file is moved or renamed outside

Description:

Consider the “missing file” problem. First of all, why does this happen at all? You’ve imported your images into Lightroom, did the program become senile, and is it just “losing” your images? This is not likely. The majority of these types of problems are self-inflicted, and thus can be self-prevented. 

Solution:

When a file is moved or renamed outside of Lightroom, the catalog record points to a file that no longer exists. You get a thumbnail (thumbnails and previews are stored in a special Lightroom folder along with the catalog) and the thumbnail has a question mark icon in the top corner:

In this case, I did this on purpose by renaming the file using Windows Explorer. To fix Lightroom’s record and point the catalog back to the renamed file, we simply click the question mark, bring up this dialog:

Click Locate, and you’ll get the Locate dialog box, initially opened to the last known location of the missing file. We can browse and find the correct file, then click Select:

In this case, since the file was renamed and not simply moved, we get a confirmation dialog as well:

Once you click Confirm, the missing file is re-linked, and the question mark icon goes away.

If the issue is still not fixed, it can be a very critical problem with your computer affecting your personal data and the Windows Operating System. You will have to chat with our Experts or you can check with your local technician to get the problems fixed with very high priority.