Turn off auto folder creation

[Tony Heath]

I want my photos to go into self-created folders I create and right-click "import to this folder." Its been that way for a long time but suddenly it's started auto-creating a folder hierarchy. I download from my camera into my own specific folders. 

Appreciate some advice.

Many thanks!

[Rob_Cullen]

If you want photos added to the catalog and you have already placed them in your specific folders-

Use the [ADD] option at the top of the Import main window.  This will leave them exactly where YOU put them.

[Conrad_C]

How photos import depends on at least two settings in the Import dialog box: Which of the four options you chose at the top (as Rob_Cullen showed), and what folder hierarchy settings are in effect in the Destination panel on the right side (if you selected an option other than Add).

To guarantee correct importing every time, what I do is save and name my preferred settings as an import preset. Every time I import, I check the Import Preset menu at the bottom of the Import dialog box to see if the name of my preset is already selected. If it is, I know everything is set the way I want it, and I can just go ahead with it. If my preset is not selected (or says “Edited”), that means at least one setting is not the way I want it, so I need to select my preset to reapply it.

Import presets save me from having to check every setting. The preset sets them all the way I want them, so all I have to do is make sure my preset is selected.

[JohanElzenga]

@Rob_Cullen I don't think that is what the OP meant. What he meant is that he right-clicks the desired destination folder in the Lightroom folder panel and then chooses 'Import to this folder'. This is a shortcut to the Import dialog, where said folder will be selected already as destination. The images will still be copied, because they are not yet in this folder. His problem is that he erroneously changed the settings at the top of the destination panel, from 'Into one folder' to 'By Date' subfolders.