Have been googling for sometime to find an easy way to sync photos taken on my Android with iPhoto on my mac. Finally, arrive at this super simple, seamless and FREE solution.
- You have to have a dropbox account.
- Install dropbox on both your mac and your android. You will have a dropbox folder after you install dropbox on your mac.
- Enable "Camera Upload" from dropbox settings in your android. So that any photos taken will be uploaded to your dropbox's "Camera Uploads" directory. If the Camera Upload is ON, you will see that the options available is to "Turn off Camera Upload"
- Download this automator script. Unzip it and you will have "AutoImportPhotoFromDropBox.workflow". Double click on it and automator should open. Save the script within the Automator.
This simple script does the following:
- Check for new photos in Dropbox->Camera Uploads
- When photo is present, import it into iPhoto. An album "Synced" will be created.
- Delete the original photo once it is imported into iPhoto. (** Note, sometimes i have to clean up manually if there are many photos being synced from dropbox, maybe it has to do with how the automator fires up the script. Feel free to add a comment if you have a better solution)
- This step seems to be essential for Mac OS Lion and above. Right click on Dropbox->"Camera Uploads" folder. Select "Services"->"Folder Actions Setup...". Enable folder actions. Check all the required boxes.
- Try taking a photo and wait for a few seconds for it to sync to drop box and then gets automatically imported into iPhoto!
- As a note. Since you started using Dropbox you will find many useful conveniences that it adds to your work online. You can drop any text file into Dropbox and edit the text file from any device anywhere via www.simpletexteditor.com
Once I have unzipped the script and have automator open am I supposed to save the script somehow? There seems to be some step I am missing here.
ReplyDeleteHi Joey,
DeleteOnce you unzip and the automator open, you just save from Automator. From File->Save (Or Save a Version)
After that, just proceed to your Camera Uploads directory within Dropbox to enable the folder action as per above.
Added screen shot for saving in Automator.
Deleteseems like a lot of faffing about to me,i find it just as easy to bluetooth photos from phone to mac and then view and save in iphoto.No downloads scripts or unzipping involved.
DeleteDear Anonymous,
DeleteYou are right.
In that case, the users would have to manually use bluetooth to transfer the photos in as and when they desire.
Using the script, and dropbox, there is a one time set up involved. But moving forward, it is truly transparent to the users, the photos just appear in iphoto.
I'm not getting the automator workflow coming up in Folder Action Setup.
ReplyDeleteDid you manage to save it from within the Automator?
DeleteWhich version of OSX are you on?
If you manage to save it in the Automator, just try to copy some picture files directly into the Dropbox->Camera Uploads folder to see if it works.
Do let me know if you manage to get it working.
I'm having a similar problem. I'm on OSX 10.7.5. I was able to save the script within Automator. When I come to the Folder Actions Setup it firstly pops up with a list of scripts to add, but the script is not listed.
DeleteI've tried adding a photo to the Camera Uploads folder to see if it works anyway but no luck.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?
on number 5 i do not have the "services" tab....
ReplyDeleteAlso although i saved the script to automator, I have yet to have one of my test photos upload to iphoto. please help!!
What version of Mac OS are you on?
DeleteI am not sure why it is missing. What are the rest of the options available?
I had the same problem with services not appearing.. what you do is right click the camera upload folder and select folder actions setup... and continue
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis works well for me, although it creates a new event in iphoto every time, and needs a manual combining of the old and the newly created event.
ReplyDeleteWhere would I start looking the change this behavior? Could this be done with a modified automator script?
Yes, i am facing the same challenge to organized the photos.
DeleteTo date, i am not aware of how to modify the automator to improve upon this.
Would greatly appreciate if some expert can help to enlighten me on that.
Try disabling the automator step. Then just manually import into iphoto, this will keep your events organized by date. Although you will no longer have auto import (since you did it manually) nor will it delete the photos in dropbox (since you neglected the automator action).
Deleteworked like a charm, thank you :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat little tool, thanks a lot!
ReplyDeleteWorked like a charm for me too. One question - do I need to keep iPhoto open all the time for it to work? Or will it update when I open it? Same with the Automator, does it need to stay running for script to run?
ReplyDeleteThere is no need to keep iPhoto open, because if it is not already running, automator will open iPhoto for you.
DeleteAlso, once you set up the automator script, no other action is required. It runs quietly in the background if there are new photos detected.
Didn't seem to need to save the automator set up - just worked! THanks.
ReplyDeleteGot the upload folder to work and am receiving "folder actions alert" every time a picture syncs from my phone. However, I can't see anything in iPhoto. No album...no picture...nothing. I've reviewed the steps but am coming up short. Please help. OSX 10.8.4. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis works perfectly. I have a friend with a Mac and a Galaxy Note 2. He was having trouble getting his photos synced with iPhoto. I knew how to use dropbox as a photo backup, but I was at a loss as to how to make it easy for him to load the photos uploaded to Dropbox (or any other cloud server for that matter) into his iPhoto program. This automated script was the PERFECT ticket. As I am absoute crap at writing even simple scripts, this saved a great deal of hassle for me and for him. You are a neat guy for writing this post. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi I am struggling to see photos appear in iPhoto. I have the correct box ticked in folder actions having saved it ok.
ReplyDeleteany ideas?
The photos upload to drop box on my mac ok, Running latest OSX
Thanks
Is this still working for people? My computer tells me it won't open the download because it is from an unidentified developer :(
ReplyDeleteHi Jen,
DeleteIt is a security setting in mac.
Check out this link and see if it helps.
https://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=25443