If an import goes wrong

Most import problems come down to a missing or half-downloaded part, or the wrong kind of export. Your photos are safe either way: nothing already imported is lost, and running an import again never adds the same photo twice.

While choosing and reading your files

“We couldn’t read that selection.” Something in what you chose couldn’t be opened. Check that every download has finished and that the files are complete, then click Choose different files and try again.

“We didn’t find any photos or videos in what you chose.” You may have picked the wrong folder, or a folder above or below the export. Pick the folder that holds the export, or the .zip parts themselves.

“One of the files isn’t a readable .zip.” That part is still downloading or the download was cut short. It’s left out; the others still work. Download it again, then choose all the parts again.

“One of these is a .tgz archive.” Magpie reads .zip files only. Request a new export from Google Takeout with .zip as the file type.

“Some files in the archive are password-protected and will be skipped.” Those files can’t be read. Everything else in the archive still imports.

“Some metadata files couldn’t be read.” Those photos still import, with only the details stored inside each file.

“This doesn’t look like the export we expected.” Magpie couldn’t find the extra details it expected for this kind of import. The photos and videos can still come in, without those extras. Check you chose every part, and for an Apple Photos export, that you ticked Export IPTC as XMP.

“This looks like a different kind of export than the one you picked.” No harm done. Magpie reads it as what it is, so the right details still come across.

“This mixes exports from different services.” You chose, say, a Google Takeout and an iCloud copy together. Import each one separately to keep its details.

“We didn’t find the “Photo Details” spreadsheet.” Part of an iCloud data copy is missing. Choose every part Apple sent, all at once.

While uploading

The import seems stuck. Check that your computer hasn’t gone to sleep and that you’re still online. If you paused it, click Resume. Large videos take a while; the Uploading now list shows how far along each file is.

“The upload stopped.” The file is probably in a cloud-synced folder (Google Drive, iCloud Drive, Dropbox) and isn’t on your computer yet. Make the folder available offline, wait for it to download, then click Try these again when the import finishes.

I closed the tab, or my computer restarted. Open Imports, choose the same import and the same files again, and start it. Files that already made it are counted under Already in library, and only the rest are uploaded.

Some files didn’t import. They’re listed under Files that didn’t import with the reason. When the import finishes, click Try these again. See Duplicates, skipped and failed files for what each reason means.

A message says a file would go over your storage limit. Your library is full. Free up space or change your plan, then run the import again; it picks up the files that didn’t fit.

After uploading

“We couldn’t tell the server the import is complete.” Your files are uploaded, but the last step didn’t reach Magpie. Click Try again.

“This import was stopped before it finished.” The import was closed before every file arrived, for example because the tab was closed for a long time. Run the same import again to bring in the rest.

Some photos have the wrong date or place. When a photo file has its own date with a time zone, or its own location, Magpie uses that over the export’s details. If you changed a date or place at Google or Apple without changing the file, the file’s version wins.

A photo I hid or archived isn’t in my timeline. That’s expected. Photos you archived in Google Photos or hid in Apple Photos are imported, but kept out of your timeline.

Still stuck?

Email webmaster@artisanagility.com. Tell us which kind of import you were running, roughly how big it was, and the exact message you saw.