P: Delete Images on Card after Import

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I would love to get an option to let LR automatically delete images from the card after they have been successfully imported. Images on the card that have not been imported, are let alone, of course.

It would serve two purposes for me:
1. It would save me deleting the images manually.
2. It would dramatically improve the experience of importing images from one card into different catalogs.

An incremental import of subsets of images on one card into a single catalog (but e.g., different folders) is well supported by the "New Photos" filter in the import dialog. However, when I switch catalogs while downloading images from a card -- because some subset of images on the card needs to go into a different catalog -- the "New Photos" filter no longer works. As a result, I have to remember and wade through a lot of images I already imported into a different catalog.

I realise that deleting images from the card is a sensitive issue. It must not happen prior to having verified that the image indeed has been copied (or converted) to a new location. Picasa supports this double checking.

As a safety net, Lightroom could offer a "restore deleted images" feature that would resurrect deleted files from cards. Users will find such a feature tremendously useful for other occasions as well.

I'd be happy with the following compromises as well:

* The option to delete images after import is available only if one activates a second backup location.

* Images are not deleted but the tracking of which images have already been imported is extended to work across catalogs. A record of what images still need to be imported could be associated with a currently inserted card.

[madbrain76]

I realize what my options are currently. This is a feature request / bug report.Restricting the move option to non-removable devices is unreasonable.
My camera produces some files that Lightroom does not process, namely a KML GPS log.Reformatting the card is thus not an option, unless I want to lose that data.
Manually selecting the files after Lightroom imported them just to delete them is tedious and simply time-wasting.

[JohanElzenga]

Reformatting is an option after you copied that GPS log to your computer as well? Just out of curiosity: Why would you want to keep these data on the memory card if the images you took during that time are deleted anyway?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I would love to see the Import tool implement a way of copying files to one's system, then verifying the files' integrity by comparing them to what's on the card, and then presenting the user with the option of deleting the originals from the card, or perhaps formatting the card.

Simply copying files from the card to the computer gets a bit confusing. I shoot many hundreds of exposures in a day, and having all these files left on the card after import can present its own problems.

I understand that the idea behind preventing Lightroom from deleting files is to protect them, but I find that having thousands of files left on the card could be more dangerous since there's no quick way to find what's been imported!

[Just Shoot Me]

Simple put the card back in the camera and use the Camera to Format the card. That is what you are supposed to do and IIRC the recommended process by most camera manufacturers.
Hopefully your suggestions won't be taken. If they are then Adobe will have hundreds, thousands ++ of users screaming "LR Deleted All My Images and didn't import, Copy, some of them".

Again Simple. Run a Comparison check on what is on the card and what is in the folder you had LR copy the images to.
Personally I have never had LR Miss copying any images off the cards from my cameras to my hard drives. The few times I have heard of this happening it has been either some type of user error, permissions problems or hardware fault/failure that has caused it.

[Bildratte]

Once again, moving files between different drives, including SD cards, is a standard task provided by Windows and other OS for decades, executed millions of times each day, and there are enough routines implemented to prevent your scenario from happening. The system automatically copies the file, checks its integrity on the destination drive, and only then the original will be deleted. 
This has proven to work reliably billions of times, thus your scenario is virtually impossible to happen, and it is strictly nonsense to force upon users any additional security to that.

[Just Shoot Me]

Your opinion is Noted. But just like something else everyone has one.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Disabling the option to move does not solve any problems. It only forces people to delete the images manually (by delete and/or format), which introduces the possibility of data loss due to deleting unimported pictures:
- when connecting multiple cards and deleting from the wrong one,
- when doing partial import (not ideal, but it happens if there is a time presure) and deleting the wrong ones,
I find these more likely to happen than data corruption during transfer, thus disabling Move makes workflows less secure (yes, these are not best practices, but they do happen).
I shot nature. Meaning a lot of pictures through the day on multiple memory cards (using one huge card would be another risk factor to lose the whole day if it fails). Importing the cards one by one and deleting/formatting them as a separate step if anything but a safe workflow.
Yes, deleting without having a backup is a really bad idea. But Lightroom provides an option to create backups during import. Why couldn't it remove the source images after import and backup are successfull (and in a perfect world after fs synced and verified).
One can still format the card after reinserting it into the camera, but I would be so much more happy doing it after I checked that there are no images on it, than hoping that the 2k+ images I delete are imported for sure.

[oliversalzburg]

10 years and no solution. Painful

[TheDigitalDog]

"I would love to get an option to let LR automatically delete images from the card after they have been successfully imported."

10 years and no solution. Painful

Adobe goes out of their way not to provide users with hurt me buttons. 

You want to delete images from the card, you're on your own. 

[oliversalzburg]

How nice of them to go out of their way to not provide features users are asking for and leaving me to solve a routine task outside the product 😂👌

Hopefully I reach the same level of Stockholm syndrome and grow fond of this.

[TheDigitalDog]

When you produce your own software product(s), you can do as you please. 

[Ruurd van Dijk]

Beyond all this: Remember, the photo's on you card are the very first backup after you imported them. Do you always delete your backups immediately? I think that is the reason Adobe did not implement this.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

The point is: deleting a copy of your data automatically, after a _succesful_ import (and preferably a backup copy), is much safer, than doing the same manually. (where you have the chance to delete from the wrong card, or more files than you imported, because the import stopped).
As a Lightroom built in feature, you could be sure you only delete your "backup" once it is safely stored someowhere else (supposedly on two copies on a more reliable media). 

And just as a side note: it is happily deleting imported files from a CFast card, even if creating the second copy during the import has failed, which is actually harmfull and dangerous, so it has nothing to do with safety, or any kind of reasoning.

It is plan old ignorance.

[Fuchur]

Hello There Adobe creators.

Could you please implement the function to delete the imported pictures from the SD-Card after a successful import?
This would really kill unnecessary time-waste of: "which Fotos did I already import and wich ones can be deleted?"

There could be a simple request after the Import "Delete Successful imported pictured - [button] "yes" or [button] "no."

Or even "Format SD-Card - [button] "yes" or [button] "no."

[TheDigitalDog]

Unlikely to happen; too dangerous for many users and further, you should delete (format) cards in the camera itself. 

https://progradedigital.com/format-memory-card-camera-computer/

[COBill]

So an import problem causes you to lose all your photos. Great idea Sebastien. 

Andrew,

That "always format in the camera" is nonsense written by someone who is ignorant of how file systems work. If memory cards didn't use a standard file system then the memory card couldn't be read by the computer.

[TheDigitalDog]

@bill_3305731 No, it isn't nonsense and that one (and many other) articles explains why one should format the card in the same camera make. But you don't have to follow this advise. 

Both my Canon and Sony manuals make the same recommendation, but what do those guys know about file standards and how their cameras work 😉

Proof of concept from Sony:

"When you use a memory card with this camera for the first time, we recommend that you format the card using the camera for stable performance of the memory card". 

From Canon:

A non-Canon CF card or a CF card formatted with another camera or
personal computer might not work with the camera. If this happens,
format the card with the camera first. Then it might work with the camera.
The CF card's capacity displayed on the formatting screen may be lower
than the capacity indicated on the card.

Also Bill, where did the OP say anything about losing photo's on Import? 

[COBill]

Sorry Andrew but all the manufacturers are doing is CYA in case the user makes a mistake when formatting on a computer. Yes there are many incorrect articles defending this view just as there are thousands proving that the world is flat.

The OP wants the option to erase/format as part of the import process. There are several threads on this forum describing lost images on import while the images were still on the card. An auto erase / format would be an unpleasant side effect. 

[TheDigitalDog]

@bill_3305731 Forgive me (us?) if we take a conservative approach and RTFM and follow the manufacturers advise instead of your generalizations. 

The OP wants to erase/format as part of the import process; I get that, I read what he/she actually wrote. I provided some facts as to why this is very unlikely to happen above and beyond the fact that one should follow the manufacturers instructions and format the card in the camera, not on the computer, via LR. The OP didn't say anything about losing files that you imagined. 

[Fuchur]

I see that formatting outside of the camera is not a helpful solution.
Still I miss the function to delete the pictures after a SUCCESSFUL import.
What's the problem about having this possibility as choice?

[TheDigitalDog]

@Sebastian Müller The biggest issue would be users deleting images by mistake, Adobe controlling the ability (cross platform) of doing this, deleting important files prior to the user backing up (to more than one location) their images etc. I just don't see Adobe stepping into that possible rabbit hole. Can you imagine if a bug or something happened where LR deleted your only copy of images before you the user verified they data came over intact? Adobe gets vilified enough already, having the responsibility of deleting camera originals just seems far too risky to do for little benefit. Yes, it would save you about 40 seconds but it isn't worth the risk IMHO. 

I never, repeat never format my camera cards until I have two backups. But that's just me. 

[Fuchur]

Having a shots of value I'd agree with you.

For the general use I don't. So why don't give the choice to the photographer.
You can leave them...I delete them when I want. I feel adult enough to take this choice.

[TheDigitalDog]

I don't know until the images are off the card if the shots are of value. 

Anyway, you are more than welcome to make the request. I'm simply providing some details on why it is very unlikely you'll see it happen inside of any Adobe product (I've spent a few decades working with them). Of course I could be proven wrong and that's fine. LR has been around quite awhile and it isn't like some auto delete from card didn't occur to Adobe, I just don't see it ever being coded for the reasons expressed. 

[Fuchur]

Thanks for your reply!

[johnrellis]

Why conversations get merged:

https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightroom-auto-import-to-folders-orga...