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Photos [app] won't import

I've been battling to get the app to import photos and videos held in folders. it'll import one folder, but it won't do any more, yet if you have a long list of photos and videos in one folder it works wonderfully.


I've got literally thousands of files I want to put into Photos and don't want to have to transfer all of them into one folder.


I'm using a late 2012 Mac mini running Catalina on a SSD if that makes any difference.


Helen

Posted on Apr 14, 2021 3:10 AM

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Posted on Apr 15, 2021 11:19 AM

Are you able to import one folder of image files at a time, one after another?


You are running Photos, right?


As a test launch Photos with the Option key held down and create a new, test library.  Try to import multiple folders at once to see if the same problem persists. Does it? This tells us if the problem is limited to your current library or is more wide spread.


If the problem persists with the new, test library log into another vanilla admin user account, Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac and see if the problem persists there. This tells us if the problem is limited to your user account or is system wide.


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 15, 2021 11:19 AM in response to Helen A

Are you able to import one folder of image files at a time, one after another?


You are running Photos, right?


As a test launch Photos with the Option key held down and create a new, test library.  Try to import multiple folders at once to see if the same problem persists. Does it? This tells us if the problem is limited to your current library or is more wide spread.


If the problem persists with the new, test library log into another vanilla admin user account, Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac and see if the problem persists there. This tells us if the problem is limited to your user account or is system wide.


Apr 15, 2021 8:22 AM in response to Helen A

Greetings, and welcome to Apple Support Communities Helen A!  


From your post we can see you’re having an issue with creating additional folders for your Photos library.  


Let’s try this guide: Create additional photo libraries in Photos on Mac   See if you can create the additional libraries, then see if you’re able to import your files there. 


Check this out: Change where your files are stored in Photos on Mac   Let’s see if the information included here can help with your files. Both of these articles are included in Photos User Guide and are selected for macOS Catalina. 


We hope this helps!  

Apr 15, 2021 8:54 AM in response to Russ New Boy

They are a mix of .GIF, .JPG, .PNG, .TIF(F), .MOV, and a few .BMP as well.


What had/has been happening is that I can import one folder, whether there are 2 or 999 files in that folder but I'm battling to get Photos to actually import files from a.n.other folder; I can get to the review stage of importing then Photos turns up its toes and closes.

Photos [app] won't import

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