# Auto Import and Photos.app



## rctneil (Apr 15, 2015)

Hey,

I've enabled the new Photos.app to work with iCloud Photo Library. Any photo I now take on any of my iOS devices now all appear in Photos.app on my Mac. This is great but I wish to keep all my photo management within Lightroom. Can I use Lightroom's auto-import feature to automatically import from Photos into Lightroom.

It wouldn't be confusing me but Photos.app stores all my photos packed together inside it's Photos Library.photoslibrary file. This would make a good workflow and once they are in Lightroom I can remove them from iCloud Photo Library to stop my iCloud storage filling up too fast.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks,
Neil


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## gregDT (Apr 15, 2015)

Hopefully someone more skilled in the ways of the Mac will respond but as far as I know the LR watch folder function will only look for and import picture files as they appear inside a specific folder. If you photo's are appearing inside a file, which I assume is database set up? then I think you may be out of luck :(


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## clee01l (Apr 16, 2015)

Laurent Crivelo has an OS X app called Photostream2Folder that will intercept your iCloud Photostream and move the Photostream images to a folder of your choosing. It also has interfaces with LR and DropBox. 
You can set the download folder and Photostream2Folder will first collect the images there and then move those images to your LR Watch folder.   Although this was designed for iPhoto, it still functions since it bypasses the Photos/iPhoto app completely.

I used to have a process to Publish to the iPhoto AutoImport folder and send LR processed images back to the iCloud Photostream. With the Photos app replacing the iPhoto app, there is no longer an auto import location for the Apple photos program to send images to the photo stream for my iDevices to access.  (At least, I have not found it). 

I recommend that you remove the Photos app from your Login items and leave the Photos app turned off unless you find a good reason to use it.
Also if you do use the Photos App, in Preferences General tab uncheck the box labeled "Importing: Copy items to the Photos Library" and Photos will leave the image files in the original folders on your disk drive and not copy them to the Photos Library Folder.  By Doing this you force the Photos App to manage photos by reference like iPhotos could and LR does always.


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## rctneil (Apr 16, 2015)

clee01l said:


> Laurent Crivelo has an OS X app called Photostream2Folder that will intercept your iCloud Photostream and move the Photostream images to a folder of your choosing. It also has interfaces with LR and DropBox.
> You can set the download folder and Photostream2Folder will first collect the images there and then move those images to your LR Watch folder.   Although this was designed for iPhoto, it still functions since it bypasses the Photos/iPhoto app completely.
> 
> I used to have a process to Publish to the iPhoto AutoImport folder and send LR processed images back to the iCloud Photostream. With the Photos app replacing the iPhoto app, there is no longer an auto import location for the Apple photos program to send images to the photo stream for my iDevices to access.  (At least, I have not found it).
> ...




I'll have a look into that PS2Folder app when I get back. I was wondering about the auto import because in Finder you can right click and choose "View Package Contents" on the .photoslibrary file to see all the images. I'm just unsure if Lightroom can use this as an auto-import Watch folder. It would be very useful if it could be.

If not then all I will do is set up a watch folder elsewhere on my machine and every so often just drag photos from Photos.app into that folder for Lightroom to import and I can then sort them out inside LR at a future date and clear Photos.app up.


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## clee01l (Apr 16, 2015)

The AutoImport folder found inside the iPhoto Library folder is missing in the Photos Library folder.  It was this folder that was so useful in getting LR processed export files into the Photostream.  I have not found an equivalent to that folder in the new Photos app. "View Package Contents" is a function that reveals the contents of any OS X library.  LR is not coded to call that function although I think the iPhoto Import transfer plugin does use this to aid in migrating your iPhoto Library to LR.  The solution though to find folders hidden inside the package is to make an alias for the hidden folder and place the alias outside the Library package.  This is what I did to be able to Publish from LR to the AutoImport folder found inside the iPhoto Library folder.

The problem with the Photostream and the new Photos app (as I understand it)  is that the Photos app is integrated to iCloud and your photo stream images are cataloged by the Photos app by reference never showing up locally..


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## rctneil (Apr 16, 2015)

Ok.  Just for reference I am trying to go Photos to LR not the other way around


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## clee01l (Apr 16, 2015)

rctneil said:


> Ok.  Just for reference I am trying to go Photos to LR not the other way around


As stated earlier, Photostream2Folder is the only solution that I know that will bypass iPhotos/Photos and can be integrated with LR's auto import function.


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## rctneil (Apr 16, 2015)

Hmmm, I managed to create an alias to the Masters folder inside the .photoslibrary file. I then went to set up auto import from there in LR but the directory must be empty to begin with. I don;t particularly wish to empty it as it will mess up Photos. I have one idea I might try though. Getting there slowly.

If it doesn't work out, I can always revert to dragging photos from Photos.app into Lightroom manually.  It's just that an automatic setup would be even nicer.


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## clee01l (Apr 16, 2015)

Auto Import works on a Watch Folder and yes, it must be empty to begin and LR will empty it when it moves the images from the Watch folder to the import destination.  You want to Auto Import images from your photo stream that are retrieved to the local device *before* they are imported into Photos/iPhotos. Remember I recommend not running the Photos app as it interferes with your LR workflow.  This is why you need Photostream2Folder


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## rctneil (Apr 16, 2015)

This is not PhotoStream that I am talking about. This is iCloud Photo Library. They are subtly different.


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## datz (Apr 17, 2015)

I'm having some issues with Photostream2Folder and iCloud photo Library so I'd advise some caution. I'm using Photos app in a particular way, in that I exported my entire catalogue in jpgs from Lightroom and imported into Photos. Then turned on iCloud Photo Library to sync these jpgs to the cloud. This is so I can view my whole collection on my iPad etc and provide me with a jpg backup in the cloud (other ways of achieving this are I know available...). Since turning on iCloud Photos, Photostream2Folder is updating its database on each launch and importing ALL Photostream photos each time. Lucky I have the duplicates plugin to get rid of them all. I'm going to email Laurent at Photostream2Folder to see if anyone else is having issues with iCloud Photos, but in the meantime I've turned it off.


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## baron (Apr 20, 2015)

Be keen to hear what he says datz, I'm trying to achieve pretty much the same thing as you


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## datz (Apr 21, 2015)

He's sent me a new beta that should work with iCloud Photos. I'm away from my desktop this week, I'll let you know how it goes when I'm back.


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## baron (Apr 29, 2015)

Did you get anywhere with that beta datz?


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