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Participant
March 22, 2025
Answered

How to use bulk import

  • March 22, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 245 views

I had to reset my computer. Now I have to import my photos from my backup drive. I am using Photoshop Elements 25. I have 200,000+ photos. Bulk import allows me to choose the file location but the import does not seem to be able to handle so many photos. How should I do it?

Correct answer donald_7607
Greg thank you. My files are organized by month and year. Storage is on One
Drive and Dropbox. Yes, it does take days to import. I have the same
capacities as you. I will be patiently waiting for Photoshop to finish.



Don

2 replies

Greg_S.
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 23, 2025

What do you mean when you say the import does not seem to be able to handle so many photos?

 

I have just had to recreate a catalog containing 250,000 media files.    The process takes a very long time and together with recreating the thumbnails, it has taken several days.  Face recognition will probaby take at least another 5 or 6 days with my computer running 24/7. 

 

Now, Glenn may be right about limitations of RAM.  But I have 64GB of RAM and the import process doesn't seem to use very much of it.

 

If you want some additional suggestions for the import, tell us more details about how your files are currently organized.

donald_7607AuthorCorrect answer
Participant
March 23, 2025
Greg thank you. My files are organized by month and year. Storage is on One
Drive and Dropbox. Yes, it does take days to import. I have the same
capacities as you. I will be patiently waiting for Photoshop to finish.



Don
Glenn 8675309
Legend
March 22, 2025

Some tools and features may be limited by the amount of ram you have installed.    

WHAT I WOULD DO:  Make 4 different folders, put 50,000 images in each.
There are a few ways to do what you want- I usually just tell people how I would do it.

Go to organizer, and tell it to look in the folder you created. 

It may take a while  to do it. `

Let me know if you need any other help.