Smart Preview Image Deletion

[realspear]

I probably made a stupid mistake. I use smart previews because they are faster than using the external drive and usually shut down the drive while working with the smart previews. I was working on a shoot and deleted a number of images but failed to realize that I was not deleting them on the disk. Is there a way to fix this so when the disk is online, the images are deleted?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

I probably made a stupid mistake. I use smart previews because they are faster than using the external drive and usually shut down the drive while working with the smart previews. I was working on a shoot and deleted a number of images but failed to realize that I was not deleting them on the disk. Is there a way to fix this so when the disk is online, the images are deleted?

It sounds strange, but the (only) way to do this is as follows: When the disk is mounted, launch Lightroom and select the folder in the folder panel. Right-click on it and select 'Synchronize folder'. Lightroom will now want to re-import those images. Say yes. After they have been imported, select the 'Recent Import' collection, select all images and press the Delete key. Now you will be able to not only delete the images from the catalog again, but also from the disk.

 

[realspear]

It sounds strange, but the (only) way to do this is as follows: When the disk is mounted, launch Lightroom and select the folder in the folder panel. Right-click on it and select 'Synchronize folder'. Lightroom will now want to re-import those images. Say yes. After they have been imported, select the 'Recent Import' collection, select all images and press the Delete key. Now you will be able to not only delete the images from the catalog again, but also from the disk.

Thanks, will this save all the work I did on the images that weren't deleted?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Thanks, will this save all the work I did on the images that weren't deleted?

Yes, the images that weren't deleted have nothing to do with this procedure. 'Synchronize folder' only imports images which are in that folder, but not in Lightroom.

 

[realspear]

Yes, the images that weren't deleted have nothing to do with this procedure. 'Synchronize folder' only imports images which are in that folder, but not in Lightroom.

 

[realspear]

This worked perfectly and now that I've done it, it's obvious why it works. Thanks!