Delete photos option after import

Question

Level 1

22 points

Delete photos option after import

Why has the tick box option in photos been removed to enable you to delete the selected photos from your iPhone that have been selected to be imported?

Even the Apple instructions refer to it:

When the import is complete, a message box asks if you want to delete or keep the photos on your device. Click Delete Items to remove the photos, or click Keep Items to keep them on the device.
If you select Keep Items, you'll have to delete them directly from your device when you want to remove them.

The above instructions cannot be followed now unless there is a setting somewhere that I cannot find?

Please help!

Posted on Apr 17, 2017 7:24 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

robbo739 Author

Level 1

22 points

Apr 17, 2017 9:21 AM in response to LarryHN

You are incorrect LarryHN.

Photos on my MAC has worked this way for the past 2 years and then this year a software version has removed the check box to enable you to delete all photos from the device after importing. It was a check box but that has now been removed.

This means that the selected photos that I have imported onto my MAC are left on the iPhone taking up space and then you have to go through the iPhone trying to select and delete them from the phone to free up space.

Rob

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Answer 2

NFennell

Level 1

13 points

Apr 22, 2017 5:38 AM in response to robbo739

I think I found the answer to this! It's annoying, but simple. I usually plug my phone in while the screen is locked, so in Photos I see "No Photos" when I click on the phone. Easy enough, I punch in my passcode and the photos show up. But as noted above, the screen looks like this, with no box to check:

I then had to unplug the phone for another reason, then when I re-plugged it in, while the screen was still unlocked, voila:

So the simple answer is, have your screen unlocked BEFORE you plug the phone in to the Mac, and the "Delete items after import" box will be available.

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Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Apr 17, 2017 8:37 AM in response to robbo739

Not sure where you saw that but that is not the way Photos works - it sounds like instructions for a totally diffrerent program, iPhoto

If you are using iCloud Photo Library then delete after import is not an option form IOS devices

And even is you do have delete after import in any case the box has to be checked prior to import (Not like the article you quoted)

So we need to know what your iCloud settings are and exactly how you are importing

And note that it is NEVER recommended to have any computer program delete photos after import since if you do you will lose photos someday

LN

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

195,113 points

Apr 17, 2017 11:56 AM in response to Old Toad

When I plugin my iPhone with its USB cable this option is available in the Import window:

But iCloud Photo Library is not enabled on your iPhone, or is it?

If the iPhone is using iCloud Photo library, the "Delete after Import" option is disabled. It would not make any sense, since it would mean to delete photos from iCloud. I'm only seeing this option, when I disable iCloud Photo Library on the iPhone or iPad.

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