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Inspiring
March 31, 2016

P: wav files will not import

  • March 31, 2016
  • 23 replies
  • 703 views

I posted the below to the Adobe Communities > Lightroom > Discussions forum earlier today and an MVP suggested I post the problem on this forum because they, too, have the same problem.

Occasionally I will create an
audio file to accompany an image. That audio file is written to my
camera's CompactFlash memory card in a wav format. In my workflow, I
insert the CF card into my computer and open LR to initiate an import of
the image as well as to rename the image using my own template (which
is yyyy_mm_dd_HHmmss). Since LR1 and until sometime about 4 months ago,
that workflow worked perfectly renaming both image and its accompanying
wav file (giving both the same name) and placing both in the folder I
designated during import. That enabled me to use LR to see which images
had attached audio files by looking at the Library module's Metadata
field entitled "Audio File" while I viewed the images as well as to play
that wav file by clicking the appropriate arrow in the Metadata panel.


During
the past few months I continued to use the above workflow but noticed
that, though I thought that I had created wav files for some images, I
no longer saw them listed in the "Audio File". Since I didn't see those
audio files appear in the Metadata panel, I assumed that I had simply
forgotten to create the files. However, recently returning from a large
shoot, I once again followed my usual workflow but this time noted that I
did have wav files on my CF card but none were imported though the
images did import and were renamed according to my template.


I
have spent the morning trying various methods of getting my workflow to
work as it originally did but have not had any luck. Ironically, I
noticed that a new version of LR was available today (2016-03-31) so I
installed it but the problem has not been corrected.


Procedures I have tried and their results:

  1. Import
    without using my custom template. Results: image imports to designated
    folder and is viewable in LR but the wav file does not import and is
    thus not viewable (or playable) in LR.
  2. Import without using my
    custom template THEN manually copy the wav file to the designated
    folder. Results: image imports to designated folder and is viewable in
    LR but wav file is not listed in the Metadata panel BUT after restarting
    LR the image file is viewable AND the wav file is listed in the
    Metadata field (and the wav file is playable by clicking the "arrow" in
    the Metadata field).

I
am using Windows 10, and have tried the above procedures with image and
audio files created with both a Nikon D3 and Nikon D3x.


I have searched through this and other forums and cannot find a solution to allow my workflow to work as it has for years.


I appreciate anyone's help.

This topic has been closed for replies.

23 replies

Known Participant
September 17, 2016
Is there any update on this?   I checked and 2015.6.1 still has the issue.
Participant
May 18, 2016
Thanks, I appreciate your time,hopefully Adobe will get this fix it soon.
johnrellis
Legend
May 18, 2016
Thanks, it does seem to be specific to Windows, not Mac.
Participant
May 18, 2016
Windows 7 Ultimate
johnrellis
Legend
May 18, 2016
Which version of Mac or Windows?
Participant
May 18, 2016
I am using LR 2015.5.1 and a NIkon D5 and am experiencing the same problem.
Sunil_Bhaskaran
Inspiring
April 22, 2016
Thanks for pointing this out.
We are investigating.

Thanks,
Sunil
Participating Frequently
April 21, 2016
Yep - it's quite serious. I actually did exactly that on a recent job. Luckily, I was able to contact the organization I took photos of and get names from them, but it was still embarrassing to have to do after I'd already taken copious amounts of voicenotes already when I was actually taking the photos.

I'm lucky it wasn't a more immediate job and I had time to ask them.

This has been happening to me for quite a long time, actually. I can't pinpoint exactly when, but I believe it started when the new import screen was announced. It was subsequently rolled back to the original variation, but my .wav files still don't come through if  I import them directly from the card.
Known Participant
April 21, 2016


Import from the CF card in a card reader with attached wav files, the wav file is ignored.

Copy the CF card to hard disk, and import from hard disk, the wav file is properly copied over.

This worked fine on 2015.1.1 (I think that's the right version number, the one 2 back from 2015.3); I've heard elsewhere it broke in 2015.2 or 2.1 (not sure).

This has worked for years and is a serious issue since THERE IS NO WARNING IT LOSES YOUR VOICE MEMOS, so you might reformat the CF card before noticing.
Participating Frequently
April 21, 2016
Yep, I agree, not convenient at all. Hoping for a fix from Adobe, but it's been an issue (for me at least) for months across two different cameras/cards/readers, so I'm not sure when or if I should expect them to fix it.