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User profile for user: JannyELG
JannyELG Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Import photos from Dropbox - will I lose file system?

I switched to a Mac mini and iPhone lately from PC/Android. I’ve been keeping my years of photos in files in Dropbox and removing them from my phone regularly. The photos are organized by year, within which they may be organized by event.


If I move my photo files to iCloud, I’m concerned that I’ll lose this organization for past years - that the photos will automatically go in to an Images file.


In addition, going between platforms, I find if I rename a photo before transferring to Dropbox, the name is lost. Also, I don't have access to all of the native Apple photo editing tools from Dropbox.


I may get an Apple storage plan and lose Dropbox since I don't share as many files now but don't want to learn I've gone wrong later.

Posted on Jan 26, 2022 2:22 PM

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User profile for user: Yer_Man
Yer_Man
User level: Level 10
163,842 points

Posted on Jan 26, 2022 2:57 PM

You're not only changing computer systems, you're also changing (if you choose to use Photos) your paradigm for managing your photographs.


When you set up your system in Dropbox you're just storing the photographs as files. with a basic date sorting.


Photos does that automatically.


You can mirror your DropBox set up - import a folder of an event from your 2020 year folder. Once imported select those images and make an album of them. Repeat for the other events in your 2020 folder. Now create a folder in Photos, name it 20202 and drag those albums to it. Result: the system you had on DropBox replicated.


However, there are differences. All your images are in the Library. Albums reference those images from there. The advantage of this is that you can have the same image in multiple albums using no extra disk space. So all your photographs from 2020 in a folder, plus an album of your favourites. It's a much more flexible system.


That doesn't include all the extras, like face and places.


I would encourage you to import a year's worth images to explore - it is risk free - and see if it suits you.

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User profile for user: Yer_Man
Yer_Man
User level: Level 10
163,842 points

Jan 26, 2022 2:57 PM in response to JannyELG

You're not only changing computer systems, you're also changing (if you choose to use Photos) your paradigm for managing your photographs.


When you set up your system in Dropbox you're just storing the photographs as files. with a basic date sorting.


Photos does that automatically.


You can mirror your DropBox set up - import a folder of an event from your 2020 year folder. Once imported select those images and make an album of them. Repeat for the other events in your 2020 folder. Now create a folder in Photos, name it 20202 and drag those albums to it. Result: the system you had on DropBox replicated.


However, there are differences. All your images are in the Library. Albums reference those images from there. The advantage of this is that you can have the same image in multiple albums using no extra disk space. So all your photographs from 2020 in a folder, plus an album of your favourites. It's a much more flexible system.


That doesn't include all the extras, like face and places.


I would encourage you to import a year's worth images to explore - it is risk free - and see if it suits you.

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Import photos from Dropbox - will I lose file system?

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