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Q: Why SO many random DCIM Folders?  I want ONE!

I have an ipone 4s.  I have had an iPhone for over 5 years now.  Before the DCIM folder would hold 1000 pictures.  As soon as I would take another picture (ei 1001) then it would start another folder for those thousand pictures.  So by time I got into the 5000+ I had over 5 folders.  They are random (ei 851PKYZB, 851XTGOR, 914ELZYG, etc.) Last month or so when I plugged my phone into the computer to copy my photos onto my desktop I had ONE folder.  It was glorious not to have to open every folder to figure out where the newest pictures were.

 

Then today I plug my phone into my computer to copy pictures over and I now have a folder for every 100 pictures.  YES TONS and TONS of folders (55 folders to be exact) and no rhythm or reason to the numbering system.  Some with only 1 picture in them, as I delete a lot of pictures after transferring to my computer.  So when I wanted to find todays pictures I had to open over half of them to find my pictures.

 

HOW do I get it back to ONE folder?  I understand the reason there is a DCIM folder to begin with, but I really think I should be able to have 1 folder or at least have them numbered 100APPLE, 101APPLE, or something that is numeric and I know that the very last folder are the new pictures.  Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  (I have the newest iOS 8.1.2) Thanks in advance.

iOS 7.1

Posted on Dec 13, 2014 6:24 AM

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Q: Why SO many random DCIM Folders?  I want ONE!

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  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Apr 1, 2015 5:45 PM in response to tab1075
    Level 8 (38,071 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 1, 2015 5:45 PM in response to tab1075

    You can continue struggling with Windows Explorer, Or you can use an app DESIGNED to get images from a digital camera. It isn't only iPhones that have multiple DCIM folders. And if you delete DCIM folders or images you screw up the image database index. If you have used any enhanced features of the iPhone camera or edit images on the phone those edits will be lost if you don't use a photo importer app, because the "sidecar" files (.AAE) that contain the image edits won't be copied correctly.

     

    The choice is yours. I don't care what you do.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Apr 2, 2015 7:58 AM in response to tab1075
    Level 9 (50,786 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 2, 2015 7:58 AM in response to tab1075

    tab1075 wrote:

     

    Lawrence, I'm not sure why you think we're not doing it the "right" way. Just because there are other ways to view our photos on a PC doesn't mean viewing them in Windows Explorer is the "wrong" way. I'm not sure how you know what Apple intended, or didn't intend. To put it bluntly, you don't know. That is, unless you work for Apple in this particular department.

     

    Using Windows Explorer, whether it be with our iPhones, a flash drive, etc., is one of the most common (if not THE most common) ways for PC users to view files. I assure you, we are not going about this the "wrong" way.

    But you are, Explorer has no specific image handling organizational abilities, you may choose to use it, but it will be a mess.

  • by shastasage,

    shastasage shastasage Apr 2, 2015 8:05 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2015 8:05 AM in response to Csound1

    What you are missing is that a short time ago APPLE and microsoft did work just fine but APPLE changed it..NOT Microsoft.

    It is now much harder because of APPLE.

    And i truly think APPLE did this intentionally and i am done with them...done!

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Apr 2, 2015 8:10 AM in response to shastasage
    Level 9 (50,786 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 2, 2015 8:10 AM in response to shastasage

    It's always been a mess.

  • by shastasage,

    shastasage shastasage Apr 2, 2015 8:24 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2015 8:24 AM in response to Csound1

    not like this...i used to be able to open one folder and drag and drop some or all of my pictures until a few months ago...now i have to do a wild goose chase.

    I have enough going on in my life to now have to search for new ways to make it easier to do something that was intentionally done to make it harder

     

    i am sure Samsung has an easier way

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Apr 2, 2015 8:48 AM in response to shastasage
    Level 9 (50,786 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 2, 2015 8:48 AM in response to shastasage

    And I know that Apple have far better methods than Microsoft, so investigate a Samsung for yourself.

  • by shastasage,

    shastasage shastasage Apr 2, 2015 8:58 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2015 8:58 AM in response to Csound1

    Yes i am sure apple has better systems as you can see on this thread...it is working so well for apple...lol

     

    The superior attitude is another reason i hate apple...they will end up like microsoft is now...tooo big for their britches

     

    Too cocky

     

    Thanks for helping me make my decision

  • by tab1075,

    tab1075 tab1075 Apr 2, 2015 9:04 AM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 1 (54 points)
    Apr 2, 2015 9:04 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

    Lawrence Finch wrote:

     

    The choice is yours. I don't care what you do.

     

    Apparently you do.

     

    You offered alternate means of transferring photos from an iPhone to a PC, and that's great. But the fact of the matter remains, before iOS 8.1.2 (I believe), it was just as easy to find new photos via Windows Explorer as it is on a normal flash drive. This isn't so much an issue of transferring photos that have been edited within the native app. It's about having to dig through (sometimes) dozens of DCIM folders to find our most recent photos. Hence the title of this thread. And that's why we're here. Apple made a change that makes it more difficult to locate newer photos within Windows Explorer and everyone comes here to find a possible solution. We're not wrong for having done it the way we have for years. It worked perfectly before. We'd simply like Apple to tweak a few things to make it as easy as it once was...and hopefully people are using the feedback system to let them know. Until then, people continue to come here to see if anyone's found a way to fix it or at least work around it. That's why the forums exist. Let's face it, not everyone is going to read an entire large thread, so they won't read the work-arounds that have already been made available. So some of us who are experiencing the same issue come back to tell them what we know. It doesn't help anyone when users, who aren't even experiencing this issue mind you, keep coming back to tell everyone they're doing it wrong or we should just go buy Macs.

     

    I'm not going to address Csound1 directly. He doesn't even use a PC, so isn't having the issues this thread is here to help with, and continues to come here just to troll. Sure, as a business, Apple would love it if PC users went out and bought a Mac instead, but they are not trying to force PC owners who also use iPhones/iPads to buy Macs. That's just ridiculous. If their business plan depended on millions & millions of PC users to buy Macs just to use their mobile devices, they wouldn't have been in business for very long. The fact of the matter is, it worked well for years. I believe this problem occurred because they began to sort photos within the Photos App by month. That's why each DCIM folder only has photos in them taken during a single month. We'd just like to see it better organized so we can continue to do it the way we have when it worked.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Apr 2, 2015 9:45 AM in response to shastasage
    Level 9 (50,786 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 2, 2015 9:45 AM in response to shastasage

    You're welcome

  • by shastasage,

    shastasage shastasage Apr 2, 2015 9:53 AM in response to tab1075
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2015 9:53 AM in response to tab1075

    Well said!

     

    However i disagree that this was not intentional. I have been a computer programmer since 1982 and you have to consciously program this mess. It doesnt happen on its own and it didn't happen to Apple users...just PC users.

     

    My wife who is an apple user and has made sure we have purchased 2 - iphones...2 i touches...4 ipods...two i pads and a new Macbook pro has done the Apple argument trying to convince me to just go to a Mac. She recently saw what had happened and remembers how easy it was. She is also a programmer and realizes this was done intentionally.

     

    She is also a liberal and we are both pro- gay but hated that the CEO of apple got so political....we both hate that.

     

    In leaving Apple i must say that if Apple had addressed this issue and made Itunes better for PC users i would have been a APPLE fan big time...i dont like being forced to do anything harder...when it could be so much easier

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Apr 2, 2015 11:04 AM in response to tab1075
    Level 8 (38,071 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 2, 2015 11:04 AM in response to tab1075

    Apple changed the way it worked for a reason. It was entirely intentional. And if you use the right tools it will work on a PC as well as it does on a Mac. You have deliberately chosen to use the wrong tools, and you want the world to support your use of them. It isn't going to happen. You remind me of the anguish when Windows started allowing file names of more than 8 characters. While Apple is the first to change the way images are managed, they aren't going to be the last. I'm sure Android phones will move to the new approach soon, because the current way of managing digital images is the equivalent of 8 character filenames. It isn't just the folder structure; there are other significant differences that Windows Explorer doesn't know about either.

     

    The digital photo standards have changed over the past few years. The right tools have kept up with it. iOS 8 is the first smartphone operating system to take advantage of the new standards. They apply to how digital images are saved and modified. Specifically, Apple has implemented the XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) standard. Prior to this if you edited an image file you lost the original file, unless you saved it separately. If you made a lot of edits over time, unless you saved each intermediate version, there was no way to backtrack through your changes. XMP changes that. Any editor that uses XMP (like the iPhone camera) keeps a "sidecar" file that tracks the changes to the image, so the original and every intermediate remains available. XMP data can be included in the jpg, or kept as a separate file (with the .AAE type), as Apple has chosen to do, because not all programs understand embedded XMP yet.

  • by shastasage,

    shastasage shastasage Apr 2, 2015 11:37 AM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2015 11:37 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

    as an apple i phone user it would have been a smart business decision to let its customers know and how to use it.

     

    PS Apple censored one of my comments and sent me a nasty letter saying i was a bad boy...i am so done!

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Apr 5, 2015 8:02 PM in response to shastasage
    Level 8 (38,071 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 5, 2015 8:02 PM in response to shastasage

    Yes, you insulted another forum member, which is both rude and a violation of the forum's Terms of Use. You won't be missed.

  • by shastasage,

    shastasage shastasage Apr 5, 2015 8:11 PM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 5, 2015 8:11 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

    Well i guess you are the the Chief judge and can determine right and wrong for other.

    I insulted no one...i did however respond to being insulted...but i guess you didn't see that

     

    And it would be nice if there was some rules of integrity of Apple to fix this issue and make it as easy to access not harder

    but dare i say the king has no clothes

     

    When i said i was so done i didn't mean this forum but apple products....and thanks for helping me solidify my decision.

     

    it is that pervasive attitude that makes me glad for you to see me go :-)

  • by soledadcv,

    soledadcv soledadcv Apr 7, 2015 12:47 PM in response to T-Minator
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 7, 2015 12:47 PM in response to T-Minator

    T-Minator,

    Thank you so much!

    I finally got a workable answer that allows me to look for a specific picture without having to go through each folder.

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