# how to avoid importing duplicate images in Classic?



## tmenyc (Oct 22, 2017)

Operating System:
OS X
Lightroom Version: 
_(Please go to Help menu > System Info to double check the exact version number)_
Classic
Question or Description of Problem:
I'm happily exiting Apple Photos...and moving completely into Classic.  How do i make sure no duplicate photos get into Lightroom?  The whole export is happening by keywords.  In the last version of CC there was a setting to check for duplicates while importing.  Not finding it.  
Many thanks,

Tim


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## Linwood Ferguson (Oct 22, 2017)

Yes, top right hand corner of the import dialog (you may need to expand panels) has an option to prevent duplicates.

However, when you say "Whole export is happening by keywords" are you saying you plan to export the same photo multiple times?   Exactly how it checks if two files are duplicated is unclear; if you are exporting them twice and they are not identical in some fashion due to the two operations, I do not know if it will prevent import. You should test it purposely by exporting twice and see if it notices on the second import, before you do thousands.


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## tmenyc (Oct 22, 2017)

thanks!  No, I'm hoping, certainly, to only bring in a photo once.  But, they're organized in Photos by keyword so that's how I'm bringing them in to LR.  And, since many have multiple keywords, I want to make sure each will only import once, with its multiple keywords.  I'm not organizing them by keywords in LR.  

Tim


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## Linwood Ferguson (Oct 22, 2017)

Yes, I understood that.  The point is when you import (say) Birds and then (say) Egrets and some of them are the same, if they were literally the same file it works fine.  So if you made a copy of file A and put it in a different folder, and tried importing both, it will reject the second.  If these are exports from Apple Photos where it is writing a new file so there are two files, it is possible there are differences in the two files that might confuse it, so it is worth trying.  Note I tend to be paranoid around software so I suspect all will be well, just suggesting to test first.


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