iPhoto 11 will not (won't) import photos

Question

iPhoto 11 will not (won't) import photos

After upgrading to iPhoto 11 I cannot import photos using the usual methods.
I have tried importing via ImageCapture app (my usual choice). When that did not work, I tried dragging the files from my camera media to iPhoto. When that did not work, I copied the files to my desktop and then tried dragging to iPhoto. When that did not work, I used the iPhoto command: Import to Library.

Nothing seems to work. No new pictures can be added to iPhoto via any method that worked previously. I have tried relaunching iPhoto, rebuilding iPhoto but the results are the same. No new photos or events...

Another weird anomaly is that my camera's CF memory card shows (0) photos in the iPhoto listing, but if I open it in finder or ImageBrowser, I can see all the files there ok.

Pretty weird. After backing up my iPhoto library, the install, upgrade and conversion to iPhoto 11 seemed to go fine. Only now, the library is pretty much unable to be added to.

Any ideas?
Thanks!
Steve

Message was edited by: Steven Boyack

Message was edited by: Steven Boyack

2 x 2.8GHz Quad-core Mac Pro with 10GB RAM, 1TB Disk, Mac OS X (10.5.6), plus 2 MacBooks, iMac and G4 PPC Mirror-door

Posted on Oct 30, 2010 10:38 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 30, 2010 10:46 AM in response to Steven Boyack

When I look at iPhoto app in finder it says version 8.1.2, 272.4MB Created 8/24/10
I thought that 8.1.2 was the previous version...

If I go back to the old version, do I delete this one and re-install the old one?
What are the steps to take to make sure I don't make things worse?

Message was edited by: Steven Boyack

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Answer 2

Oct 30, 2010 12:29 PM in response to Steven Boyack

I have this problem too. Although connecting and turning on my camera opened iPhoto, I don't see the camera icon in the sidebar. I do see the camera icon in the sidebar in the Finder. I've used iPhoto for a long time, including with this camera, and I've never seen this problem before upgrading to '11.

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Answer 3

Oct 30, 2010 3:49 PM in response to Steven Boyack

Why does my new iPhoto 2011 say it is version 8.1.2?

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Answer 4

Oct 30, 2010 4:26 PM in response to Steven Boyack

I installed the upgrade and it has not fixed my problems of being able to import photos.

So, I decided to start again.
I deleted iPhoto (2011) even though it says it is 8.1.2
I reinstalled iPhoto from my iLife '11 install DVD. It still says it is version 8.1.2
Now iPhoto hangs and won't even launch...
I ran the upgrade on the re-installed iPhoto '11
It still says version 8.1.2
iPhoto '11 upgraded crashes upon opening...

Whoever does QA for iPhoto should be shot.

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Answer 5

Sean L.

Level 2

256 points

Oct 30, 2010 5:43 PM in response to Steven Boyack

I have a similar problem. My iPhone showed up in iPhoto. When I try to import pictures it will go through them one by one, seeming to import them. When it gets to the end a pop up appears that says the import couldn't be performed because they weren't compatible. The pictures were all taken on the iPhone and are (and are listed as) .JPGs

My parents called me with this issue with their digital camera and iPhoto 11 right before I came across it.

Photos from my iPad import fine.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

207,283 points

Oct 30, 2010 7:01 PM in response to Steven Boyack

Try the following:

1 - download and launch BatChmod .

2 - drag the iPhoto application into the BatChmod window.

3 - set the ownership and privileges settings to that shown in this screenshot:

Click to view full size

4 - launch iPhoto and see if you can import now.

OT

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Answer 7

Oct 31, 2010 8:48 AM in response to Steven Boyack

I deleted iPhoto '11 again (third time)
Reinstalled. Ran the update. Rebooted.
It now correctly shows it is version 9.0.1

However, it will still not import photos via any means...

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Answer 8

Oct 31, 2010 9:26 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks Old Toad!
I followed your advice and I can now import photos into my iPhoto '11*
Thanks very much!!!

I inserted my username for "username" in your example as I did not see the value "username" in the list...

*Drag and drop photos works. Import Photos via the iPhoto menu works.
But iPhoto still hangs when I attach my camera. It just has the spinning thing in the middle of the blank grey screen. In the Force Quit Applications window it says iphoto is "not responding".
After a couple minutes it crashes...

So, progress, but i'm not out of the woods yet...

Steve

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Answer 9

Nov 7, 2010 9:56 AM in response to Old Toad

After installing 9.1 I could no longer import photos (again).
Had to do another BatChmod to get it working.

Kind of weird that Apple cannot fix the permissions problem after two fixit releases...

Thanks again OT for the fix!
Steve

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Answer 10

Nov 30, 2010 1:15 PM in response to Steven Boyack

Can somebody say that this is a general problem? And if Apple is doing anything to solve it?

I'm not sure if I have the same problem, as the import works, but as soon as I exit iPhoto and restart I don't see any of the new photos. The photos itself are not lost, they are within iPhoto structure under 2010/11/....

It looks like the library itself cannot be written to.

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Answer 11

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,254 points

Nov 30, 2010 1:19 PM in response to patrick.weichmann

This worked for one person today:

Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'

Import a few pics into this new, blank library. Is the problem repeated there?

Now switch back to your main Library. Does it remember imports?

Regards

TD

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Answer 12

Dec 6, 2010 8:46 PM in response to Old Toad

tried this- didn't seem to import. Keeps telling me I have not enough space for this- even though I have lots of space

AAAAAAAAAHHHH

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Answer 13

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,254 points

Dec 6, 2010 11:08 PM in response to Terry Simpson

AAAAAAAAHHHH (hope I spelled that correctly)

See my reply to your other post.

Regards

TD

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Answer 14

Sep 11, 2011 4:56 PM in response to Sean L.

Hi Sean, I am having the same problem today, 9/11/11 that you posted on 10/30. Did you ever get a solution?

Thank you.

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Answer 15

Sep 17, 2011 7:56 AM in response to Steven Boyack

I'm also having the same problem with iPhoto 11 not importing photos (from desktop, from camera, drag and drop, any way I tried). However, it DID import from my iPad last week, then suddenly scanned photos were not imported nor were any others. Is there anyone who has solved this?

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