User profile for user: JamesEugene
JamesEugene Author
User level: Level 1
11 points

Reconciling Picture folders that have not been imported to Photos

I have 27,000 photos and videos in the Photos app currently. Many have been imported from the Pictures directory and sub-directories over years. I am concerned that I have not imported ALL the pictures from sub-directories into Photos.


how can I reconcile what is missing? Or is there a way to re-import them all and let the Duplicates function help sort things out?


experiences, recommendations and ideas are welcome!

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.6

Posted on Aug 30, 2024 12:08 PM

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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 7
23,456 points

Posted on Aug 30, 2024 12:50 PM

If you use the menu item File>Import to import your pictures, Photos automatically detects duplicates gives you the option of importing only new ones. You should try it with a small batch and see how it works.


Really, don't try 27,000 pictures at once! You might want to keep it to a few hundred at a time. Actually, I just tried it, and got the message, "Already Imported (440 Photos)" so apparently it works with quite a few at a time.


Test it out!


By the way, I felt comfortable trying this, because I have a backup copy of the Library, so I'd be OK if I screwed it up! Backups are a good idea.

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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 7
23,456 points

Aug 30, 2024 12:50 PM in response to JamesEugene

If you use the menu item File>Import to import your pictures, Photos automatically detects duplicates gives you the option of importing only new ones. You should try it with a small batch and see how it works.


Really, don't try 27,000 pictures at once! You might want to keep it to a few hundred at a time. Actually, I just tried it, and got the message, "Already Imported (440 Photos)" so apparently it works with quite a few at a time.


Test it out!


By the way, I felt comfortable trying this, because I have a backup copy of the Library, so I'd be OK if I screwed it up! Backups are a good idea.

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Reconciling Picture folders that have not been imported to Photos

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