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Forum Discussion
Michelle A.8
7 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Camera Upload Error on Mac OS High Sierra/ Photos...Could Not Be Imported
Since April 10, I've been spending a LOT of time trying to upload photos and videos from my iPhone 7 [iOS 11.3 (15E216)] to my Mac [macOS High Sierra (Version 10.14.4)]. It used to do that no proble...
- 7 years ago
I got a solution that worked for me from Dropbox Support. Thought I'd share it here for those who might benefit:
The application "Image Capture" which apparently comes with Macs -- who knew? -- can act as a "middleman" in the process to transfer images to Dropbox.
- Go to the Spotlight Search (top righthand side of your computer) and type "image capture".
- When it comes up, select your phone from the interface on the lefthand side of the app.
- The images from your phone will pop up in the main window of the app. Select those which have not been imported.
- (You might want to click the box that says "delete after import" or "Keep originals" at the lower left of the app.)
- Select Other -> Dropbox -> Camera Uplpads in the "Import To" dropdown.
- Click on the "Import" or "Import All" button and it will import.
Most of these steps don't have to be repeated on subsequent uses.
As I mentioned, I'm not thrilled with this "workaround," but I suppose it will do until Dropbox engineers get around to fixing what is obvious problems.
- Go to the Spotlight Search (top righthand side of your computer) and type "image capture".
- 7 years ago
I might have a fix (or at least a better workaround than using the "Image Capture", since that doesn't use the same naming format as Dropbox and you might end up with duplicates once importing works again - at least I get file like "IMG_9365.JPG" instead of "yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.jpg").
On your iPhone, go to Settings > Photos. At the very bottom, toggle "Transfer to Mac Or PC" from "Automatic" to "Keep Originals". After doing this, I reconnected my iPhone and importing worked.
Note: This might transfer your current photos as HEIC files instead of JPEGs. I'm not a big fan of this HEIC format, but eh, at least I have importing now. If storing HEICs make you sad, I believe you can go to Settings > Camera > Formats and toggle it over to "Most Compatible", so future photos will be in JPEG.
My environment is as follows:
MacBook Pro, OS X 10.13.4
iPhone 8, iOS 11.3.1
Dropbox app on OS X: Stable Build 49.4.68
- - - Most people can stop reading here - - -
- Additional notes while debugging:
I noticed that while importing fails when the setting is set to "Automatic", certain photos do get imported. These consisted of iPhone screenshots and some low-res close-ups of stuff. - I found https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Syncing-and-uploads/Since-iOS-11-upgrade-camera-uploads-stopped-working/td-p/242509, which led me to suspect HEIC or image formats being the problem (again), especially in light of (1).
- I was able to confirm that if I took a photo, switched the setting back to "Automatic", then reconnected my phone, the import process would fail with the error message.
- Additional notes while debugging:
Jane
Dropbox Staff
If I were in your shoes (assuming that you’ve checked the tips Norah posted in the previous page: i.e. ensuring that you’re running the latest Stable Dropbox version on your Mac & you’ve made all OS updates :white_check_mark:), I’d reset the Camera Uploads settings once & then re-enable it to see if that lets me complete the upload as expected:
- Click the Dropbox icon in your menu bar.
- Click the :gear: icon & choose Preferences…
- Under Import, you may go to "Change Autoplay Settings", which will re-direct you to your Control Panel. From there, you can check whether all settings have been applied correctly for your connected media devices. (Tip: Yous iPhone should be towards the bottom of the page.
Additionally, have you tried any of the quick fixes posted previously (namely trying to reproduce via a different network perhaps)?
Please let me know how the steps above work for you in your next reply & I’ll do my best to check back with you. Until then, take care & I’m wishing you a wonderful day ahead!
Michelle A.8
7 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I have nothing that resumbles a "Change Autoplay Settings" optiion under IMPORT or anywhere else in Dropbox or SYSTEM PREFERENCES, on my Mac, my iPhone, or my iPhone. Here's what I have available under IMPORT.
For a very long time, when imports messed up, I was able to fix it by toggling ENABLE CAMERA UPLOADS off and back on again. That stopped working just before I posted my OP.
Knowing as I do how infrequently stuff like this gets fixed in a forum, I did indeed try all of the other "quick fixes" posted here and everywhere else I could find.
At this point, I'm beginning to look alternate options to Dropbox, as I really do hate it when I'm paying for something that is unusabe for weeks on end and apparently has no telephone support offered.
Jane wrote:
3. Under Import, you may go to "Change Autoplay Settings", which will re-direct you to your Control Panel. From there, you can check whether all settings have been applied correctly for your connected media devices. (Tip: Yous iPhone should be towards the bottom of the page.
Additionally, have you tried any of the quick fixes posted previously (namely trying to reproduce via a different network perhaps)?
Please let me know how the steps above work for you in your next reply & I’ll do my best to check back with you. Until then, take care & I’m wishing you a wonderful day ahead!
- Rich7 years agoSuper User IIAutoplay Settings is an item specific to the Windows operating system.
- Michelle A.87 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Thank you, Rich.
Looks like there is no way for a Mac user to fix the problem. Nor the will of Dropbox to help. :-(
- mrboss7 years agoHelpful | Level 6
since when are we talking about windows?! it is a problem on Mac OSX as introduced clearly by Michelle A.8 three weeks ago.
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