clicking on the ? will make it disappear in this case. You can open images that are reported lost when they are not and work on them. If they are truly lost, you can't.
I have 20,000 images in LR for testing purposes and at any given time LR will report up to 289 images with ?s, but in fact only 4 or 5 are truly lost. Next time I open LR it may say 179 or some other number are lost. Go figure. Others have had the same glitch. It is annoying to say the least, and sooner or later it will be fixed.

Is it possible to import NEF raw files and also import the tags from the existing XMP sidecar files?

I use Daminion to organise, tag and filter my photo collection. It allows me to place all of the tags in sidecar .xmp files. It uses the Adobe libraries to create these files. When I import the photos into Lightroom 3 or 5, Lightroom does not currently read the tags in the sidecar files.
Does anyone know if there is a way to get Lightroom to read the .xmp tag info?
Is there a setting in Lightroom that I am missing?

I'm just a raw beginner when it comes to Lightroom. I know it has tagging capabilities, but they seem quite outside of Lightroom's main focus which, as I see it, is photo tweaking.
Daminion of the other hand is totally focussed on management of a large and diverse digital assets collection (Photos, Video, Audio, Office documents, PDF's Vector graphics CAD). At this point I am using the stand-alone version of Daminion, but I will probably upgrade to the networked version when the collection has been whipped into shape enough to be shared sucessfully.
This is not intended as a commentary on Lightrooms capabilities. As I mentioned I am beginning to learn to use it.
I generally try to use the best tool for each task. I really like Daminion for it's asset management focus; Lightroom for Photo editing. You CAN drive nails with a wrench but why would you want to?

"Sidecar file missing" - LR 1.1 can't read XMP files

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