# Folders (photo's) won't import into Lightroom



## dkralka (Dec 23, 2019)

I have been unsuccessful in finding other threads about my particular LR issue regarding the import of photos...

I am attempting to organize all my photos by saving them under one master photo folder and then under their respective date subfolders...  I am using LR Classic (subscription-based with a Windows 10 OS) exclusively to accomplish this.  

My photos are being organized under year folders (ie:  2012) and then subfolder by date (2012 -01-12)  .  To accomplish this, once the photos are sorted by subfolder date, I will drag the folder to its proper year master folder.  In some cases, approx 5 % of the time, I am unable to do this and LR tells me there is already a folder there by the same name.  However, looking at the folder list in LR, no such folder exists.    When I check using explorer, it DOES indeed exist but LR does not show it.  

I have tried to import the folders on numerous occasions with no luck.  There are indeed photo's within that folder.  I have attempted the imports with the "Ignore suspected duplicates" switch checked on, and off, all to no avail.  I have also tried to synchronize the folders on several occasions, again to no avail.  Can anyone suggest any other things for me to try?  Thanks to all!


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## Roelof Moorlag (Dec 23, 2019)

dkralka said:


> However, looking at the folder list in LR, no such folder exists.


Lightroom is not a browser like Bridge is or Windows Exlorer or Apple Finder. It does not show you all contents of a folder automaticaly.
The structure you want can be accomplished without draging or reorganizing. Just set up the importpreset (under destination).


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## Roelof Moorlag (Dec 23, 2019)

dkralka said:


> I have tried to import the folders on numerous occasions with no luck. There are indeed photo's within that folder. I have attempted the imports with the "Ignore suspected duplicates" switch checked on, and off, all to no avail. I have also tried to synchronize the folders on several occasions, again to no avail. Can anyone suggest any other things for me to try? Thanks to all!


Are the photo's in these folders duplicates? Maybe you can find out with Windows Explorer. 
The 'move' operation you did before, was it across physical different drives?


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## Rob_Cullen (Dec 23, 2019)

dkralka said:


> I am attempting to organize all my photos by saving them under one master photo folder and then under their respective date subfolders...  I am using LR Classic (subscription-based with a Windows 10 OS) exclusively to accomplish this.
> My photos are being organized under year folders (ie:  2012) and then subfolder by date (2012 -01-12)  .  To accomplish this, once the photos are sorted by subfolder date, I will drag the folder to its proper year master folder.
> Can anyone suggest any other things for me to try?  Thanks to all!


Victoria has a blog page on this very topic-
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/import-create-dated-folders/If you have the  folder Destination options set correctly in the Import dialog there will never be a need to move folders after the import.
So, Import, done!  No moving folders.
The part I originally found hard to understand was that with all the Destination options for "Date Format"  that contain a forward slash / you must select a 'Master Parent' folder above the year structure for new folders to be created in the correct location. (eg. for 2019/2019-12/2019-12-24 you must have the parent above 2019 selected- {Pictures} {My Photos} {Lightroom Photos} etc.)


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## dkralka (Dec 24, 2019)

Roelof Moorlag said:


> Lightroom is not a browser like Bridge is or Windows Exlorer or Apple Finder. It does not show you all contents of a folder automaticaly.
> The structure you want can be accomplished without draging or reorganizing. Just set up the importpreset (under destination).


I'm not using LR as a browser.  I want to be able to edit these photo's but they do not show in my Library module anywhere.   I am uncertain what you mean by setting up an import preset.  And, even if I did, why would the preset work when a manual process does not?


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## dkralka (Dec 24, 2019)

Roelof Moorlag said:


> Are the photo's in these folders duplicates? Maybe you can find out with Windows Explorer.
> The 'move' operation you did before, was it across physical different drives?


The photos are not duplicates and I am not moving across physical drives.  They are on the same drive.  I am simply trying to organize them by date.


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## dkralka (Dec 24, 2019)

I-See-Light said:


> Victoria has a blog page on this very topic-
> https://www.lightroomqueen.com/import-create-dated-folders/If you have the  folder Destination options set correctly in the Import dialog there will never be a need to move folders after the import.
> So, Import, done!  No moving folders.
> The part I originally found hard to understand was that with all the Destination options for "Date Format"  that contain a forward slash / you must select a 'Master Parent' folder above the year structure for new folders to be created in the correct location. (eg. for 2019/2019-12/2019-12-24 you must have the parent above 2019 selected- {Pictures} {My Photos} {Lightroom Photos} etc.)


Thank you for the link.  I will review it and see if I can find an answer.  In regards to your other comments, These photo's were all on my hard drive long before I ever started using LR.  Many don't have the appropriate metadata info and so I have to move them manually to get them into the correct folders.  In regards to the slashes... I never use special characters in my file names and / or folder names.  Too many programs have issues with them and so it's just better to never include them in the name.  The majority of the files I have been working with have given me no issues...  it is only a small minority of files that are giving me problems.


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## clee01l (Dec 24, 2019)

dkralka said:


> I'm not using LR as a browser. I want to be able to edit these photo's but they do not show in my Library module anywhere. I am uncertain what you mean by setting up an import preset. And, even if I did, why would the preset work when a manual process does not?


If you have imported using the Import dialog, the images will show up in the All Photographs special collection  and the folders where the images are referenced in the catalog will show up in the folder panel. 

If you haven't imported (added images to the catalog data base), you need to start with "Import  Photos and Video..."  menu item.    An import preset is used in the Import dialog.  It is useful for repeat imports using a standard set of import parameters but it is by nlo means a requirement


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## Rob_Cullen (Dec 24, 2019)

dkralka said:


> These photo's were all on my hard drive long before I ever started using LR.  Many don't have the appropriate metadata info and so I have to move them manually to get them into the correct folders.  In regards to the slashes... I never use special characters in my file names and / or folder names.  Too many programs have issues with them and so it's just better to never include them in the name.  The majority of the files I have been working with have given me no issues...  it is only a small minority of files that are giving me problems.


Two points in your last post I can comment on-

1. Re: Existing photos on the Hard-drive.  You can Import everything from your existing folders using the "ADD" option at the top of the Import dialog. This leaves all your photo files in exactly the same folder location as they were.  Later, after importing, you can then use the Folder panel in Lightroom-Classic to-Move, Rename, your folders if you so wish (many would suggest not to!), while at the same time adding keywords and making Collections to make your Catalog more efficient and photos easily found.

2. Re: slashes.  I an NOT referring to file or folder names, or special characters! And I agree "never use them in the name" (Lr has 'illegal' characters).  The "Slashes" I am referring to are in the Import dialog 'Destination' panel when you are importing new photos from your camera. These are only "Date Formats" that Lr-Classic uses to find a place to store your newly imported files (using the "COPY" option). These format 'presets' do NOT put slashes in file names.


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 25, 2019)

A couple of questions:


dkralka said:


> My photos are being organized under year folders (ie:  2012) and then subfolder by date (2012 -01-12)  .  To accomplish this, once the photos are sorted by subfolder date, I will drag the folder to its proper year master folder.


Are these folders and photos already in Lightroom?



dkralka said:


> In some cases, approx 5 % of the time, I am unable to do this and LR tells me there is already a folder there by the same name.  However, looking at the folder list in LR, no such folder exists.    When I check using explorer, it DOES indeed exist but LR does not show it.


If you try to drag  a folder into an existing folder, Lightroom will also have to move/create it on the hard drive. As you've found, it can't do that if a folder with an identical name already exists on disc. What's in the existing folder? 



dkralka said:


> I have tried to import the folders on numerous occasions with no luck.  There are indeed photo's within that folder.  I have attempted the imports with the "Ignore suspected duplicates" switch checked on, and off, all to no avail.  I have also tried to synchronize the folders on several occasions, again to no avail.  Can anyone suggest any other things for me to try?  Thanks to all!


When you go to the import dialog and navigate to that existing folder, what exactly do you see? A screenshot might offer some clues.


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## Mrdavie (Dec 25, 2019)

It Helps to synchronize Lightroom to make sure it is sync’d with all folders under the folder tree where you store your photos. Go to the top folder in Lightroom, right click your mouse and synchronize. All undetected images and folders will be added to the LR database.


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## Paul McFarlane (Dec 25, 2019)

Mrdavie said:


> It Helps to synchronize Lightroom to make sure it is sync’d with all folders under the folder tree where you store your photos. Go to the top folder in Lightroom, right click your mouse and synchronize. All undetected images and folders will be added to the LR database.


If you decide to use this, it's a good idea to tick 'Show Import dialog before importing' so you can see what it's intending to do before agreeing (and make any necessary changed to the import at that stage)


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