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"Do not import duplicates" doesn't work

Hi everyone,


I've been using Aperture 3.5.1 for a while and the import process always worked fine, until suddenly the "Do not import duplicates" feature stopped working. Now any time I plug my iphone or insert the SD card the photos I've already imported appear again on the import screen.


The funny thing is that if I open the library with iPhoto and import the images with it, the duplicate pictures do not show up, so it's definitely an Aperture issue. For the time being I'll keep importing stuff via iPhoto and then switch to Aperture for editing, but I'd like to get this thing fixed. I filed a bug report on Apple's bug reporter last week but got no reply.


Cheers

Aperture 3, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Feb 3, 2014 5:27 PM

Reply
24 replies

Feb 4, 2014 6:58 AM in response to p.zac

Alright it's definitely an Aperture bug, the same that has been discussed here over two years ago:


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2692451?start=30&tstart=0


I started having this issue after changing the system time zone. If I manually change it then the number of duplicate pictures (shown when I plug my phone or SD card) changes. iPhoto doesn't have this issue.

Feb 4, 2014 7:47 AM in response to p.zac

I just got a new MBP and did a clean installation of Aperture 3.5 and started a new library. I have not changed anything in the time zones and Aperture is not recognizing duplicates for me either. On my old MBP (10.6.8 with Aperture 3.24, it recognizes duplicates perfectly. I am not doing anything different on import from one machine to the other.


In addition, to not recognizing duplicates, it is not able to auto-split imports by day correctly. It puts images from various days into various projects with no rhyme or reason. And it also no longer is able to put the images in chronological order if I want to view the project by ascending or descending date.


I did report it and did screen sharing with Aperture tech support so they could see what was happening, and was told they were looking into it, but haven't heard anything since.


All software is up to date. All cameras are supported and the problem is occuring with all cameras. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Feb 4, 2014 9:08 AM in response to léonie

It is on the system drive and is not referenced. I have deleted the library and reinstalled a new one and installed Aperture from an old disc and then did all the updates to 3.51 after getting a new MBP. Everything I am doing is identical to my workflow on my old machine.


The only other weird thing is that the return key doesn't work half the time in Aperture 3.51 now either. But I am having keyboard/trackpad freezing issues on this new computer in general that I am trying to get resolved with Apple and I suspect there may be a hardware problem causing that.


Thank you for trying to help!

Feb 4, 2014 9:52 AM in response to p.zac

Aperture's idea of what is a duplicate has always been very narrow. Change any of a small range of metadata and Aperture will not see the files as duplicates

p.zac wrote:


Alright it's definitely an Aperture bug, the same that has been discussed here over two years ago:


If you have read all the posts in that thread you will see for that about half the posters Aperture's do not import duplicates worked as they expected and for about half it didn't. I fall into the fist camp, it has always worked as it should for me.


This has been going on since at least version 3 so either Apple doesn't care or else they feel the feature is working as they intended. If you want this feature to behave in a way different then it currently does then you should submit an enhancement request. Your more likely to get a response to that then calling it a bug.


regards

Feb 4, 2014 2:35 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

Well, it appears that if you


- import an image

- change your system time zone (going west, if that matters)

- plug the device again


then Aperure doesn't recognize you've already imported that image. I don't see how this could be considered a normal behaviour, I call it a bug (a bug iPhoto doesn't have btw).


Thanks anyway

Feb 4, 2014 3:12 PM in response to p.zac

Well, it appears that if you


- import an image

- change your system time zone (going west, if that matters)

- plug the device again


then Aperure doesn't recognize you've already imported that image. I don't see how this could be considered a normal behaviour, I call it a bug (a bug iPhoto doesn't have btw).

You left something out: How did you set the Time Zone brick in Aperture's Import panel, when you made that test with a differnet Time Zone? Aperture uses the current system time zone to interpret the time stamps on the images as the default time zone, when you do not set the "camera time" and "actual time" correctly in the Import panel. This way you will import the images with a different time stamp, and then they will be different for Aperture. The date/time of the file are differnet, the file will be considerd to be different. But you can prevent that by setting the time zone correctly in Aperture's Import panel.

Feb 4, 2014 3:37 PM in response to p.zac

Again to Aperture images are consider duplicates only if certain metadata matches, change the metadata and to Aperture the images are not duplicates anymore.


This is as it has been since at least 3 and Apple has never made any changes to the program, it works as they intended.


If you want different behavior you need to place an enhancement request, reporting this as a bug will not accomplish anything.

Feb 4, 2014 3:39 PM in response to léonie

So far I had never dealt with Aperture's Time Zone brick in the import panel - I was just updating the time zone through the system preferences and the camera/cell phone settings menu.


From now on I'll set the time zones manually and make sure they'll match, although this is stupid - iPhoto gets it right.

Feb 4, 2014 3:54 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

Frank I appreciate your help and will file this issue as an enhancement request if that will improve the chances of Apple bothering with it.


It still ***** though, because now whenever I plug my iphone the import screen shows pictures that were taken (and imported) two years ago and I can't see why changing the system time zone should affect that. Aperture should use another way to figure out duplicates.


From now on I guess I'll import photos with iPhoto and switch to Aperture for editing.

Feb 4, 2014 4:53 PM in response to p.zac

I am having the same problem as p.zac and I have not changed time zones since getting my new computer and updating to 3.51 so I am not sure it is a time zone issue solely. My computer, camera, and import settings are all set to the same time zone and it is not recognizing the duplicates.


A couple hours ago I tested importing into my old library (Aperture 3.24) on my old computer and the duplicates were recognized even though I always have changed the version name and master file name on import. And, it always recognized the duplicates no matter what time zone we were in or where the images were taken, so something has changed and it is a hassle especially when you are trying to pull photos off of all your family members phones and cameras that still retain images you imported previously.

Feb 5, 2014 1:20 AM in response to p.zac

So far I had never dealt with Aperture's Time Zone brick in the import panel - I was just updating the time zone through the system preferences and the camera/cell phone settings menu.


From now on I'll set the time zones manually and make sure they'll match, although this is stupid - iPhoto gets it right.

The missing Time Zone support in iPhoto was the main reason for me to switch from iPhoto to Aperture. I consider it a major advantage of Aperture, that I can specify the Time Zone the camera has been set to and the Time Zone it is supposed to be. Both can differ from the Time Zone I am currently in. You will appreciate this feature, when you have to import from several cameras, all set to different Time Zones and containing image files from several Time Zones.

Feb 5, 2014 3:08 AM in response to léonie

I'm sure the time zone manipulation can be useful. I wish the duplicate detection rule would be smarter though (and simpler: comparing the original file name and an md5/sha hash of the image data should be enough to uniquely identify a picture). In the last three months I've been traveling and changing time zone pretty much every week, back and forth, so I guess it will impossible to fix my library.

"Do not import duplicates" doesn't work

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