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General discussion

iPhoto 09 keeps importing same photo over and over again

Jan 21, 2011 9:12AM PST

Would appreciate any help with this one..

Whenever I open up iPhoto ('09) for the last several weeks, it automatically says its importing one particular photo (from Nov '09). Just this one photo, but it doesn't matter whether my iPhone is connected, a camera or even if I open iPhoto on its own...every single time, this one photo is always imported (from somewhere!) without any prompting on my part.
I sometimes get a message that says
"A photo has been found in the iPhoto library that was not imported. Would you like to import it".

If I say "no", I get "The photo has been placed in the folder Users/ etc/etc/iPhoto Library recovered photos" ...but it still imports it to my main iPhoto library in any case!

I have about 50 copies of this photo in my iPhoto library now and goodness knows how many recovered photos files! I've tried deleting them all of course, but it still appears (from somewhere) the next time iPhoto opens.

So, before this drives me completely crazy, I would be really grateful if anyone tell me what's going on and how I fix it? Thanks!!

Discussion is locked

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iPhoto 09 keeps importing same photo over and over again
Jan 28, 2011 6:46AM PST

Open your iPhoto Library package by Control-clicking on it and selecting "Show Package Contents" from the contextual menu. Look for a folder titled "Importing" or "Import" (NOT Auto Import") and see if it has any photos in it. If it does move it to the Desktop (do not move or rename any other folder/file while in there). Launch iPhoto and the message should be gone.

Check that folder to see if the photos are any you don't have in the library or want. If not, then delete. If so, import again.

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iPhoto 09 keeps importing same photo over and over again
Feb 7, 2011 5:36AM PST

Thanks for your reply Old_Toad. This obviously foxed a lot of people as yours was the only response from three different forums!

You were almost right! The problem was in fact in the Auto import folder. For some reason my picture was sitting in there and was imported every time. I had to phone Apple support in the end and once I'd finished they uncovered a huge problem with my overall permissions status so I had to create a new user profile in the end. whether this was anything to do with the iPhoto problem I'm not sure. Anyway,..thanks for taking the trouble to respond!

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Auto import
Jun 11, 2012 8:37AM PDT

That is the first time I've heard of the Auto Import folder not deleting the file(s) after they were imported into the library. The most common problem is the folder I referred to in my first post. Anyway glad you got the issue taken care of.

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My problem was solved.
Feb 2, 2012 8:28AM PST

Thanks a lot your help.