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Importing missing files
Where each kind of file goes
Photos and video each get their own destination, because video often lives somewhere else. Each destination can be a library, any folder, or Leave on the card.
How files are organized into folders
Choose a preset or type your own folder template. For example,
{YYYY}/{MM}-{DD}-{YYYY} gives 2024/05-01-2024. Below the
field, a preview shows where a real file from the card would go. It updates as you
type.
| Token | Meaning |
|---|---|
{YYYY} | Year, four digits |
{YY} | Year, two digits |
{MM} | Month, 01–12 |
{M} | Month, 1–12, no leading zero |
{DD} | Day, 01–31 |
{D} | Day, 1–31, no leading zero |
{HH} | Hour, 00–23 |
{mm} | Minute |
{ss} | Second |
{camera} | Camera model |
{card} | Card name |
{kind} | photos, video or audio |
{name} | Original filename, without the extension |
{ext} | Extension, lowercase |
{EXT} | Extension, uppercase |
{cardfolder} | The folder the file was in on the card |
Examples
Where each template files a photo taken on July 1, 2024 at 2:30 PM with a Sony
ILCE-7RM5, from the DCIM/100MSDCF folder of a card called
SD 128GB:
| Template | Folder |
|---|---|
{YYYY}/{YYYY}-{MM}-{DD} | 2024/2024-07-01 (Lightroom's default) |
{YYYY}/{MM}-{DD}-{YYYY} | 2024/07-01-2024 |
{YYYY}/{M}-{D}-{YYYY} | 2024/7-1-2024 |
{YYYY}/{MM}/{DD} | 2024/07/01 |
{YYYY}/{MM}-{DD} {HH}{mm} | 2024/07-01 1430 |
{camera}/{YYYY}/{MM} | ilce-7rm5/2024/07 |
{kind}/{YYYY}/{YYYY}-{MM}-{DD} | photos/2024/2024-07-01 |
{card}/{cardfolder} | SD 128GB/DCIM/100MSDCF |
| Empty | Everything in one folder |
Match your existing folders exactly. If your library uses 2024/7-1-2024,
use {YYYY}/{M}-{D}-{YYYY}. Padded and unpadded numbers make different
folder names, so mixing them splits one day's photos across two folders.
Case matters: {MM} is the month and {mm} is the minute.
If you get one wrong, it tells you. If the case is truly ambiguous, it asks you to
fix it instead of guessing.
Whether to rename files
This is off by default. Keeping the camera's filename makes later checks faster. If you rename, matching relies only on capture time.
Before anything is copied
Nothing is copied until you have seen the plan. It shows the real destination path for files on your card, the total size, whether there is enough free space, and anything else to know. For example: files with no capture time that will be dated by when they were last modified, files the destination already has and won't be copied again, and files that have nowhere to go.
What it will never do
-
Overwrite a file. If a different file already has that name, the
new one is saved as
IMG_0001_2.CR3. -
Copy a file the destination already has. With a rule like
main and backup, a photo that is only missing frombackupisn't copied intomainagain. - Count a copy it hasn't checked. Every file is read back and hashed after copying. If a copy is interrupted, nothing is left behind.
- Change the card. Nothing on the card is deleted, moved or modified.
Afterwards
If the destinations are folders, the libraries are re-indexed and the card is checked again automatically. The screen that said "312 files missing" now says the card is safe.
If a destination is a Lightroom catalog, the files are on disk but Lightroom doesn't know about them yet. You get the folder to point Lightroom at, the steps for Synchronize Folder…, and a button to check again once you're done. No verdict is shown until then, because it would be wrong.
If any copy fails, the card isn't checked again and the failed files are listed. The card is still not safe, and the app says so.