How to delete empty Last Import albums on Ipad2

Thanks a lot. With only three empty 'last import' folders this was the solution for me. After using the CCK, importing the protos into iPhoto and deleting the photos from the iPad, the empty folders were gone. If you have more than 10 empty folders this might not be the easiest solution, but for me it worked.

Since yours was the only solution suggested out here, I tried it. I had 14 empty 'Last Import' folders, and repeating the steps that many times did finally get rid of them all.

Bizarre glitch, and even odder way to get rid of it. Kudos for figuring this out.

On the Albums page, if you click the edit button in the upper right hand corner, you get x's in the upper left hand corners of the albums on that page. Clicking on the x's allows you to delete the empty albums (or any albums with photos in them for that matter) one at a time without the workaoround using the CCK. At least that worked for me. For empty events, there's a workaround posted here: http://shimworld.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/how-to-remove-empty-photo-import-event s-on-your-ipad-2/

I can only speak for the iPad 2 and 3, but the 'Edit' button did not bring about the 'x' on those rogue folders. I assume it's because I didn't create them myself, but the system/software/CCK did.

Weirdness. I'm on an iPad 2 operating 5.1. Now that I think about it, the dates of the folders that I deleted WERE all when I used the CCK to upload photos. But the 'edit' button worked just fine for me to delete them. Weirdness. I'm glad they're gone!

I found a solution! I added a comment over on the shimworld blog (http://shimworld.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/how-to-remove-empty-photo-import-event s-on-your-ipad-2/#comment-18392), I'll repost it here:

I ran into this same issue on my new iPad(3rd gen) after upgrading from iPad 2, I had a few hundred empty events(it took at least 30s of scrolling as fast as I could to reach the bottom). I use the camera connection kit as well as the EyeFI app to import photos constantly so it was a bit of a mess. I’m doing a road trip to SF area soon and needed space for new photos so I need to figure something out. After a bunch of digging around on the internet and looking into tools from my earlier jailbreaking days, I found a solution to do a full reset on the Photos.app. This does NOT require a jailbreak!

First I imported all photos to my mac using Image Capture. Then I turned off iCloud’s PhotoStream, turned off photo syncing in iTunes and let a the iPad do a full sync and backup. Next I ran DiskAid and deleted the photo related folders under the File System -> Media area(see below). This removed EVERYTHING from the Photos.app. Then I rebooted the iPad. The Photos.app was empty just like on a new device! I snapped a couple pics with the camera and it created the camera roll, I turned PhotoStream back on, synced some photos from iTunes. Everything seems to be working great now, just like new!

BEWARE: THIS WILL DELETE ALL PHOTOS STORED ON YOUR DEVICE in Photos.app!!! MAKE A BACKUP!!!!

Connect iOS device with USB and fire up DiskAid. In DiskAid click File System, then click Media. READ WARNING and accept.

Delete these folders:
PhotoData (this has all the photos, database, etc synced from iTunes)
DCIM (this is the camera roll)
Photos (I think this is just the data to determine which iTunes library its synced with)
PhotoStreamsData (iCloud Photo Stream data)

Reboot iPad(probably not required but doesn’t hurt)
Enjoy a fully reset Photos.app!

DiskAid: I used v5.12 on my Mac Mini(10.7.3)
http://www.digidna.net/products/diskaid

Thanks for posting this--the problem has been bugging me, too.

I happened on a streamlined variation which is faster & doesn't require syncing with iPhoto or iTunes. It worked for me (iPad2 and OS5.1), hope it works for others as well:

1) Shoot some photos, put the SD card in the Camera Connection Kit (CCK) and connect it to the iPad.

2) Select one or more photos and import them to the iPad. Keep the photos on your SD card if you don't want to lose them.

3) Disconnect the CCK.

4) At the top of the screen in the Photo app, select "Events."

5) Locate the event with your newly imported pictures. Open the event, and manually delete the pictures you just imported.

6) When you go back to the "Albums" page, you should find that one of your empty "Last Import" albums has disappeared.

7) Repeat until all of the empty "Last Import" albums are gone.

Like Brian's original solution, this is probaly only practical if you have just a few empty "Last Import" folders.

OMG, thanks soooo much . . . this worked perfectly. It's the weird, little things that drive ya crazy. You, SHUETHER, are a genius:)

I could use your help. I am a new user who wants to download photos for slide show presentations. I used the camera connection kit with an SD Card. It created "Last Imorted" and "All Imported" files. Both files contain the exact same photos. I tried to rename both files but was unable to. I created a new album and tried to transfer the photos into the album and now I have 3 copies of each photo! Am I doing something wrong? I contacted AppleCare support and they do not have training in this area. All I want is one album for each download (not 3). :)

You are not crazy, it takes a bit you wrap your mind around how ipad deals with photos. The photos aren't actually there three times . . . I don't think. Think of it kinda like when you have your photos on your PC, but can access them from all your editing programs. Not what's actually happening, but that's what I tell myself.

If you want to see just the photos uploaded that particular instance, tap the events tab. That is where the photos are in separated files.

Hopefully someone will have a clearer answer for you; I'm new at this, too.

It is hecka confusing until your brain decides to just roll with it. Just wait until you try and get them off for real fun 🙂 see above. Good Luck.

I tried this in Events but it told me it would delete the photo everywhere. It stated that the photo(s) was being used in 2 other albums - did I want to delete them all?

I think that's what I mean by it's not really there 3 times. It's just there once, but used by other albums. I'm not sure that I am right. Unless, you want to delete it everywhere, I wouldn't say yes unless I had it backed up on another device, card, cd, computer, ya know. You may just have to experiment.

When you take more photos & upload them those will go into a different events file, but still be there altogether in all imported. It creates a new events folder every time you stick the card in.

I'm just doing a lot of trial & error before I have to do anything real important . . . and always have the photos backed up elsewhere.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! It's amazing how the simplest solution escapes so many users. I'm not exactly a novice to PC's but I am a novice to Apple software. I find it annoying at best and quite irrational at worst. If it was so easy and intuitive, why is there such a huge help community out there? Of course, age has something to do with my frustration: I got my first PC in 1981, so I'm in the slow-learner generation!

Many thanks for the external post. It works in a long-winded way but leaves you with an empty Event, the date you removed the Albums. Sorry to report that the bug is still present in 10.8.2 and iOS6 on the iPad 2. There is no options to highlight the Album or Event and delete on the iPad as has been intermittantly mentioned.

Thank you so much I just did what you suggested and my empty last import folder is gone. Thank you so very much it was so annoying.