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Michelle A.8's avatar
Michelle A.8
Helpful | Level 6
7 years ago

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...
Camera uploads
Desktop
Error Messages
Mac
Sync
  • Michelle A.8's avatar
    Michelle A.8
    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.

  • benjuang's avatar
    benjuang
    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 - - -

     

    1. 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.
    2. 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).
    3. 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.
Jane's avatar
Jane
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
Hey all, apologies for any frustration my latest post my have caused you, I’m on the same page with you right now & I’ll try to take it from where we’ve left off since last week. 
 
I was able to re-read all your posts anew, therefore let me gather the specifics in regards to the issue you’ve experienced. You may keep in mind that I’ve unaccepted my latest post as the Solution, as it hasn’t fixed the issue in question for you. 
 
For starters, let me re-phrase the issue at hand, in order to take it from there: 
 
  • You’ve all noticed a “Failed to import x of y photos” error message, when you’re trying to set your photos to upload automatically through on a Mac OS X 10.13.4 with the Dropbox version 48.4.58 installed & running correctly in the background (i.e. all Dropbox-related icons are loading correctly for you ). 
 
  • Moreover, your iOS devices have been updated to the latest iOS version (11.3.1). 
 
If all of you are experiencing the same issue as described above & you’ve already tried toggling between your two options (namely “Photos” or “Photos & Videos”) on your desktop preferences while trying to trigger the upload, whereas you’ve been seeing the same behavior roughly since April 10th, maybe it’ an issue that we’d need to investigate further. 
 
For that reason, I’ve made sure to get in touch with you directly via email Michelle A.8, as you need hands-on troubleshooting based on our last cmments. At the moment, please keep in mind that we provide phone support for Dropbox Business admins through their admin console, so what I can offer you in order to make the troubleshooting more smooth for you would be to work with you as closely as possible on that correspondence. I do understand that we’ll need to make this as short as possible, so rest assured that I’ll make sure to follow-up from where we’ve left off here. 
 
At your convenience, please check your inbox for my latest message and let me know here if you have any issues locating it. Once you get back to me, I’ll make sure to get back in touch with you as soon as possible. 
 
When it comes to you mrboss, gabradoodle, jernimtz & Max_in_Madison, please let me know if you’d like us to continue working on this issue via email & I’ll make sure to follow-up with you asap. 
 
Once again, apologies for any inconvenience my latest message may have caused you & I’ll be awaiting your next posts here, in order to move forward together. Thanks! 

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