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Participant
April 6, 2023
Question

Unable to import photos

  • April 6, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 411 views

Yesterday I imported photos to Lightroom without any problems, and today I see this message and I can't do anything anymore, I can't inport the photos, please help:

 

"the file cannot be moved to the destination folder because it is not writable"

 

I read about it in previous posts, but no one literally explained what to do to make these photos importable again. None of the imports work for me.

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3 replies

JohanElzenga
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 7, 2023

When you import an image with 'Copy' or 'Move' selected at the top of the import dialog, then Lightroom will copy/move the image to a folder that is defined in the Destination panel on the right side of the import dialog. That is your destination folder. It's possible that the usual destination folder got deselected, and instead you now have selected a folder that Lightroom has no permission to write to. That is why you were asked twice already to post a screenshot of your import dialog. A screenshot often says more than a thousand words.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga
Keith Reeder
Participating Frequently
April 6, 2023

Is the destination folder writable?

Participant
April 6, 2023

I need for windows , not for Mac. And now please explain to me what a destination folder is and how to find it, I don't need such help -  I am not legend.

cmgap
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 7, 2023

A screen shot of your library module showing the left column will be most helpful in trouble shooting this issue. Within Lightroom Classic open the Catalog panel in the left most column in Library module and click on Previous Import. Select an image in the grid and right-click on it and select Show in Finder. This will open another window that will show you where those photos are. Another helpful screen shot would be your import window.

cmgap
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 6, 2023

Can you post a screen shot of your Library module showing the whole screen especially your folder structure? If you look at any of the images you imported yesterday and right-click one one of them and select Show in Finder it will confirm the location they were imported to. If you were importing the images and storing them on an external drive, is the drive mounted?

Keith Reeder
Participating Frequently
April 6, 2023

"Finder" is a Mac tool, isn't it?

Participant
April 6, 2023

I need help for windows, not for Mac.