After upgrading to macOS Sierra, I noticed that when I import photos into the Photos app from an SD card, and choose to delete them after import, the photos do *not* get deleted automatically from the card. This worked in El Capitan.
This is fixed in Photos on High Sierra. When you check Delete After Import they really do delete now.
You shouldn't have to do it manually. If you try repeating the process and re-importing from the same folder, the app will verify whether or not all of the photos were imported the last time. If so, then you can delete them. But I agree that the app should be smarter and not delete if it encounters a problem on import.
I too have the same problem. I have been using mac for 2 years now and it has never deleted photos after importing. Whatever workflow Larry is suggesting, there is no way to manually verify thousands or at least hundreds of images manually to see if they have been imported. A more appropriate way is for Photos app to import the photo and delete only when import is verified. I believe it is very much easy to automate such a job than doing it manually.
After the photos are imported safely and at least one backup cycle has run us the camera's format command to erase and reformat the card - this it the best practice as it is safe and keeps your card format fresh
LN
I'm having this same problem, on multiple memory cards. reformatting the memory cards as LarryHN suggested did not help.
I should also point out that I can delete the files by hand, without an issue. It's only Photos that's having this problem.
Of course reformatting the SD card using the camera's format command will erase the card and it the best practice as it is safe and keeps your card format fresh - not sure what you are doing but when you format a card with the camera is is totally erased as postd
LN
You're missing the point - the problem is that Photos is not deleting photos after import, regardless of whether the "delete photos after import" button is checked. This is the problem Krakatos reported and you claimed formatting the card would fix the problem. It does not - while it does indeed remove the pictures the next time I go to import them Photos still fails to delete them.
No you are missing the point -
1 - as to bugs only APple can address them
2 - as a work around (and a highly recommended best practice) you should NEVEL have Photos or any program delete your photos before you are sure they are imported safely and backed up - formatting the SD card is a solution to the problem by moving to a much better work flow, one that you should always have been using
LN
So, I reported this to Apple back when I first noticed the problem. Originally my bug report was set as a "Duplicate" of another bug report, but today I got a notice saying :
Apple Developer Relations12-Apr-2017 03:55 PM
The original report on your issue has been closed recently. Please note that you will not be able to directly view the original report in order to keep its information confidential.
If you have further questions about this issue, please update your report using the Apple Bug Reporter <http://bugreport.apple.com>.
Hopefully this means the bug has been fixed - maybe even a new release of Photos is coming???
It would be nice!
same issue? Same answer!
After the photos are imported safely and at least one backup cycle has run us the camera's format command to erase and reformat the card - this it the best practice as it is safe and keeps your card format fresh
LN
Although I posted the original complaint regarding this bug, I do agree with LarryHN that it's safest to remove the photos manually by formatting. Or maybe there should be a separate option to delete in the Photos app at a later time. I say this because once when this feature was still working, a few of my photo files were not successfully copied into the library because of an invalid format being reported. I think the external card reader may have been at fault. But the card was still automatically wiped. Proceed with caution.
guoxin wrote:
Your answer doesn't help with the issue.
giving you exact, detailed instructions on how to handle the issue and explaining why that is the better way ot do it is not helpful? Not sure what you expect other than a solution and a much better way to work - that is all there is
:LN
That's a total non-answer, LarryHN. Any camera can delete photos by itself, and if someone wants to do it that way, that's fine. The questions posed here are asked because iPhoto would ALWAYS properly delete photos after importing them if that option was selected prior to doing the import; Photos has the same option, but it DOESN'T WORK. That's a bug that Apple should know about and fix.
Sorry LarryHN but this isn't a solution to the question "why aren't the photos automatically deleted from SD cards in Sierra as they were in El Capitan". The same command option ('Delete photos after import') is there in Photos, but it doesn't work on various attached media including SD cards. I suspect the 48 users with this same question are interested in getting the option to work as opposed to best practice which you are advocating. I'm sure most everyone realises you can erase SD cards by reformatting in the camera so not a lot of help there - best practice or not. As is obvious in the various internet forums, many, many users are assuming their SD cards or computer card readers are not working properly -- as opposed to assuming Apple hasn't got this function working as expected in their software.
I have the same problem. Is there any Sierra user out there (who checks "Delete after import" for an SD card) *not* have this problem?. My preference is to delete immediately after import as it eases management and I'm willing to take a small risk in exchange for simplicity.
Won't delete photos after import from SD
