Lightroom Won't Import Your Photos? Here's How To Fix It

Nothing is more frustrating than when you want to get to work on another batch of edits but Lightroom won't import your photos. Even though you are seemingly doing it all right, Lightroom still has all your photos greyed out, along with the import button. Luckily there are only 3 main reasons why this would be happening and in this video, I'll break down exactly what they are and what you can do about them. After this you'll be able to get your photos imported into Lightroom without any issues and get back to editing!
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[shoebkhan]

45 seconds in and my problem is solved! Much appreciated man!

[SeanKobiSandoval]

None of these three solutions solved my problem.

[lnaglamourphoto]

I was going crazy trying to figure out what was going on, thanks so much for sharing

[michaelfoleymedia]

This video does not cover the fourth scenario, where new photos share the exact file name of another photo already in the library, Lightroom will sometimes not let you around this unfortunately. The checkbox for "don't import suspected duplicates" does not let you import the new photos, they stay greyed out. The only workaround I and others have found is to manually copy the files to the preferred location via your file manager, then drag that folder into LR and use the "Add" tab. This issue is most common after formatting a card and the camera restarts the naming/numbering on the new photos. It's common to run into files with the same file name.

This workaround doesn't always work, and I find it inconsistent. If manually moving the files to a folder and using the "Add" import does not un-grey the files, you have to rename the files before importing.

I have run into this issue with two completely separate Lightroom libraries and Adobe accounts. Looking at Adobe support and forums, many have been reporting this issue to Adobe over the past year. As a sports shooter who regularly formats multiple cards and imports huge numbers of photos, I really hope this is fixed soon.

[Jimmy_Cavallo]

💥 0:37 I already had that unchecked and STILL no luck. Still grey. GRRRR. You made it look so simple.

[bkcampb]

You didnt talk about your dog, your sponsors, or some long boring bs. You went straight to the point!!!! Thank you.

[sergy]

Well, I unchecked Don't import suspected duplicates but previously imported files are still greyed out and won't import again. What's wrong ?!

[roadshoulderphotography]

LRC does import my Nikon NEF files but also then converts them to a DNG file... I also have a friend that is trying to import images to LRC from an SD card (nikon camera). When inserting the card you can see the photos but when you click to import you cant see the images and it say it import and nothing. just keeps saying importing images. Any idea as to why this is ?

[LuisAlbertoAriascrc]

Thanks Brendan, first method solve my problem. I spend many hours finding a soluntion until i found this tut. Thans againg.

[Tony-WD]

The situation you described at or around 1:00 happened to me, but I cant find those photos in LrC. If LrC did in fact import it, why would it not be in the same folder structure? Anyways, I selected override option, then the folders appeared where they should be.

[MindGem]

Im quite sure my problem is the FIRST one you mentioned however when I uncheck "Don't Import Suspected Dublicates" the grayed out images remain grayed out...what to do?

[Lucario]

lol, I was trying more than 5 hours to fix my problem, and after 50 sec of your video it works... I dont know why, acctually I only changed importing method (file-import photots and videos), before I was importing via Library-import (left corner)... so thank for your video :D

[studioninephotography]

Bru ... what a headache you saved me from. Thank you.

[BadboyDFT]

Thanks alot
The first 1minute of this video really helped me

[frankfavale]

Brendan, I am new to LR. As a matter of fact I had installed LRC and decided the cloud storage wasn't enough and I wanted my photos on my phone so I went to LR mobile, iMac and iPhone. I noticed that when I open LR, it doesn't have the same frames as LRC ie: Library etc . at the top of the page and looks totally different. Is this correct or did I install incorrectly after uninstalling LRC. Also, when I exit I don't get those, messages that its updating the catalog. Truthfully, I'm lost. Any help will be appreciated. Frank

[rea_jampane]

Thank you brother, you really helped me a lot and may God bless you and your family and he enlarge your territory

[instinctosmosis]

YO, bro Thank you so much man. very short video but very very very useful. been sffering from this for as long as i can remember. you are God sent bro. Thanks

[stephaniehoahu]

Thank you so much! You just saved me hours of stress!

[Marastudio-tw]

Omggg this is actually Im searchingg:') I spend 2 hours for this solve. Thankyou so muchh!

[annemaley]

Brendan, I have images that have not been moved or imported into LR. There are many folders that have the "question mark" on them. I have found the folder but when I try to import, all images are greyed out and importing is not an option. Please help!!