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TUAW Tip: Fixing syncing between iPhone and iPhoto '08


This is a pretty selfish tip, because this issue has happened to me personally a few different times, and despite my many searches around the 'net, I've never found a quick, simple solution. So here you go: my suffering can be your gain.

Basically, iPhoto '08 and the iPhone don't always play nice -- sometimes, you'll take a bunch of pictures on your iPhone, bring them back to sync up with iPhoto '08, and whoops, iPhoto doesn't see them at all. You can see them on your iPhone, but iPhoto's "Import All" button is greyed out, and they're not showing on your screen (sometimes, I've gotten dotted lines where the pictures are -- I think this all has something to do with a corrupted cache that iPhoto keeps of what's on the iPhone). Fortunately, though it's frustrating, there's an easy fix. Open up Image Capture (you can find it in Spotlight or even Quicksilver if you swing that way) with your iPhone connected, hit the "Devices" menu item, and then "Browse Devices." You'll get a screen just like the one above, with your iPhone's name instead of mine.

Uncheck the "Connected" box, and then recheck it, and boom. Image Capture, and thus iPhoto, will see all of your pictures and happily upload them. Is it voodoo? Sure -- we still don't know why iPhoto loses its place every once in a while (like I said, I'm thinking a corrupted cache somewhere along the line). But it works.

This is a pretty selfish tip, because this issue has happened to me personally a few different times, and despite my many searches around...
 

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Bevan

While this didn't work for me, it did point me in the right direction. I disconnected my phone, quite Image Capture and iPhoto, then deleted ~/Library/Caches/iPhoto/ and ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto/.'

Then I restarted iPhoto, and reconnected the iPhone, and voila!

May 04 2009 at 5:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Reine

Thanks a lot, Mike! You just saved my day ^_^

April 07 2009 at 3:18 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jimmy E

There's a typo at the end. "Like I said" isn't grammatically correct, it should be "as I said".

March 12 2009 at 12:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dan workman

Eureka! That solves that problem. Now, about iPhoto launching each time I connect, AND having to manually launch iTunes (even when the pref is set to sync automatically upon connection)--I'd be a happy camper,.. er,.. iPhoner,.. whatever...

March 12 2009 at 7:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
john

Hum... it only happens to me when I plug in the phone when I am logged in as another user, then switch back. From that point on, the only solution is a reboot...

March 11 2009 at 8:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Zach

I've had a few problems since upgrading iLife. Most recently I tried to run a slideshow in iChat, but only the very tops of the photos were visible.

March 11 2009 at 8:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Aaron

I just want a trick to NOT have iPhoto pop up everytime I sync or plug in my iPhone...

March 11 2009 at 7:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Aaron's comment
Matthew

Go to image capture then go into preferences. Select no application when a camera is connected. Of course, this will affect any camera connected but you can just open the application you want when you connect a camera.

March 11 2009 at 7:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rob

Those "dotted lined" photos only happen to me when I take a screenshot and then try to import that screenshot into iPhoto.

March 11 2009 at 7:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bill Mac

Huh. I think I've had those "dotted lines" previews before and just downloaded them to iPhoto anyways. They looked okay to me once they were there...

March 11 2009 at 7:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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