Can't transfer photos from computer to iphone using iPhoto

Question

Can't transfer photos from computer to iphone using iPhoto

I want to be able to put some pictures from my computer onto my iphone 4 to be able to display them on the go. It seems the straightforward way to do that would be to import them into iPhoto, move them into the iphoto album I want and sync the phone. However, this process does not transfer the new pictures to the phone.

I've seen instructions about choosing a folder in itunes under the photos tab and transferring pictures that way. However, if I do that, it erases all the photos on my iphone that have been transferred via iphoto.

I have my photos organized in iphoto and want to keep that organization. I simply want to add some photos from my computer to those albums. It works fine on the computer--iphoto has no trouble bringing them in and keeping them in what ever album I want. The problem is that iTunes will not transfer them to my iphone.

I can't believe this isn't supported in iTunes. Am I missing something obvious or is there no way of adding photos from the computer to iphoto and then having them be able to transfer to my iphone?

iMac 27" Quadcore i7, MacBook Pro Core 2 Dual, iMac 27" Quad Core i7, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Jul 25, 2010 5:12 PM

Reply

Answer 1

roaminggnome

Level 10

106,365 points

Jul 25, 2010 6:06 PM in response to Howard Bornstein

Iphone will sync whatever albums/folders that you have chosen under the photo tab. If you have unchecked any folder/album, then that album will be removed.

ONLY the folders/albums that you have checked will be synced to iphone.

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Answer 2

sirfaba

Level 3

610 points

Jul 25, 2010 6:16 PM in response to Howard Bornstein

Hi,

The way to do this is create a blank album in iPhoto. Call it "iPhone" or similar that you want. Go into an event in your library then drag and drop photos you want into the new album. In iTunes check the "iPhone" album in the Photos tab. Make sure to select the option that says sync selected items.

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Answer 3

Jul 25, 2010 6:24 PM in response to roaminggnome

roaminggnome wrote:
ONLY the folders/albums that you have checked will be synced to iphone.

Yes I am aware of that. That isn't my problem. Those folders are (presumably) being synced. And if I took a photo on my iphone and moved it into those folders, it would sync them. The problem is when I copy a photo from my computer to iphotos (i.e. the photo comes from my computer, not the iphone). The photos I copied from my computer DO NOT sync (i.e. they are not copied to my phone). This issue ONLY affects photos that do not originate from my phone but are copied from my computer to iphotos.

I've found a kludgy, partial solution to this, which is to email the photos I want to my iphone email account. I can open them in email and then save them to my photo roll. However, I still cannot move them from the photo roll to another of my iphoto folders. In one case iphoto says my jpeg is an invalid format (?? it was created in Preview ??). With another photo, iphoto didn't object--it just didn't copy it to my new iphoto folder on my phone.

Surely there is a way to bring photos onto the iphone without losing all my iphoto pictures and organization currently on my iphone.

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Answer 4

Jul 25, 2010 9:53 PM in response to sirfaba

Hmm, I wonder if I have a problem with iphoto. I created a new album in iphoto and dragged a photo to it. However, when I switch to itunes, the album does not show up under the photo tab. Even quitting and restarting both itunes and iphoto does not bring this album into the list. I know this has worked in the past so I'm not sure what is happening here.

Any suggestions?

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Answer 5

sirfaba

Level 3

610 points

Jul 25, 2010 10:01 PM in response to Howard Bornstein

Which computer are you on?

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Answer 6

Jul 25, 2010 10:22 PM in response to sirfaba

I'm running on a 27" imac quadcore i7 under OSX 10.6.4. I'm also running iTunes 9.2 and iPhoto 8.1.1. I'm trying to copy photos to my iPhone 4.

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