Find missing media indicator PM6 Plus

[David Roth]

While performing a search in the organizer I noticed that some of the results carried the yellow missing media indicator. Since all of my images are on a single online drive (C:), I was worried that the images were somehow lost. It turned out that all were from the same directory and that the images were still in tact. However, the filenames had been renamed, probably an error on my part, and that or something else may have caused the catalog to not update.

It occurred to me that if this happened in this contact sheet, it might have in others. I see that there is a Select Missing command, but it appears to only function within a single contact sheet. Is there a way to search the entire catalog for missing media?

[Kirk Baker]

David,

While performing a search in the organizer I noticed that some of the results carried the yellow missing media indicator. Since all of my images are on a single online drive (C:), I was worried that the images were somehow lost. It turned out that all were from the same directory and that the images were still in tact. However, the filenames had been renamed, probably an error on my part, and that or something else may have caused the catalog to not update.

It occurred to me that if this happened in this contact sheet, it might have in others. I see that there is a Select Missing command, but it appears to only function within a single contact sheet. Is there a way to search the entire catalog for missing media?

No, there is no such feature.  It cannot be accomplished by a query to the database directly.

Use Catalog Sync to fix issues where filenames have changed or folders have been removed.

-Kirk

[David Roth]

I renamed the misnamed files and synced the catalog twice, but I am still getting missing files with old file names in my organizer search. The same images appear correctly (green dot) in the search results under their new file names. Do I have to manually remove the images with missing file references from the catalog when I encounter them?

[Kirk Baker]

I renamed the misnamed files and synced the catalog twice, but I am still getting missing files with old file names in my organizer search. The same images appear correctly (green dot) in the search results under their new file names. Do I have to manually remove the images with missing file references from the catalog when I encounter them?

Yes.

[David Roth]

I don't catalog offline images, but how does one distinguish between them and the bogus references that I got?

I have 5500 missing files. I think it would be best to delete the current catalog and create a new one.

Do we know what causes this such that I can avoid this situation in the future?

Thanks.

[Kirk Baker]

I don't catalog offline images, but how does one distinguish between them and the bogus references that I got?

There is no automatic way.  But you can click on the individual images and look at the path in the status bar and make that determination.

Do we know what causes this such that I can avoid this situation in the future?

Moving/deleting/renaming files outside of Photo Mechanic Plus.  If you move a directory outside of PM Plus you can let it know that you've moved a folder to a new location and then all of the missing files at that level and below will then be known to the catalog again (as long as there weren't other renames/deletes/moves).

https://docs.camerabits.com/support/solutions/articles/48001164434-how-to-update-the-catalog-location-of-folders-you-have-moved

-Kirk