donhoos66
Level 1 (8 points)
Photos for Mac

Q: Photos Not Recognizing Previously Imported iPhone Pictures -- It Keeps Considering Them To Be "New Items"

I'm new to Photos having just migrated from iPhoto yesterday.  When I connected my iPhone 6s to my computer several hundred pictures on my phone that I had previously imported to iPhoto were identified as "New Items" by Photos.  To clear our what Photos viewed as "new," I decided to import them to Photos anyway, but then I deleted them from the "Last Import" album in Photos an effort to avoid having duplicate files.

 

Here is the problem:  The next time I connected my iPhone, Photos failed to recognize that I had already imported these hundreds of allegedly "New Items."  This didn't make sense to me.  I really don't want to continue this import and then delete cycle every time I connect my iPhone to my computer.  Nor do I want to have to go through the exercise of trying figure out which are actually new and import just those truly new pics into Photos.

 

Is there a solution to this problem?

 

Thanks.

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Oct 1, 2016 8:11 PM

Close
donhoos66

Q: Photos Not Recognizing Previously Imported iPhone Pictures -- It Keeps Considering Them To Be "New Items"

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Oct 1, 2016 8:24 PM in response to donhoos66
    Level 10 (85,071 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 1, 2016 8:24 PM in response to donhoos66

    The easiest way is to use iCloud Photo Library which totally eliminates this issue and has many benefits

     

    You can also delete those photos from your iPhone

     

    and you can scroll down and select only the new photos (always at the bottom of the import window) and import selected

     

    and report this to Apple so they hopefully will address it in an upcoming release - http://www.apple.com/feedback/

     

    LN

  • by donhoos66,

    donhoos66 donhoos66 Oct 1, 2016 9:10 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 1, 2016 9:10 PM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks.  Although iCloud Photo Library might avoid the issue, with 1.9TB of photos and videos, it's not a realistic option for me from a cost perspective.  I'll report it to Apple, but does anyone else have any thoughts as to how to work around this apparently fundamental flaw (at least as far I my user experience goes) with Photos?

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Oct 2, 2016 5:57 AM in response to donhoos66
    Level 10 (85,071 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 2, 2016 5:57 AM in response to donhoos66

    two work arounds are as posted

     

    You can also delete those photos from your iPhone

     

    and you can scroll down and select only the new photos (always at the bottom of the import window) and import selected

     

     

    LN

  • by donhoos66,

    donhoos66 donhoos66 Oct 2, 2016 6:47 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 2, 2016 6:47 AM in response to LarryHN

    If I choose the delete photos from iPhone workaround, here is my question: After importing photos from my iPhone, iPhoto used to give me the option of deleting the imported pics from my iPhone.  I am not getting that option in Photos.  Is that a setting that I need to toggle on in order to be given that choice?   Otherwise, how do I find the 200 pictures that Photos continuously deems to be "New Items" amongst the thousands of pics on my iPhone?

     

    Thanks

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Oct 2, 2016 6:52 AM in response to donhoos66
    Level 10 (85,071 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 2, 2016 6:52 AM in response to donhoos66

    You select the option to delete after import prior to import in Photos - chek the box to the right of the phone in the source list

     

    however this is not recommended as if a problem occurs you can lose photos - it is better to delete them later after the import is successful and at least one backup cycle has completed - you can delete them using the Phone or using Image Capture (in your applications folder)

     

    LN

  • by donhoos66,

    donhoos66 donhoos66 Oct 2, 2016 9:11 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 2, 2016 9:11 AM in response to LarryHN

    Awesome, yet another manual workflow process that I get to add to my list of Photos workarounds.  (That is, if I could actually easily find the random 200 "new items" in my thousands of pictures on my iPhone.)

     

    Thanks Larry, I do appreciate your guidance.

  • by donhoos66,

    donhoos66 donhoos66 Oct 2, 2016 9:20 AM in response to donhoos66
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 2, 2016 9:20 AM in response to donhoos66

    Maybe this is a dumb question since it seems that the "New Item" recognition feature of Photos is broken, but any reason why it would recognize 240 pictures as New, then if I disconnect and reconnect seconds later, it recognizes different total "New Items" (for example, 218 then 222 etc.)?  Just doesn't make sense to me at all when I haven't changed a thing other than unplugging and then plugging in my iPhone.  So even if I try to figure which pictures to delete to workaround this problem, it seems that Photos keeps moving the target.