Why SO many random DCIM Folders? I want ONE!

I too have this problem and am disgusted with Apple that they haven't come up with a solution to this problem so many of us have.

I take real estate photos and now have over 100 sub files under the DCIM folder. What use to take ten seconds now takes about half an hour trying to locate the latest folder to find the photos.

There is zero reason for this. If Apple insists on creating new folders, then why the **** can't they name the new folders in sequence? Are you going to tell me that they can name the photos in sequence but not the files they are stored in?

I have found the best work around yet. I dusted off my old digital camera with the SD card and left the god **** phone at home.

My contract comes up in July. If this BS isn't fixed by then, Hello Android!

And Lawrence, why do you have to be a smart *** Apple apologist troll? You do realize you contribute nothing to this thread right?

It isn't broken. If you use the correct tools you won't have any problem. You are trying to use a screwdriver to drive nails. Use the Camera and Scanner Wizard, Photoshop Elements, Microsoft Photo, Google Picasa, or any of a dozen or so other 3rd party tools that know how to navigate DCIM folders and you will never have to look at a DCIM folder again.

Please do get an Android so we don't have to read your rude and unpleasant posts. This is a user to user forum. We are not Apple here, and reading a post rife with profanity is not a pleasant experience for those of us who volunteer our time here to help people. Since you also have contributed nothing but a useless diatribe, not sure why you are criticizing Lawrence, who helps hundreds of fellow users weekly....

GB

Lawrence Finch wrote:

...You are trying to use a screwdriver to drive nails. Use the Camera and Scanner Wizard, ....

Csound1 wrote:

The Camera and Scanner wizard is a standard part of Windows, use it.

An import wizard is not a file browser. Different purpose. This is not difficult to understand. It's ironic that you are both suggesting a screwdriver to drive nails.

I think the purpose of having this forum has been forgotten by all the bickering and trying to prove who's the smartest guy around and who's machine is superior over the other. All that's being asked for is HELP. So there's no need to be sarcastic and all.

Mac users - your system is the most compatible and for this purpose, the easiest way to get things done. If you have suggestions to offer to those using Windows (which some of you have provided in this thread), then by all means give it. Windows users would appreciate it.

Windows users - technology evolves every single day. The usual way to do things might no longer be applicable today. We (yes, I'm a Windows user) can't always have Apple give in to our wishes. We must have to adapt as well, find ways on how to get things done differently. It may be difficult at first but we'll get used to it. Of course, it would be better if Apple can bring the usual way back. But again, they have their reasons.

If I may share, here's how I transfer my photos now:

- Connect iPhone to PC

- Open Photos app in Windows 8 (not sure if this is an option for Win7), right click anywhere and select Import

- Select your phone

- By default, all photos are selected. You can clear the selection and only check which you want to be imported. Click Import

- Open your Pictures folder and you'll see the photos imported from your phone in one of the folders there. It's normally named using the date.

Here's the article from Microsoft website: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/import-photos-videos

Now, does this resolve the Local Disk concern? Not really. But at least it made transferring photos easier for me. I haven't tried deleting all photos from my phone. And I don't know if doing so will fix the Local Disk concern. But I really don't make a big deal out of it now. As long as it's not something that will mess up my photos, phone, computer, or eat up a lot of space, it's fine with me.

So, to those who have provided suggestions, I thank all of you. May you be using Windows or Mac.

Thanks for your rational, thought-out response.

The Local Disk files appear when we edit photos within the Photos App. One of those files appears for each photo we edit. It's why Windows Explorer doesn't transfer edited photos to a PC, because it does not transfer those edit files. We have the ability to revert edited photos back to their original state. If you do so, those Local Disk files disappear from the folders. They'll also disappear if we delete the photo their attached to from our phones.

This thread tends to go awry because a few users want to interject with comments that do nothing but troll those of us who have grown accustomed to using Windows Explorer to handle our iPhone photos because it worked perfectly for so long. One of those users in particular admittedly doesn't use a Windows PC, therefore doesn't even experience the issue this thread was created to address. Yet he feels it necessary to return time after time telling people to buy a Mac or an Android phone, and even though he keeps telling us to "do it our own way," he returns only to say that way is wrong. Trolling like that doesn't help anyone. If you don't want to help, stop coming back to the thread. User Lawrence does offer alternate methods to transfer photos to a Windows PC, which is great, but he also continues to tell everyone we're dong it the "wrong way" and using the "wrong tool." Offering alternate methods helps, continuing to tell everyone we're doing it wrong does not. Windows Explorer was not the wrong tool for this job for years. That's why people come here. They're looking for a way to get it to work as good as it once did. Unfortunately, with the advancements to the Photos App, it doesn't look like Apple is going to change anything. Regardless of whether they do or not, people are going to continue to use Windows Explorer because it's what they've used for years. It's also a simple tool for those who aren't computer savvy. If any of us keep using it, that's our choice and there's absolutely no need for the same people to keep coming back here to put us down for it. I don't care what level a user is or how many points they've accrued in the Apple forums. No matter how special someone thinks they are here or how knowledgeable they are, trolling & rudeness is still uncalled for. If you're not helping anyone, which is the purpose of these forums, levels & points mean nothing. I'd much rather get helpful replies from newcomers than trolling, smart alec remarks from long-time users with a high level & points.

That actually has been mentioned a few times in the thread. The only disadvantage is if you have edited the images on the phone or iPad those edits will not be in the .jpg; it will be the original before edits, because the edits are contained in a "sidecar" file with an AAE extension, which Windows Explorer interprets (incorrectly) as a mounted disk.

We've suggested using the search tool throughout this thread. But instead of searching for .jpg, try just typing an asterisk ( * ) in the search box. That way it'll not only list the photos, but the video files (.mov) as well. You can then right click on a particular photo or video and choose Open file location from the context menu to open the DCIM folder that contains that photo/video, as well as any others taken that month. The biggest downfall being, as Lawrence said, it will not transfer any photos that have been edited (e.g. red eye, brightness, etc.). It will only transfer the original, unedited photo.

The bottom line is the photo import and management process from iphone to PC has become non-nonsensical and illogical.....period! At very least, at an absolute minimum, the DCIM folders should reflect the date the folder was created in the file number so the user can easily tell at a glance what they're looking at and where things are. Would that be so difficult? Maybe I don't want to import *every single* new pic since I last imported. Maybe I just want to import one or two new photos. Good luck with that.

I will continue to be a huge Apple advocate and will continue to spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on the products because they are the best there is - hands down. But before the moderators block my comments for "ranting", please remember that constructive criticism is a healthy thing right ?

I disagree. It WAS nonsensical and illogical in the past, and it has been made logical and sensible when used with the correct tools. What you ask is impossible; the date on a folder is the date of the last update to it. This is an intrinsic operating system design feature, and has been that way for Unix-based operating systems since 1972, which Unix was first deployed.

Using the correct tools you do NOT have to import "every single* new picture since you last imported. Any photo management tool gives you an option of what to import. For example, I use Picasa or Nikon ViewNX interchangeably. Both of them display all of the photos on the iPhone in chronological order (independent of what DCIM folder they are in; I don't need to know that information) and both allow me to check the photos to import, and whether to delete them after import or not. It's quick and easy. And it imports the editing data along with the image. And the default app opens automatically when I connect the phone to my computer, so it is much easier than trying to use Windows Explorer or Mac Finder. It works the same way with Windows Camera and Scanner wizard; once you enable it the first time it will automatically open and display the thumbnails of your images, and let you choose which to import.

adamkrause2004 wrote:

At very least, at an absolute minimum, the DCIM folders should reflect the date the folder was created in the file number so the user can easily tell at a glance what they're looking at and where things are.

Agreed. This is what I'd like to see as well.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

What you ask is impossible; the date on a folder is the date of the last update to it.

Every single sub-folder within my iPhone's DCIM folder has a creation date of 3/6/15. I don't even have any photos on my iPhone that were taken on that date. If I did, I've removed them. And I've taken many photos since that date, the most recent being yesterday, 5/20/15. But it hasn't updated the creation date for 2 1/2 months. So no, the date on the folders is not the date of the last update to them.

A new DCIM sub-folder is created for every month we take a photo(s), regardless of whether it's only one photo that month or many. If they can set it to create a new folder to store photos according to the month they were taken, and it can assign some off-the-wall creation date to every single folder (even though there are no photos taken on that date) then why can't they set each folder's creation date as the date of the first or last photo in that folder?

Reply Helpfulby T-Minator on Dec 27, 2014 6:38 AM

"I have the same issue with too many folders, and not being able to find my most recent photos. I can't get rid of the folders yet, but have found a decent temporary solution to finding my most recent photos (until Apple corrects this problem, that used to not be a problem). Open your DCIM folder in Windows Explorer (WE). You should now see all of the folders that your iPhone has created. In the search box at the top right corner of the window, type in an asterisk: * (no punctuation before or after it), and hit enter. WE will now show you a list of everything in the DCIM folder. All of the folders your iPhone created will be listed first (yes, the same folders that are causing all of us headaches). Scroll down to the bottom of the folder list, and immediately after that you will see all of your photos. Your most recent photos should be listed first (immediately following all of the DCIM folders). Once you see the image you are looking for, right click on it, and you will have the option to go to the containing folder ("open file location"). Once at that location, you should see all of your most recent images."

thanks very much T-Minator - this was the perfect solution to a seemingly ludicrous problem.

how apple with all of their technical expertise cannot find a simpler solution to this is incredible.

not sure why everyone insists you have to download all of your photos - some of us dont want to do that! i have heaps of photos on my phone i use for work and do not want on my computer - many are for reference and only temporary. i just want to find the last one i took sometimes.

the search idea did the trick for me. thanks very much.

Same problem here. I have over 3000 photos on my 128GB iPhone 6, and when I connect my iPhone to my Windows computer they are strewn across 54 folders! I have idea which folder my latest pictures are saved into. It's absolutely ridiculous.

To avoid this I connected my iPhone to my Mac to use Image Capture, but for some reason it doesn't display any of my photos taken after Feb 2nd, 2015. So that's useless. Probably another of the many Yosemite bugs I've already encountered.

Brilliant so I've just spent an hour trolling through 11 pages of repetitive complaints about exactly the same thing (justified), various people claiming credit for the * fix and yet still after 11 pages and 8 months of comments Apple have not stepped in with a solution !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have got to be kidding me - if that's the level of disinterest they take in their customers problems, Android is clearly the way to go !

Grats21 wrote:

Brilliant so I've just spent an hour trolling through 11 pages of repetitive complaints about exactly the same thing (justified), various people claiming credit for the * fix and yet still after 11 pages and 8 months of comments Apple have not stepped in with a solution !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have got to be kidding me - if that's the level of disinterest they take in their customers problems, Android is clearly the way to go !

You truly don't get it. This is a USER TO USER TECHNICAL SUPPORT FORUM. Apple NEVER steps in. Apple doesn't even read it. To communicate with Apple use the Contact Us link at the bottom of every page. There are many ways of talking to Apple but THIS FORUM IS NOT ONE OF THEM. Which you would know if you had bother to read the Terms of Use that you accepted when you joined.

And, if you haven't realized it yet, this thread is a "honeypot", a place to keep the gripers and malcontents in one place, so they don't muddy the threads of people with real problems who want real solutions.