Photos app show original and edited when importing

When using Photos to import photos from my iPhone (under devices) via USB, I see two files for each photo - the original and edited (if edited on phone). If I've edited the file, I don't want to import the original. The only way to do that is to click on each file to import, meaning I can't click-drag to select multiple photos. Also sometimes the edits can be subtle. I find the originals are always the left of the two. But it still means I have to click each photo to import.

And to make it even more frustrating, the originals are still on the device even clicking Delete Items after Import. Therefore I then import the originals into a 'delete' folder.

Has anyone else encountered such a bizarre workflow?

Posted on Oct 16, 2021 4:15 PM

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Yaptastic Author

Level 1

13 points

Posted on Oct 17, 2021 3:31 PM

Firstly, thanks for your thoughts about this. Appreciate the input.

So I've updated to 11.6 (11.6.1 not available). To answer your question I have the setting to High Efficiency.

So here are some interesting findings. First, 11.6 hasn't done anything. The 'feature' persists ie. the original and edited photos appear as two separate files to upload.

However, I just found that this happens when, as part of my editing, I switch off the Live feature. If I edit (on phone) the photo, but leave the Live Photo feature, only one image is available to import.

It is a strange behaviour and I'll raise it as an issue, but I can live with importing the image as a Live Photo and then batch 'turn off' once in Photos (Mac).

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Photos app show original and edited when importing

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