Importing images is different than adding a folder of images to your Luminar Library. Importing physically moves your images or lets you create a copy of your images to a new location. You can import images from an internal hard drive, an external hard drive, and even a memory card. You can import images from the Open Button Menu, by clicking directly on a folder or subfolder in the Library Sidebar, or through the Menu Bar.
- Choose File > Import Images to a Folder… A system dialog box will open up.
- Navigate to the images or folder of images you want to import and select them. To locate the images you want to use on a memory card, they are likely in a folder labeled DCIM (for Digital Camera Images).
- Make sure the additional controls are viewable at the bottom of the import window. If hidden click the Options button.
- With the Location menu choose an existing folder in your Luminar Library.
- Click the Action menu to choose whether you want to Copy the images to a new location or Move them to the new folder and erase them on the source disk.
- Click the Organize drop-down menu to choose if and how the images are sorted into subfolders.
- Mark the Include Subfolders checkbox if you want to take additional folders of images contained within a selected folder. If this is checked, Luminar will add images from all subfolders inside the selected folder. If left unchecked, only the images at the top level of the folder will be imported. The contents of the subfolders will be ignored.
Organizing Images During Import
To make it easier to find your best photos, Luminar offers several ways to organize imported images. These commands automatically build subfolders based on different image or folder properties. Just click the Organize menu in the Import dialog to choose one of these options.
- Into One Folder. This will place all the images into a single level of the folder. No subfolders will be created.
- Keep Existing Folder Structure. If there are additional folders inside the folder you are importing, subfolders will be created to reflect the original folder structure.
- Year/Month/Day. Luminar will look at the creation date of the image and create subfolders based on the year, month, and day of the month the photo was taken.
- Year/Month. Luminar will look at the creation date of the image and create subfolders based on the year and month the photo was taken.
Importing into a New Folder
If you want to import images into a new folder, you should create this before opening the Import dialog.