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Photoshop Lightroom

Import photos from disk into Lightroom

When you import photos into Lightroom, you can reference the photos in their existing location, move the photos into a specific folder, or copy the photos into a specific folder.

  1. In the Library module, do any of the following:
    • Click the Import button.

    • From the main menu, choose File > Import Photos From Disk.

    • Drag a folder with photos or individual photos into the Grid view. (Skip step 2.)

  2. Navigate to and select the folder containing the photos to import, and then click Choose Selected (Windows) or Choose (Mac OS). You can also select individual photos and choose Open (Windows) or Choose (Mac OS).
  3. Select one of the following from the File Handling menu:
    Import Photos At Their Current Location
    Keeps the photo files in their current location by using the current folder structure. Skip steps 4 and 5.

    Copy Photos To A New Location And Import
    Copies the photo files to the folder you choose, including any sidecar files.

    Move Photos To A New Location And Import
    Moves the photo files to the folder you choose, including any sidecar files. Files are removed from their current location.

    Copy Photos As Digital Negative (DNG) And Import
    Copies proprietary camera raw files to the folder you choose and converts them to the Digital Negative (DNG) format.

  4. If you are importing photos by moving or copying them, do any of the following to specify where to import the photo files:
    • To choose a folder, click Choose, navigate to and select the folder you want in the Browse For Folder (Windows) or Open (Mac OS) dialog box, and then click OK (Windows) or Choose (Mac OS).

    • To create a folder, click Choose, navigate to the folder you want in the Browse For Folder (Windows) or Open (Mac OS) dialog box. Click Make New Folder (Windows) or New Folder (Mac OS), name the new folder, and then click OK (Windows) or Choose (Mac OS).

    • To choose a previously chosen location, click the triangle next to Choose and then choose from the pop-up menu.

  5. If you are importing photos by moving or copying them, choose one of the following from the Organize menu:
    Into One Folder
    Copies or moves the imported photos into a new folder.

    By Original Folders
    Maintains the original hierarchy for the folders that contain the imported photos.

    By Date
    Specifies a date name for the folder that contains the imported photos.

  6. Select Ignore Suspected Duplicates to not import any photos that might be duplicates of existing photos in the library.

    If you deselect this option and accidently import duplicate photos, no files are overwritten. There are two copies of the same photo.

  7. (Optional) Select Backup To and then choose a destination to create backup copies of the photos while importing.

Comments


No screen name said on Oct 29, 2007 at 8:47 PM :
Is there a limit on how many pictures can be imported at one time. It seems that if I want to import say 3500 pictures. It appears to start the import process but the import window never comes up.
Anita Dennis said on Oct 30, 2007 at 8:39 AM :
No, there's not a limit per se, but I imagine you'd be taxing your system in trying to import 3500 photos at once. I'd recommend trying smaller batches.
Jack West said on Feb 28, 2008 at 8:09 AM :
I can not find any way to copy files that I have on my computer to a library on a back up disk. I want to have Lightroom work exclusively on the back up disk. The help system indicates I can select copy files to a new location but that feature does not seem to be available.
No screen name said on May 5, 2008 at 11:06 AM :
When I import and I choose for the image files to go to my external HD somehow they end up in the user/pictures/ folders (Mac OS X). Is this possible? What am I doing wrong?
Chgo Fotoman said on Jul 24, 2008 at 10:44 PM :
I have original files on a Compact Flash card and create all exposures using both RAW and JPEG formats for each image.

I'm wondering if there is a way to import and copy my JPG files into one directory, then simultaneously backup BOTH JPEG and RAW files to an external disk. My only other option is very cumbersome and involves manually copying the disk, after import, to my external drive usine windows explorer (yuck!)

 

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