# Can't import photos from desktop



## Ancestor (Feb 27, 2018)

Operating System: OSX 6.8
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info): V.3.6 (795620)

I scanned photos to the desktop as .jpg files, but Lightroom cannot see them when I go to File>Import photos>Desktop. When I search in Users>Pictures the files are all greyed out. How do I get LR to recognise and import these photos? (In contrast, iPhoto recognises all the photos and can import them).


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## Paul McFarlane (Feb 27, 2018)

Check if the file names are duplicated - and if so if the box is ticked on Import 'Don't Import Suspected Duplicates' - could be the cause

Paul


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## Victoria Bampton (Feb 27, 2018)

Ancestor said:


> When I search in Users>Pictures the files are all greyed out


Are you searching using Finder? Or something else?


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## Johan Elzenga (Feb 27, 2018)

Ancestor said:


> In contrast, iPhoto recognises all the photos and can import them


And is that perhaps what you did? When you import photos into iPhoto or the new Apple Photos, they are stored inside the iPhoto Library. Lightroom can't get them from inside that library.


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## Ancestor (Feb 27, 2018)

Thanks to all but no success. The scanner automatically named each photo individually in numerical sequence: FIO_190 - 209. The box for suspected duplicates was not checked. I didn't import the photos into iPhoto - only after Lightroom wouldn't recognise them I opened iPhoto and asked it to look at importing from the Desktop and it listed all the photos in black (not grey). There are other .jpg photos on the Desktop which LR can't see either. And yes, when I use Finder to go to Users>GCL>Desktop the photos are all there - just as the images are there sitting on the screen. Oh - could it be that the images are already open (on display) on the desktop where they were put by the scanner have anything to do with it?


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## Johan Elzenga (Feb 27, 2018)

You didn't forget to add the extension (.jpg or .jpeg) to the file name?


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## Ancestor (Feb 27, 2018)

No, that was automatically added by the scanner: e.g. FIO_190.jpg.


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## Roelof Moorlag (Feb 27, 2018)

I can not find it again but i remember reading somewhere about images on the desktop giving problems. You could try to put them into a folder first and than import them again?

When that does not work either you could post some of the files here for someone else to test.


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## Johan Elzenga (Feb 27, 2018)

I've never experienced problems with importing images from the desktop. The desktop on a Mac is just another folder. It's worth a try, though.


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## Ancestor (Feb 27, 2018)

Just created a folder on the Desktop and put 8 photos into it as a trial. LR recognises the folder, but sees it as empty.?


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## Ian.B (Feb 27, 2018)

Ancestor said:


> Just created a folder on the Desktop and put 8 photos into it as a trial. LR recognises the folder, but sees it as empty.?


well that stuffed up my reply before I typed it  lol 
So why not add a folder inside and import from there
Scan a couple photos into that folder for a test.

Interestingly; I seldom use the desktop for day to day stuff (??)


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## Johan Elzenga (Feb 27, 2018)

There must be something wrong with these images. Can you post one, for example on Dropbox?


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## Ancestor (Feb 27, 2018)

IAN B Sorry that didn't work either. LR didn't recognise the folder within, even though I checked sub-folders. BTW other photos on the desktop which came direct from the camera aren't recognised either.

 



Here's one of the images:


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## Johan Elzenga (Feb 27, 2018)

This image is greyscale, not RGB. I tried that myself already and Lightroom Classic has no problem with that, but I'm pretty sure that is your problem after all. You are using a very old version of Lightroom, that probably does not support greyscale jpeg.


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## Ancestor (Feb 27, 2018)

The images were scanned from B&W photos and the scanner therefore set to greyscale to get correct rendition. However other images on the Desktop direct from the camera were full colour .jpgs and they weren't recognised either.  I recall that in the past when I was recovering photos by scanning B & W negs they were not saved to the Desktop but directly to a Scans folder in Pictures. LR has handled B&W OK in the past, maybe it's just the Desktop?


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## Johan Elzenga (Feb 27, 2018)

Ancestor said:


> The images were scanned from B&W photos and the scanner therefore set to greyscale to get correct rendition. However other images on the Desktop direct from the camera were full colour .jpgs and they weren't recognised either.  I recall that in the past when I was recovering photos by scanning B & W negs they were not saved to the Desktop but directly to a Scans folder in Pictures. LR has handled B&W OK in the past, maybe it's just the Desktop?


I tested that and I can import photos from the desktop just fine. But again this may be something that only affected your ancient version of Lightroom (and/or ancient version of MacOS X) and was corrected later. Just try if you can import these images when you move them into your Pictures folder first (I thought you would have checked that by now).


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## Ancestor (Feb 28, 2018)

I solved my immediate problem by copying all the B & W scans to a CD, burnt it in the machine and then imported them successfully to LR. It recognised the CD without difficulty. But that still doesn't explain why LR didn't like the same files on the Desktop. Thanks for all the helpful suggestions, but this one is inexplicable.


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## Roelof Moorlag (Feb 28, 2018)

Ancestor said:


> I solved my immediate problem by copying all the B & W scans to a CD, burnt it in the machine and then imported them successfully to LR. It recognised the CD without difficulty. But that still doesn't explain why LR didn't like the same files on the Desktop


Like we suggested, it could be something with the location. Perhaps the Desktop is only another folder on your system but apparently is does have some special characteristics. I'm sure that i have seen this problem in the past but as i said, ik could not find the details.


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## oaagan18 (Oct 17, 2019)

You might be starting your Lightroom without administrative rights. When you start right click on LR and "run as administrator" that should solve your problem of LR not recognising photos on your Desktop


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