Help needed Reconnecting Photo Mechanic 6 Plus Catalogs After Moving Pictures

[LRAT]

Hi there,

I've been a long time user of Photo Mechanic and I've got Photo Mechanic 6 Plus. I've got 6 catalogs and never had any problems, but recently I decided to move my picture folder on the same drive into a different location. (My pictures were in OneDrive and that caused lots of up- and downloading issues).

Now, since I've done it, it seems like I've got doubling up of catalogs. See the attached screenshot

The new picture location is at d:\Pictures\- My pictures\. I've got all my pictures there - in total, there's about 40,000 pictures.

Some of these pictures when I open them up in Photo Mechanic show a green dot (only about 50 of them). Then there are a couple with yellow dots, and others have a see-through dot (basically grayed out). All the photos are physically there, but I can't see the green dots anymore.

I know this must have been discussed many times, but I'm very confused about how to reconnect my catalogs. My catalogs are in d:\Pictures\PM6+ catalogs\.

I can't work out (and I'm scared to do things wrong) how to reconnect my existing picture folder with the catalogs. I'm thinking of uninstalling Photo Mechanic Six Plus and then reinstalling it, hoping it will ask me where the location of my pictures is, allowing me to reconnect that way. But then I'm scared it's going to affect my data and folder structure.

So I'm just puzzled. Can somebody tell me in layman's terms how to reconnect my pictures with my catalogs?

Another issue: when I look at the folder part (when I go to browse and look in the folder path), I can see there's a doubling up of pictures. There are two identical locations showing, but the first one only shows two years (2019 and 2025), while the second one shows all years where I've got more pictures. The second one is basically the one I want to reconnect to.

I've included a screenshot and hopefully somebody will be able to tell me in layman's terms how to reconnect my pictures with my current catalogs.

I've taken backups, but my backups are all over the place now, so I just don't want to mix anything up.

Your help will be much appreciated. Thank you!

[Bob Russell]

I think the easiest solution to this problem is to Include the photos in their new location to the existing catalog(s). Open a contact sheet on the new folder on the D: drive. Now go to the Edit menu -> Select Catalog Status ->  Not Included in Catalog, to select all of the files not in the current catalog. Now right-click any of the selected images and then use the Include items in Catalog option.     

Once that process is done, I would go to the Search tab in the Organizer and Search the catalog for a period to show all of the images.  Next go to the Edit menu and use the Select Catalog Status -> Source File Unavailable option.  This will select all of the files with Amber dots. Right-click any of the selected thumbnails and then click the Remove items from Catalog option.

—Bob

[LRAT]

Need Help: How to Update Catalog Locations After Moving Image Files

Thanks, Bob Russell! My apologies for the late response, as I've been occupied with work.
I am hesitant to follow your instructions, as this could lead to lots of work as each Catalog has many subfolders.
In case my request wasn't clear I will recap my proble:

I recently moved all my images to a new location on my drive, and now I'm struggling to get Photo Mechanic to recognize where these files are. My catalogs can no longer find the images since they're looking in the original folders.

What I've tried so far:
- Following Photo Mechanic's recent tips on relocating catalogs by using the "Forget" function and then reloading the catalog
- Using the "Re-integrate forgotten catalog" option
- Re-indexing the catalogs (took about 4-6 minutes for 40,000 images)
- Using the "Re-integrate forgotten catalog" option

My specific situation:
- I have 6 catalogs with extensive hierarchical structures (Eg. for the Where catalog: Continents > countries > provinces > cities/towns)
- I don't want to risk damaging this structure by using the "Catalog status not included in catalog" method that was suggested

My question is simple:
How do I tell my existing catalogs where my pictures' new location is? There must be a straightforward way to update the file paths without rebuilding everything from scratch.

I've attached a screenshot of what I see after re-indexing the catalogs.

This seems like it should be a common scenario since people frequently reorganize their file systems. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated as I'm getting anxious about potentially losing my catalog structure.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[ahoward]

Have you followed this guide for locating folders when they have moved from the location where the catalog knows them to be located at? https://camerabits.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/48001164434-updating-the-catalog-location-of-externally-moved-folders

[LRAT]

Thanks, ahoward!
That was exactly what needed to be done!
Thank you so much for pointing me to this easy procedure.