# How to import photos from an SD card, camera or phone cable > Open Imaging (Ctrl+2) → Import, choose a folder to import into, pick the card, camera or phone, press See what is new, then Import. Duplicates are skipped. Source: https://firelet.media/help/import-from-sd-card-or-camera Published: 2026-10-20 · Updated: 2026-10-20 Applies to: Windows, macOS, Linux To import photos from an SD card, camera or phone in firelet.media Gallery, press [[Ctrl]]+[[2]] for **Imaging** and open the **Import** tab. Choose a folder under **Import into**, pick the card or device under **Where from**, press **See what is new** to check what will be copied, then press **Import**. Photos you already have are skipped, every copy is verified, and nothing is removed from the card. ## Import or attach a folder? The gallery has two ways to bring pictures in, and they suit different jobs: - **Attach a folder** (Library panel) indexes photos where they already are. Nothing is copied. Use it for folders on your PC or on an external drive you keep plugged in. - **Import** copies photos *off* something you will unplug or reuse, such as a memory card, a camera or a phone, into a folder on your PC, filed by date. The destination folder then joins the library by itself. If your photos are already on the PC, [attach the folder](https://firelet.media/help/add-photo-folders) instead of importing it. ## How to import photos from an SD card or camera 1. Insert the card, or connect the camera or phone and unlock it. 2. Press [[Ctrl]]+[[2]], or click **Imaging** in the title bar. 3. Click the **Import** tab. ![The Import tab of the Imaging view with Import into, Where from, See what is new and Import](https://firelet.media/help/media/shot-imaging-import.webp "Choose a destination on the left and a source on the right") ## Sources: cards, cameras, USB phones and paired phones The **Where from** list shows what the gallery can import from. Press **Look again** after plugging something in. | Source | Shown as | What is read | |---|---|---| | SD card, USB stick or card reader | Camera storage, or Removable drive | The card's DCIM folder when it has one; otherwise the whole drive | | Phone or camera on a USB cable | Phone or camera | The device's pictures | | OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive or iCloud folder | Cloud folder | Every file, downloaded as it is copied | | Android phone paired over Wi-Fi | The phone's name | Its pictures, once the free companion app is available | Only removable drives are offered, never your PC's own disks. A phone or camera on a cable should appear as **Phone or camera**. This route is new and still being checked on real devices, so if yours doesn't show up: - Unlock the phone and allow access to its files if it asks. On many Android phones that means choosing file transfer for the USB connection. - Press **Look again**. - Take the card out and use a card reader, which appears as a removable drive. - As a last resort, copy the photos into a folder with File Explorer and attach that folder in Library. A paired phone can also send photos over Wi-Fi with no cable at all; see [how to pair an Android phone](https://firelet.media/help/pair-android-phone). The Android companion is coming soon. ## Choose where the photos go, check, then import 1. Under **Import into**, press **Choose folder…** and pick the folder that should hold your photos, for example `Pictures\Photos`. You only do this once; it is remembered. 2. In **Where from**, click the card, camera or phone. 3. Press **See what is new**. The gallery reads the source and shows a plan such as "214 new · 1,802 already here · 3.2 GB". 4. Press **Import**. The status line counts through "Copying…" and "Verifying…". 5. Wait for the summary, for example "214 imported · 1,802 already here · nothing was removed from the source". Photos are filed under your folder as `yyyy\yyyy-MM-dd`, one folder per day, using each file's date. A card straight from a camera carries the capture date on the file. The folder pattern is fixed. > [!TIP] > Press **Stop** to pause a long import. Files already copied are kept and added to the library; press **See what is new** later to bring in the rest. ## Duplicates are skipped and every copy is verified Re-importing the same card is safe. The gallery skips any file that matches one already in the library by name, size and modified time, and any file with the same name and size already at the destination. The plan tells you how many are "already here" before you start. Every copied file is checked against the original with a SHA-256 checksum, and its modified time is kept. If a copy fails, the summary says how many failed and names the first few. The destination folder is added to the library automatically if it isn't part of it already, so the new photos appear in the grid straight away. ## RAW files are skipped; nothing is deleted from the source > [!IMPORTANT] > Camera RAW files are not supported yet, so Import leaves them on the card. The JPEGs your camera writes alongside them are imported as normal. Copy the RAW files by hand if you want to keep them. Nothing is ever removed from a card, camera, phone or cloud folder. When you're happy with the import, clear the card in your camera. Importing from a cloud folder downloads each file, so check the size in the plan first. After the 14-day trial, importing needs a licence; everything already in the library stays browsable. The macOS and Linux builds, being finished, import from removable drives, cloud folders and Wi-Fi phones, but not from phones on a USB cable. For documents and prints, see [scanning photos and documents](https://firelet.media/help/scan-photos-and-documents). ## Questions ### Are photos already imported copied again? No. Files already in the library (same name, size and modified time) or already at the destination are skipped, and the plan shows how many are new before anything is copied. ### Can I import from a phone over Wi-Fi? Yes, once the free Android companion is available: a paired phone on the same network is also a source in Imaging → Import. ### Does importing delete the photos from my card? No. Nothing is ever removed from a card, camera, phone or cloud folder. Clear the card yourself, in the camera, once you have checked the import.