Photos app on mac not importing images

CMgillespie wrote:

Alas, since google killed Picasa years ago (i loved that app) i am trying to use the photos app to organize photos on my mac. this is not an icloud issue, this is all local on my M1 mac mini, running Ventura 13.3.1 (a)

i open the photos app, i went down to my albums, created a new Album called family.

from there i select the album, then go to File/Import, select the folder on my local drive with my photos in it and click on review for import.

After it thinks for quite a while, it tells me that there are 38,511 new items. i tried import all new items, but nothing happened. i have the album selected, i chose "keep folder organization" and after i click import all... there is nothing in the family album.

i tried that two or three times and nothing.

then i tried clicking in the picture space and selecting Cmd All and instead of import all new, i selected import selected (38,511) and... same. nothing happens.

Hoping somebody can tell me what i am doing wrong.

ref

Create and work with albums in Photos on Mac - Apple Support

The current stable release of Ventura including bug fixes, security updates is macOS Ventura 13.5.1

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

> After it thinks for quite a while, it tells me that there are 38,511 new items

Does it work in smaller chunks?

Are there any movies that current QuickTime Player can not open? Sidecar .xmp files?

macOS 13.5.1 Ventura Photos.app silently fails to import images or movies from a Finder folder in the following situations, although the files are shown in the import dialog or are deliberately selected there:

1. If some movie has a wrapper or a codec that QuickTime can not play, Photos silently fails to import it and also some random otherwise importable images or movies in the mix.

Examples of such wrappers and codecs are: .avi, H.265 Codec ID hev1, Opus audio. QuickTime Player can not play .avi (even with H.264 video and AAC audio codecs), Codec ID hev1 (hvc1 is OK) or Opus audio which is common in Youtube movies. On the other hand, Photos completely ignores .mkv and .webm movies but imports other files in the mix OK.

2. If movies have (Photos generated) .xmp sidecars, Photos silently fails to import them. BTW, Photos fails to import the .xmp location for images.

> many of the photos got totally different dates added to them

Photos should import the dates if they are correctly in the metadata (there are some minor issues but mainly it works). Are you sure Picasa correctly inserted the dates? FWIW with Google Photos you have to use the .json sidecars to insert modified metadata (date, location, description, rating) to the exported files (Photos uses .xmp sidecars for this).