How can I clear my Lightroom catalog?

First, I should say that I use LR only for converting RAW and editing, not organizing files. Yes, I know...I know, LR's big feature is its file organizing etc. but I'm not about to learn it. I prefer to keep my files organized in Windows the same way I always have.

So, sometimes I try to import a RAW file that happens to have the same number (e.g. IMG0001.RW2) that was allocated by my camera to a file in the past that I have long since imported, edited, supposedly removed from LR, and renamed or deleted on my HD.

But when I try to import a new file of the same name, LR tells me that it is already imported and in my catalog, and I can't do anything with this new file except see it dimly in a thumbnail.

I can get around this by renaming the file and can then import it, but that's a time waster.

So, my question is: how can I completely clear my catalog or import register or whatever so it doesn't retain a trace of old work?

The easy way would be to just create a new one. File>New Catalog..., name it, choose a location for it.

Well you hang up is that when you Import images into Lightroom they become part of the catalog, which means that the catalog keeps a "reference" to the images, and keeps that reference, even if you go into your system to delete the image.

It's simple to handle this using the lightroom tools to move or delete images. You say you want to use LR only for RAW processing, and don't want to use it for organizing, and "Therein lies the Rub": Once you Import an image, you want to use the Lightroom tools to remove the image out of the Library/catalog.

This is quite simple -- if you have finished with an image and want to delete not just edited copies but delete the original, in the Lightroom Library Folder browser, just right-click on the image and Delete it, which will remove it both from the catalog and from your disk. It's easy! You can also rename files, move files and folders, all that stuff. But, if you insist on using your system tools to move, rename, delete, that type of stuff, well, there are workarounds in Lightroom. For example, if you have moved a file outside of Lightoom but you want to re-open in Lightroom, you can find the file in the catalog reference in the Library/Folders module -- it will show up as "Missing", but if you right-click on it you will see an option to "Find the Missing File/Folder". Or, you can Delete the missing file/folder, but remember that it's more eficient (time-saving) to use the Lightroom tools right off the bat!

Now if you are serious about only wanting the Raw development tools, then I'd say you should consider just using a dedicated Raw processor, ones are in the market today, or using Photoshop, where its built-in ACR RAW processor and its Bridge viewer can do all you need with your RAW files without the Lightroom built-in catalog organizing!

For me, once Lightroom was released with its first "stable" version back in '07, I took the leap for both the Raw processing and the organizational features. It took me some time to really delve into keywording and then stuff like groups, virtual Copies, all that stuff, although right from the beginning I was reading and working through tutorials, bith books and online resources,. I keep all my original/Raw files in my LR catalog, use LR to name files and folders and "place" the files in proper folders/places (great doing it as part of the Input function). The only reason for stepping out of Lightroom is when I'm doing stuff outside of Lightroom, whether it be to mess with files I have Exported from Lightroom of to mess with other programs, data and such!

bpalermini wrote in post #18166903
The easy way would be to just create a new one. File>New Catalog..., name it, choose a location for it.

Thanks, I had found that but it seems a slightly convoluted way around it. I was hoping there was a one-click option somewhere in the LR menus that would automatically just clear the current catalog.

tonylong wrote in post #18167076
.....This is quite simple -- if you have finished with an image and want to delete not just edited copies but delete the original, in the Lightroom Library Folder browser, just right-click on the image and Delete it, which will remove it both from the catalog and from your disk...

That's exactly what I do, but it doesn't solve the problem that I described. The file name is still somehow retained in the catalog.

tonylong wrote in post #18167076
>...Now if you are serious about only wanting the Raw development tools, then I'd say you should consider just using a dedicated Raw processor....

No, I didn't say I just used it for conversion. I use the very good editing tools in LR as well.

teekay wrote in post #18167095
Thanks, I had found that but it seems a slightly convoluted way around it. I was hoping there was a one-click option somewhere in the LR menus that would automatically just clear the current catalog.

Open a new catalog? But still, there are more efficient ways of working with an existing catalog -- I have over 40,000 images in my catalog. They are there if I want/need them, otherwise they sit until that time!

teekay wrote in post #18166901
First, I should say that I use LR only for converting RAW and editing, not organizing files. Yes, I know...I know, LR's big feature is its file organizing etc. but I'm not about to learn it. I prefer to keep my files organized in Windows the same way I always have.

The LR catalogue is a mirror image of the file structure you already have on your hard-drive, so there is nothing new to learn.

teekay wrote in post #18166901
So, my question is: how can I completely clear my catalog or import register or whatever so it doesn't retain a trace of old work?

In LR select the folder or folders which contain the images you want to remove. CTRL+A to select all the images, and then press delete. In the dialogue box that pops up click on REMOVE this will delete the images from LR only.

Is it possible you are Importing into a folder that already has a file with the same name but is not actually in the Lightroom Catalogue - LR will still give a similar error message as if the file was in the catalogue.

When you import you can tell LR to copy/move files to specific folder (existing or new) if these folder exists it may have existing files which are not known by LR but LR will not be able move or copy the new file if one with the same name already exists in the folder.

When delete files from within LR you have the option to remove from catalogue only or remove from catalogue and from folder(drive) are you sure when you deleting the files you are selecting remove from drive as well - If you are not this may also create similar errors to what you experience on import.

Alternatively when you import new files into LR import into new subfolder will avoid errors to duplicate file names.

I also concur with Tony Longs post on this issue - and would suggest that file management within LR is easy to learn and is not hugely different from using the OS commands but will provide you with more control and less problems when working within LR

HTH

I manage completely different, but I have an external hard drive system for back ups.. and I don't always want to back up everything. 1 LR catalog per shoot, for the most part, and I save the catalog in the same folder as the images.. so if I back up a folder, I know the date, name of the shoot, and that the LR catalog gets saved along with the images, and can be accessed and opened and start again where I left off on a different drive.

Not the style for everyone, but it works best for me and how I think about and organize my files. And I had a catalog crash early on before I went to this method and I couldn't recover so all the editing was lost unless I had done an export. Now a crash would only affect one shoot.

Two thoughts for whatever they might be worth:

1. In the LR Import settings there is a checkbox for "Don't import suspected duplicates". Do you have this checked? If so, try unchecking it and see if that solves your problem. (I can't say for sure, I always keep this checked and I'm not at my LR computer right now to test it.)

2. Expanding on what Tony said, you can just select all the photos in your Catalog (or as many or as few as you wish) and "delete" them. This will present you with the option to delete from your computer or just delete them from your Catalog. I think selecting the latter option would do what you want.

Rimmer wrote in post #18167445
...In the LR Import settings there is a checkbox for "Don't import suspected duplicates". Do you have this checked? If so, try unchecking it and see if that solves your problem. (I can't say for sure, I always keep this checked and I'm not at my LR computer right now to test it.)...

Thanks, Rimmer, I had actually thought of that and the box is unchecked so that's not the problem.

birderman wrote in post #18167384
>.....When delete files from within LR you have the option to remove from catalogue only or remove from catalogue and from folder(drive) are you sure when you deleting the files you are selecting remove from drive as well - If you are not this may also create similar errors to what you experience on import...

Yes, birderman, I always delete (or rename and move) the original files from my HD as well removing them from LR when I'm done editing and exporting, so that's not the problem.

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone, but it seems there is no quick and easy way to do what I want.

To see what I'm talking about, please try this if you have a few moments:

Put a test file named, e.g. X.JPG, into a folder on your HD. Import it into LR, then remove it and delete it using LR REMOVE-DELETE option.

So now it's supposedly gone both from LR catalog and the folder on your HD - right? Now give a DIFFERENT file on your HD the same name - X.JPG - and try to import it into LR. You can't, because LR will say it's already imported and in the catalog! See what I mean?

teekay wrote in post #18167460
To see what I'm talking about, please try this if you have a few moments:

Put a test file named, e.g. X.JPG, into a folder on your HD. Import it into LR, then remove it and delete it using LR REMOVE-DELETE option.

So now it's supposedly gone both from LR catalog and the folder on your HD - right? Now give a DIFFERENT file on your HD the same name - X.JPG - and try to import it into LR. You can't, because LR will say it's already imported and in the catalog! See what I mean?

Well I have just tried that and it worked perfectly. LR imported both images with the SAME file name.
I imported an image into LR and then deleted it from LR and the HD. I then took a second image and changed its file name to that of the first and imported it into LR, no problems whatsoever. I was even using the same source and destination folders.

john crossley wrote in post #18167604
Well I have just tried that and it worked perfectly. LR imported both images with the SAME file name.
I imported an image into LR and then deleted it from LR and the HD. I then took a second image and changed its file name to that of the first and imported it into LR, no problems whatsoever. I was even using the same source and destination folders.

Very interesting - thank you, John! That is how I think LR SHOULD behave, but it definitely doesn't on my computer! The file name is retained somewhere (apparently in the folder "Lightroom Catalog Previews.lrdata") even when the file itself no longer exists.

So now I have to wonder if there is some setting on mine that is different. I wonder if anyone else tried it and had the same results?

Incidentally, my computer is nothing unusual, running Win10 and LR6.7.

It sounds to me as if you are deleting/moving the files outside of LR, not from within the catalogue, so that the catalogue is still referencing the nonexistent file. Then when you put a new file in the same location, with the same filename LR is seeing it as already in the catalogue. From you comments I am assuming that you are pulling your files from the card manually, then trying to bring the file into the catalogue at it's current physical location, which is the same as the previously processed image. As someone else said earlier in the thread, the simplest answer to this issue is to simply untick the don't import duplicates option, which once you have done it should remain off during future imports. This will allow you to import the same file multiple times, so if all you are wanting is to import, process, export then delete from the catalogue it should solve all of your issues. If you choose to export an XMP file from LR this will allow you to keep the RAW processing information alongside the original RAW file, just as you would do if using Bridge/ACR. If an XML file is present alongside a RAW file LR will import those settings too if you import the file into LR, or open it in ACR. Regularly deleting the catalogue and associated preview files, and starting with a new catalogue seems like a good idea if you are trying to use LR only as a one time only RAW converter.

Alan

BigAl007 wrote in post #18167927
It sounds to me as if you are deleting/moving the files outside of LR, not from within the catalogue, so that the catalogue is still referencing the nonexistent file.

^^ This.