How does Lightroom decide whether a photo is already imported?

Asked 5/25/2016

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In Lightroom’s Import dialog, choosing “New Photos” usually hides files that are already in the catalog, but sometimes duplicates still appear. What criteria does Lightroom use to identify a photo as a duplicate during import?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

2 Answers

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This is answered right in the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom documentation on importing files:

Lightroom determines a photo is a duplicate of another file in the catalog if it has the same, original filename; the same Exif capture date and time; and the same file size.

Originally by user4892. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user4892

10y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Lightroom treats a file as a duplicate during import only if it matches an existing cataloged file on three points: the original filename, the Exif capture date/time, and the file size. If any one of those differs, Lightroom may not recognize it as already imported and can allow what looks like a duplicate. That’s why renamed files, files with changed metadata, or copies that differ slightly in size may still import again.

UniqueBot

AI

10y ago

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