Missing "Import" folder in iPhoto

A few weeks ago a pop up in iPhoto appeared saying "....photos have been found, import?" and I followed the steps through other posts to finding the import folder, moving it to desktop etc.
again this pop up is appearing except I can no longer find the import folder because I must have deleted it back when I did this the first time...
any suggestions?!
please help!

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It makes no changes to your data.
Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
find Pi* -type d -name *Import -ls | pbcopy
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered.
The output of the command will be automatically copied to the Clipboard. If the command produced no output, the Clipboard will be empty. Paste into a reply to this message.
The Terminal window doesn't show the output. Please don't copy anything from there.
If any personal information appears in the output, anonymize before posting, but don’t remove the context.

Similar Messages

Missing albums/folder in iPhoto

Since updating to iPhoto 9.5.1 (and, or maybe to Mavericks 10.9.2) I have lost several stand alone albums and one folder that had about 20 albums in it. The photos are all in the Photos library and in Events but the albums and folder have gone. They are not in the trash, I did not delete them and I cannot restore from my back up on an external hard drive using Time Machine. It will take me days to recreate everything. What's the problem - suggestions welcome!

You best solution is to restore a backup copy of the library make just befire the problem occurred. Otherwise you're limited to trying the following:
1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
2 - Run Option #3, Repair Database, followed by Option #4, Rebuild Database, if needed.
The fact that it's done it before indicates that it's probably an corrupt database.
OT

"Photos have been found in iPhoto library that were not imported" .. There's no Import Folder to delete

Please read the entire post prior to giving a response.
Our 2011 MBP has had this problem for a while. 15 photos have been found in iPhoto library that were not imported (twice .. every time). I've seen several posts that all have the same answer .. find the import folder in iPhoto, remove it and all will be fine with the world. Some say, it's importing folder, some say auto import folder, but all say it's a folder. Problem is, there is no such folder. I've looked throughout the computer .. applications, iPhoto, right click to show package contents, searched and searched .. nada. NO such folder exists. There are quite a number of files labeled "ImportPanels.nib" and "SelectiveImport.nib" all under "Other". There are also a number of import.tiff files with various names under "Preview". But NO folder with IMPORT in the name.
So, how do I get rid of the never ending 15 photos have been found in iPhoto library that were not imported? Help that doesn't repeat what's already been noted above in other posts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
(BTW .. it has Mavericks installed and everything is currently updated.)

I have no idea where you are looking. I have nothing even similar to that. When I go to Finder and click on Applications and then right click iPhoto (not iPhoto Library .. I have nothing with that name) and click on Show Package Contents, I have just one folder "Contents". That opens to _CodeSignature, _MASReceipt, Frameworks, Library, MacOS, Plugins, Recurces and XPCServices .. no other folder exist.
(I have show .. iMovie, iMovie 9.0.9, iPhoto, iTunes, iWork '09, Keynote, etc .. No iPhoto Library Folder is listed.)
If I go to Launchpad and right click the iPhoto icon, it opens iPhoto. You say not the application, but I have no idea were else to find this other than Finder which is only the iPhoto application and the icon in Launchpad and the Dock.
When I click the Library folder, the only folder is Loginterms which opens to iCloud Photos.
There isn't any folder names Auto Import or anything close. Searches don't help as they only find files, not folder names.
In your picture, it shows iPhoto Library as the header .. mine never shows that, it's always the folder name.
Where is the iPhoto Library Package?

IPhoto had a auto import folder. does this exist in photos for mac?

I used image capture to get the photos from my iPhone, so that iPhoto didn't open every time i plugged in. there was an auto import folder in iPhoto which i could dump my photos in, then when i did open iPhoto it would import everything in that folder. is there a folder that will import everything in that folder whenever Photos for Mac is opened?

What does iPhoto do with photos as they are imported?
What you tried was a very complicated and unsupported way to import from one iPhoto library to another.
The safest way would have been either
to use iPhoto Library Manager to export a new library from the old one
or to export the original files using iPhoto and to import the exported files.
But pasting the Masters folder into a temporary "Importing" folder put your photos at risk. The Importing folder is a temporary cache that will be emptied, when an Import has finished.
It started to get very slow and sluggish, so I decided I would move the photos to a new library on the same drive.
It would have probably sufficed to repair or to rebuild the library and safe all your edits and albums, instead of migrating the photos to a new library.
Since you do not have a backup, and your Masters folder got erased, I recommend to stop using the drive with your library immediately and to try data recovery software, for example Disk Drill. It has a free trial mode.
http://www.cleverfiles.com/mac-data-recovery.html

Trying to restore photos from external drive and realized TimeMachine had been turned off. Found in Imac backup folder in iPhoto library a modified folder with many of the missing pics. Can I restore these?

I recently had a hard drive crash on my iMac. After replacing the drive, I discovered that TimeMachine had apparently been turned off for six months, and all my photos from that period were missing after the restore. In looking on the external drive used by TimeMachine, I discovered a folder called Imac backup, and under iPhoto Library was a folder called Originals and subfolders for each year. To my surprise, there were photos covering the missing time period! Somehow I imported the 2011 folder from the external drive into iPhoto, and then I discovered they were small files of less than 100 KB each, not the 1-2 MB original photos. So now all of 2011 is screwed up, not just from May on. These photos also include faces pulled from many larger group photos.
I can get Jan - April restored using TimeMachine. But in continuing to explore the Imac backup folder, I found a similar folder in iPhoto Library called Modified. This folder has many of the missing photos in their original MB size in folders indexed by date for the missing period after April. Is there a way that I can get these modified photos back onto my new hard drive and into the iPhoto library without causing more damage? If TimeMachine was turned off after April, how did those modified photos and all those small images from the missing period find their way to the external drive?
Any wisdom greatly appreciated.

What you want to do is merge the two Libraries? The only way to do this is to use the paid ($20) version of iPhoto Library Manager
I created a new iPhoto Library on the iMac and dragged the entire iPhoto Library from the MacBook into that new Library. It worked, however it all came over into one big album and my previous album structure was gone
Never import one Library to another. Every version and thumbnail is imported like a distinct photo, you lose all your Albums, Keywords etc., the link between Original and Previews is destroyed, the non-destructive editing feature is ruined and so on. In summary: it's mess.
Regards
TD

Albums folder in iPhoto Library folder missing

The Albums folder in iPhoto Library folder missing. This means when I try to sync photos to my iPod (video) in iTunes, none of my photo albums show up (though I can seclect a specific folder useing year, month day, etc.). It also mens that I must navagate through the date folders to find photos when trying to attach them to e-mails.
I am running a G5 with the latest version of OSX, iPhoto, iTunes.
How do I recreat this folder?
Thankd for any help.
Cheers__ Heath

Hi Heath,
iPhoto 5 now stores the Album information in a data xml file. The Albums folder within the iPhoto Library folder is no longer used. At some point, usually after a rebuild, you will no longer have that folder in the Finder.
If you need to access photos from an album it is very difficult for a third party application to navigate the iPhoto Library in order to find the photo you need. You will have to know the date of import in order to find the photo.
There are some third party applications that can read the xml file and can navigate the iPhoto library and show you the Albums. Hopefully more applications will be revised to read this file.
Until then you will have to Share/Export the photos to the desktop. You can then navigate to the desktop to use the photos (example: web uploading from online photo site)
If your application supports drag and drop, you can drag the photo from an open iPhoto Library window into your application.
For email you can also use the email icon within iPhoto to open a message with the highlighted photo attached.
You can also use spotlight to find images in an Album...
This is what I have done using Spotlight to find my images that are in iPhoto albums without opening iPhoto..
In iPhoto, select the album, then select all, go to Photos/batch change.
Change the comments to text. In the text field I put the name of the Album.
Do this for each album.
Close iPhoto.
Open Spotlight and put in the name of the Album ( you have to remember the names of the albums or have then written down)
In the spotlight search results. click on "show all"
Under "Images" click on the "xx more" to show all the images in the album.
Make sure you have it in icon view, the icon view box is the last one on the blue images line.
Now you can control click on the image to "reveal in finder", open in iPhoto or Mail, etc.
I am not sure if this is going to make you happy and it is a little more work, but you can find images in albums and even view them in a slideshow (by clicking the play arrow at the end of the Images highlighted blue line) using Spotlight, all without opening iPhoto.
One important thing to know is you can set up a graphic program to be an external editor (when you double click an image in the library} such as PhotoShop or PS Elements. You set up that within iPhoto Preferences. Just make sure you save the image flattened and with the same name. The edits will then be relected in iPhoto when you hit "save".
Two Apple kbs for you to read
Don't tamper with files in the iPhoto library folder
About the iPhoto Library folder
Also, when you choose a folder to sync for your iPod, choose iPhoto in the drop down menu in iTunes, then choose the Album you want to sync. Do not choose a folder on your hard drive and then the Albums folder in the iPhoto Library folder.
Lori

How can I import selected images from a folder instead of the whole folder in iPhoto 9.5.2?

Hi there,
I was trying to help my parents import some photos from a folder they have created with photos from their holiday. They only want to import select images from this folder into iPhoto. I said it would be easy and they can do it in 2 ways. First, they can drag and drop selected photos from their folder into iPhoto - and this works for them. However, more convieniently, they can click file>import to Library and then select the photos they want by going into the folder... Well that's how it works on my iPhoto '11 at least. When they showed me their screen via Skype (they are running iPhoto 9.5.2), when they click import to library, and try to go into the folder containing their photos, it imports the whole thing and there appears to be no way that they can enter the folder to select just a few photos from what I could see.
Does anyone know anything aout this problem?
Cheers.

What view are using in the Import dialogue. Column view might be easiest to navigate.

HT2488 I imported pictures into iPhoto from my iPhone, when trying to find my pictures by clicking on iPhoto Library it is always empty. I had to create a new folder and copy the same exact pics in the new folder just to be able to access them.. help plea

I imported photos into iPhoto from my iPhone, however i cannot access them. When clicking on iPhoto Library where they should be stored the folder is blank but if i open up iphoto from the dock menu they appear. I had to create a new folder just to access them. help please, because making a new folder takes up unnecessary space.

There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto: You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
(Note the above illustration is not a Finder Window. It's the dialogue you get when you go File -> Open)
You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
There's a similar option in Outlook and many, many other apps. If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running:
For users of 10.6 and later: You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu.
Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
For Users of 10.4 and 10.5 Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
Drag and Drop: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
File -> Export: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
Show File: a. On iPhoto 09 and earlier: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected. 3.b.
b: On iPhoto 11 and later: Select one of the affected photos in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Reveal in Finder -> Original. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.

I attempted to import pics from iphoto to a folder on my desktop but somehow clicked desktop so 45,000 pics loaded, now computer freezes after trying to load everything. possible to reverse this? options? restore hd from time machine? pls help!!!

long story short...i attempted to import pics from iphoto to a folder on my desktop but somehow clicked desktop so 45,000 pics loaded to my desktop and now my computer freezes up after trying to load everything, and i'm not able to just drag the photos into the folder. is it possible to reverse this? what are my options? restore hd from time machine?
a further question to restoring my hd from a previous backup on time machine...it says it will erase the hd. does it actually erase everything or does it just erase anything that may have been added or downloaded since that backup? this is confusing to me.
another problem which is part of the original problem is it seems that when i connect my iphone to my computer and iphoto uploads my pics...it doesn't just upload new ones, it duplicates and uploads every picture again...which is why i have 45,000 pics...they are 40,000 duplicates! what's up with that?
I have a macbook pro, and recently updated the os to Yosemite. the iphoto app is out of date, but i'll worry about that once i can figure out how to get all those pics off the desktop. also, i recently purchased and installed 8g of new ram, but that hasn't seemed to help.
any advice would be appreciated!
thanks!!

thanks for replying.
the booting and walking away and then attempting to browse and clean method is what i've been trying to do. it won't let me drag and drop and just freezes up and goes to sleep after 2 minutes. it's a never ending battle with very few results. which is why i questioned the method of just restoring the hd from a time machine backup.
do you think restoring the hd from time machine will resolve the issue with all pics on the desktop? and everything will be as it was from the date i restore it from? sorry, as you can tell, i'm not overly computer savvy.
i have a really old desktop mac...i can try connecting the two...how does one boot a mac in 'target mode'?
as for the iphoto cleaning and organizing issue...that is what i was trying to accomplish with importing them to a folder. was going to browse and clean from there...but somehow imported to desktop which is what's complicating everything. once i get them off the desktop i can work on the iphoto issue...which as i mentioned...i didn't take 45,000 pics...i've just taken about 4,500 over the last few years, and they are being duplicated in iphoto. this was my attempt to clean it out entirely and start over. it will basically be a lot of deleting.
one problem, seems to lead me to more...which is just my luck. :-)
thanks again, for your help.

I need to make space on my Mac. If I copy a folder from iPhoto on to a hard drive, then delete it from iphoto then import it again, does it retain all my editing? It does not seem to retain Faces info and I have spent hours and days naming people :(

I need to make space on my Mac. If I copy a folder from iPhoto on to a hard drive, then delete it from iphoto then import it again, does it retain all my editing? It does not seem to retain Faces info and I have spent hours and days naming people

There is no way to export Faces information.
I'm not sure why you would do this:
If I copy a folder from iPhoto on to a hard drive, then delete it from iphoto then import it again,
If space is an issue then move the whole Library to an external drive:
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Regards
TD

How do I get photos from the iPhoto import folder to the iPhoto library? It uploaded, but hung while deleting from my camera, so no imported photos are in the iPhoto library.

How do I get photos from the iPhoto import folder to the iPhoto library? It uploaded, but hung while deleting from my camera, so no imported photos are in the iPhoto library. I watched it upload about 400 photos, one by one. They're somewhere, but they don't appear in the iPhoto library. As iPhoto was deleting them from my camera, it got hung up, then a message came "you should eject before disconnecting a device." I hadn't touched the camera. The message came by itself. I couldn't get iPhoto to respond, so I disconnected the camera and did a Force Quit. Opening it back up, the pictures were gone. Can somebody help me?

What version of iPhoto are you running? Assuming it's iPhoto 9 or later Apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
2 - run Option #4 to rebuild the database.
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
2 - click on the Add Library button and select the library you want to add in the selection window..
3 - Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option.
4 - In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
5 - Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

What is this Import folder inside my iphoto folder?

Hi,
I was looking at the size of my iphoto 6 folder before backup, and found a folder I havn't seen before.
There's an Import folder inside my iphoto folder. Inside this import folder I have a Data, Original and Modified folder. All of them with empty subfolders except the data one, which has one year (2004) and inside all 2004 thumbnails. (iphoto/import/data/2004/**)
This thumbanils are duplicated in my iphoto/data/2004 folder.
Does anyone know why iphoto created this folder and why? And if it can be removed?
I tried renaming it and restarting iphoto and nothing bad happened... :o) (But i want to be sure before I backup)
Imac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)
Imac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)
Imac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I don't know if this will be much help to you, but this is what I've discovered so far. I wish someone from Apple would explain all this to us.
The Original folder contains the the image files imported into you Library.
If your Advanced preferences were set to Copy Files .. when Adding To Library the copy goes here and is never modified by iPhoto.
Any edits to the image result in another copy of the file, with those edits, in the Modified folder.
And I suspect the Data folder contains your original images in thumbnail size for faster viewing in the main iPhoto window.
What I don't understand is why does my original image of 3KB (90x110) become a file of 39KB in the Data folder. What kind of thumbnail is that ?
Can someone from Apple explain this.
I'm trying to make efficient use of disk space and did not select the Advanced preferences setting of Copy Files .. when Adding To Library, so when I saw this file and its size compared to my original I was surprised.

New user question re Events folder after iPhoto import

Hi there everyone
I'm new to Aperture 3 having just bought it from the App Store earlier today. On the first launch of the app I chose to import the 14,000 or so images in my iPhoto library to Aperture 3, into its own library. It took a while, but all went swimmingly. I've now archived my old iPhoto library to an external HD (not currently mounted, or even attached usually...) and deleted it from my system drive.
Now, here's the bit I don't quite understand... In the Inspector, under the Library browser tab there's a folder called iPhoto Library - it contains my old iPhoto libraries that were arranged in folders. All good. But there's also a folder called 'Events' which contains a long alphabetised list of what were iPhoto events, but appearing here as Aperture projects. I don't need this - and yet anytime I open a project by double-clicking it in the Browser, that Events folder springs open and takes over my Inspector. If I close the folder my Browser view empties too.
As I understood it, any folders appearing in the 'Projects & Albums' section of the Library inspector are subsets of the main Library. And yet if I try to delete this 'Events' folder I first get a warning dialog (that I don't understand):
Some versions based on these master files are included in albums outside of the selection.
These versions will be removed from all Albums, Books, Light Tables, Web Pages, Web Journals, Slideshows, MobileMe Albums, Flickr Albums, and Facebook Albums.
and if I go ahead with it then my entire Library disappears.
If someone with better understanding of Aperture's organisational hierarchy could explain what's going on here, and hopefully how I can get rid of that 'Events' folder, I'd be most grateful.
Thanks - Robin

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Frank. In the meantime I did read the manual (again...) as well as googling extensively (again...) and picking up some organisational tips from youtube videos etc. At the very least I'm moving towards a more workable organisational system now.
But to me this particular 'feature' of the application design seems odd. Compare it to another application that uses a library paradigm: iTunes. You import your albums and there's a dedicated browser for navigating them and finding the one you need. There's also a search system. (Just like Aperture...) If you choose to have any other items in the 'inspector' (I know that's not the right terminology) they're going to be playlists - specific subsets of the main library that serve a specific purpose. But you don't have to have any if you don't want or need them.
If iTunes worked like Aperture 3 then every album imported would go into that dedicated browser/search system *and* appear at the 'top level' of the inspector as some sort of playlist-equivalent. But I couldn't remove it from the inspector, or hide it, because that would delete the actual album... I'd have two choices - leave them there and let the vertical height of the inspector become unworkable, or start filing them away in some rigid folder structure that I'd have to dream up just for the sake of visual organisation.
iTunes doesn't work like that - neither does iPhoto, or mail, or any other application I can think of that's essentially library-based and has an inspector/browser feature. That seems odd.
Put it another way - if Aperture did *not* act as it did, creating a new Event in the Projects & Albums section of the inspector, for every single import, what would be lost? I think nothing. You'd still have a dedicated browser and search system. You could still have albums and smart albums for subsets of photos you happened to be working on. A dedicated, separate organisational hierarchy could still be made for those people who needed to work in a different way.
Like I say - it's workable, but seems odd. Maybe a month down the line I'll see the point of it and learn to love it. But I also wouldn't mind betting it won't survive into the next version of the application.

Sometimes after creating an event folder on iPhoto, all my pictures in that event will be gone the next time I open iPhoto. Why is this happening? Is there a way to retrieve the missing photos?

Sometimes after creating an event folder on iPhoto, all my pictures in that event will be gone the next time I open iPhoto. Why is this happening? Is there a way to retrieve the missing photos?
Most events I make on iphoto will still be there the next time I open iPhoto, while other event FOLDERS will be there, but pictures in it gone.

What version of iPhoto? Assuming 09 or later:
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
Regards
TD

I moved from back up folder to iphoto they imported ok but now it wont let me veiw them?

i moved from back up folder to iphoto they imported ok but now it wont let me veiw them?

want help - give us details - with what you gave us one can not even make wild guesses
How did you backup and how did you restore? what versions of iPhoto and the OS. What exactly does "won't let me view them" mean? Why are you restoring a backup? what other details can you provide that might let someone actually help you?
LN

Missing "Import" folder in iPhoto

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