Error while importing photos into Photos App on Mac OS Monterey

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Level 1

7 points

Error while importing photos into Photos App on Mac OS Monterey

Can anyone solve this one??

I exported all of my Android phone photos to my desktop. They all open in Preview perfectly fine. However, when I tried importing them into Photos app, only 2000 out of 6500 files imported. I got this error:-

Cannot Import Item > This item cannot be added to your photo library because it may be in an unrecognisable file format or the file may not contain valid data. (UNKNOWN ERROR)

As I mentioned, any of these unrecognisable files open up in Preview. I've also notice that I can re-save these preview files and they import ok, but I lose the metadata.

Does anyone know why this is happening. I've tried setting the permissions for the files to read/write access for Admin, Everyone, Staff and my User login account. Still no joy. This error also came up on previous version of Mac OS, so it's not just Monterey.

Also, I tried creating a new Photos Library to import into. Still the same error.

Please help!!!

Mac Pro, OS X 10.11

Posted on Apr 27, 2022 6:28 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

phren0logy

Level 1

18 points

Apr 30, 2022 12:37 PM in response to marcelb3

I'm having the same problem. Importing in small chunks of 200 or so seems to help, but it's super annoying. Sometimes I just have to stop for a while and then for some reason it works. I would be grateful if somebody has a better solution.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

195,169 points

Apr 28, 2022 1:44 AM in response to marcelb3

What is the format and the filename extension of the files you cannot import?

Are the image files in your Pictures Folder or somewhere else?

The files may be using an unsupported color sync profile. Please check the profile by opening the files in Peview > Tools > Inspector.

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Answer 3

marcelb3 Author

Level 1

7 points

May 1, 2022 2:31 AM in response to phren0logy

Thanks. I waited 24 hours and it did import a few more or the erroneous files, but it’s way off the 4500 files left to import.

Its a fresh install of MacOS Monterey on a 500gb drive. I have about 400gb free.

I also have the 2 Terrabyte iCloud plan with about 1.7 Terrabytes left

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Answer 4

marcelb3 Author

Level 1

7 points

May 3, 2022 12:51 AM in response to phren0logy

I tried importing in chunks of 1000 this morning just to see if it would work and it imported 2 lots of 1000 before I started getting the unknown error thing again. Then on the 3rd 1000 chunk it bombed out with 390 errors. I waited half an hour and re-imported the 3rd chunk of 1000 and they all imported.

So, you've cracked it. You just have to import bit by bit over a number of days. Sounds like Apple need to fix this annoying bug. I though Apple's slogan was 'It Just Works' haha.

Thanks for your help dude.

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Answer 5

marcelb3 Author

Level 1

7 points

Apr 28, 2022 3:17 AM in response to léonie

The files are .jpg. I have attached a screenshot of the image info

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Answer 6

marcelb3 Author

Level 1

7 points

Apr 28, 2022 3:21 AM in response to léonie

Sorry, also this info for the image from Preview....

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Answer 7

Apr 27, 2022 10:57 AM in response to marcelb3

Try importing in smaller batches. Say 500 or so at a time. Does that work?

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Answer 8

marcelb3 Author

Level 1

7 points

Apr 27, 2022 11:16 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Sorry, no that doesn't work. I tried just one of the erroneous files and it showed the same error unfortunately.

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Answer 9

Apr 27, 2022 2:02 PM in response to marcelb3

Do they have a funky name or extension?

You might try to "export" it from preview and see if Photos can import it then.

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Answer 10

marcelb3 Author

Level 1

7 points

Apr 28, 2022 12:33 AM in response to Keith Barkley

I've tried this before but I think it loses the metadata, also, there are over 4000 files to fix. : /

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Answer 11

May 1, 2022 1:20 AM in response to phren0logy

@phren0ology - how much free space do you have on your mac system drive?

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Answer 12

May 1, 2022 7:53 AM in response to TonyCollinet

I have over 350GB free on my system, even after copying the files to import to the desktop as recommended. It hasn't helped.

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Answer 13

May 3, 2022 5:59 AM in response to marcelb3

I'm glad that helped, and here's to hoping that this gets fixed. Importing thousands of photos is hardly rare. Even some reasonable error messages would go a long way.

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Error while importing photos into Photos App on Mac OS Monterey

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