I have just setup a new computer and installed LR. I have restored my saved catalog and images. I have re-installed the latest backlight LR publisher and confirmed authentication. However, none of my previously created and published albums are displayed under the publishing service. How do I restore these albums under the publishing service?
Thanks
If you’re using the exact same catalog that created the albums in the first place, then they should appear under Lightroom’s Publish Service in your new computer.
From my memory of moving to a new computer, it was all just there after installing Lightroom and the Publisher plug-in.
Double check the Publisher API URL, making sure that if your site url in Backlight starts with https, then so does the API URL in Publisher.
Rod: Thanks for the prompt reply. I copied the latest catalog from LR and used it to setup LR on my new computer. I then imported the LR publisher from Backlight and reset the URL and the API. I have confirmed that the settings for my URL in backlight settings and LR API settings both use “https”. Unfortunately, all I see in LR under the publisher is “default album”.
I don’t know if it matters, but does the copied catalog have the same filename as the original?
Rod:…Well I screwed up. I just realized that the catalog I imported was from my Desktop. The albums were published from my laptop. I suspect the solution lies in this errant file selection on my part. I’ll let you know if this doesn’t solve the problem. Thanks
Aaron
Rod: When I set up the LR on the new computer, I couldn’t remember the API number, so I changed it in both Backlight and the new instance of LR on the new computer. When I just opened LR on my laptop to get the correct catalog, I assumed I needed to change the API key there as well. After I did so, the program wants to re-publish all of the albums. Should I proceed or just change the API back to what it was before?
I told you I screwed UP!! 
Updating the API passcode doesn’t do any harm!
Whenever you make a change in the Lr Publisher settings, Lr asked to republish your images. Just ignore this.
OK. Thanks. Will the request to re-publish go away?
just click “no” to republish
Thanks!
BTW, for what it’s worth, the two (apparently different) catalog files DO have the same name.
Aaron
Hi - I have gone down the same path: I have reinstalled LRC on a new computer, and downloaded the publisher plugin from Backlight, and authenticated the API URL and API Key, but the publisher just shows default album. The catalog is my normal master catalog, but since the last time albums were published, the catalog has been upgraded and renamed a number of times. How do I get the publisher to recognize the existing published albums in Backlight?
Any help would be appreciated.
Jim
Do the albums show up at all in Lightroom Publisher on the new computer?
Those Publisher collections are stored in the Lightroom catalog (assuming these albums were originally published from Lightroom)
Hi Rod,
No they do not appear under the Publisher. The images are all present in the catalog and are contained in other collections within LRC.
Jim
If this is the same catalogue that the albums were created in originally, then you might have a corrupted catalogue.
Did the catalogue you are using get copied from another drive to a drive in your new computer?
If so, do you still have access to the catalogue on the old drive?
Or do you have a backup of the catalog from when the albums appeared in Publisher?
I did have some corruption a good while ago and that might have been after I published. I am wondering if it might be reasonable to capture what I can from Backlight, and then rebuild the web site by deleting the albums there, and then republish. what do you think?
If these are albums that aren’t getting added to, you could simply turn over the album management to Backlight.
You would the add or remove images via the Backlight Publisher.
If these are albums that are often added to and you want to manage them in Lightroom Publisher you could do as you outline.
I have a couple of albums that are not likely to need updates, and I probably could just leave them in place. Presumably I could add or delete images from them via Backlight if needed.
One other album set I was going to rework anyway, so I can just delete that in Backlight and start over from the LRC publisher.
The final album is a home page gallery which will need updates, but not that often. I will have to see if managing from Backlight gets too cumbersome.
I was going to mention: you suggested looking at a backup catalog to see if there was one before the LRC reinstallation that had albums present, but there have been a number of catalog upgrades/conversions with new versions of LRC that I would think would make that difficult. Would I have to locate an old backup, let LRC convert it, then see if the albums were present?
I don’t know for sure. What I suspect is that the older version would be restored and then you could check if the albums are there. Then perform the updates to the current version.
It might depend on how old the backup is. I just don’t know. If you want to try restoring a backup but you’re not sure of the results, you might want to check in with a Lightroom specific forum like: