Card import

Import photographs from a camera card into Apple Photos or a folder on disk.

An ejectable volume containing a DCIM directory appears under DEVICES. Click Import… to open it, or use the eject control to unmount it.

Grant access. If the card shows No permission to read, click Grant Access… and confirm the card in the folder picker. Permission is remembered per card. Reformatting creates a new volume and requires permission again. Other read failures show an error and Try Again.

Scan and preview. Frames first lists files and pairs RAW and JPEG files. It reports skipped files to explain differences from the camera’s count. You can choose photographs after this pass; Import becomes available once checking finishes. Frames checks filenames, sizes and capture dates, showing groups and import matches as it progresses. It hashes photographs without a capture date so later scans can recognise their imports, and files whose ambiguous duplicate match can be resolved by a known hash. Clear metadata matches remain probably imported and can be overridden. Frames remembers dates and any computed hashes across launches and card insertions, so unchanged files need only a quick file-information check. Card options (•••) → Rescan File Contents reads every file again; use it after edits that preserve file size and timestamps on FAT/exFAT cards. Frames extracts thumbnails for visible photographs. Previews use the paired JPEG when available, otherwise the RAW.

Sessions are separated by capture-time gaps of at least three hours. Photographs without dates appear in a final group. Each session has a horizontally scrolling preview strip.

Import status. Each photograph has one of four labels:

• Already imported: its content hash matches Frames’ card-import history. It is dimmed and cannot be selected.
• Probably already in the library: its filename stem and capture time match a catalogue entry within about a day. It remains selectable.
• Previous import unverified: older import history cannot confirm that the complete file matches an earlier copy. It remains selectable and is selected by default. Deselect it if you do not want to import it again.
• New: no match was found.

Select photographs. Click to select or deselect a photograph, or drag across several. A drag follows the selection action of its starting photograph. Use a session checkbox to select or deselect the entire session. A mixed checkbox indicates individual choices. You can import one photograph from an otherwise unselected session.

Choose a destination. Select Photos Library or Folder. One destination applies to the whole import.

For Photos, browse or filter the album and folder list. Select an album, or select a folder and enter a new album name. New Folder… adds a folder to the planned path. The library root is also available. Check the full path beside the button.

For a folder, select a directory and set folder and filename patterns. For example, {date:yyyy}/{date:MM-dd} and {date}-{seq:4} produce 2026/09-04/2026-09-04-0001.DNG. A paired JPEG uses the same name. Tokens are highlighted; unknown tokens use the error colour.

The card cannot supply {camera}, {lens}, {iso} or {rating}. These tokens and adjacent separators are omitted, and each field lists its empty tokens.

Existing files. A sequence advances past existing filenames. Files are never overwritten. If a pattern has no {seq:…}, a collision skips that photograph and reports its name.

For a RAW+JPEG pair, both filenames must be free. Both files are prepared before either is placed in the destination. If copying or placement fails, Frames removes the files created by that attempt; if cleanup also fails, the error names the remaining paths. Folder patterns must stay inside the chosen destination, and filename patterns must produce a single filename.

The folder destination shows which source covers it. If none does, click Add as a source to catalogue the destination. Import is still allowed without adding a source. Photos imports are catalogued through normal library sync.

The destination is shared across cards for the current session. It initially follows the sidebar selection and resets on quit. Check it before importing another shoot.

Start import. Click Import to create any planned folders or albums and begin copying. Closing the sheet before this leaves no empty collections. Repeated imports into the same newly created path reuse it.

The sheet closes while copying continues. Progress moves to the card row and activity queue: first copying 12 of 40, then cataloguing. The second stage has indeterminate progress and ends when photographs appear in the grid. Import remains available to queue another job. Photos changes are submitted in groups of twenty; failed groups are retried one photograph at a time.

Cancel a waiting import from the activity queue to stop it before it creates folders, albums or photographs. During copying, cancellation lets the current write finish and keeps completed copies; no further write or retry starts.

When complete, the card’s new-photograph count updates. Errors appear on the row. Hover over the failure details in the activity queue to read filenames, reasons and any paths needing recovery.

RAW+JPEG pairs. A pair imports as one Photos photograph with a JPEG rendering and RAW original. Unpaired RAW files import alone.

The card does not become a source. Ejecting it preserves completed copies. Photos imports enter the catalogue after Photos confirms creation and sync completes; folder imports appear through the destination’s source scan.