How to clean up folders under DCIM folder?

[Zergslayer69]

I don't think it matters what device you have since I'm sure this is an ios thing, but I have the ipad air 2, and I went to copy some pictures out of my ipad to the pc and noticed there's like 30 folders under the DCIM folder which makes it REALLY hard to find what I want. Is there a way to consolidate everything under 1 folder? Or maybe some way of cleaning it up? Some folders have 50 pictures while others have just ONE picture in it.

 

[twerppoet]

Every folder in the DCIM folder should be represented by an album in the Photos app. With the exception of a a few default albums and albums synced thru iTunes, you should be able to edit and delete them there.

 

[Zergslayer69]

Every folder in the DCIM folder should be represented by an album in the Photos app. With the exception of a a few default albums and albums synced thru iTunes, you should be able to edit and delete them there.

All my pictures are under camera roll currently. I do not have any separate albums that were synced. Yet I have all these folders under DCIM that's splitting up my camera roll pictures for no reason.

 

[twerppoet]

So, when you choose the Album tab, there are no non-default albums there? The Camera Roll shouldn't be the only one.

Or are you not on iOS 8?



Note: I don't have a Camera Roll album, because I'm using iCloud Photo Library (beta). Instead I have the All Photos view.

 

[Zergslayer69]

I'm on jailbroken 8.1.2. Looking at Albums tab and all I have are Camera Roll and Recently Deleted. I do not have anything synced from iTunes photos or any manually synced pictures. *maybe* one of the jailbreak tweaks is causing this? But if that were so I'd imagine more people would talk about it. Heck I'm surprised I'm the only person with this issue.

 

[twerppoet]

Might not be uncommon. Most people never see the DCIM folder, Mac users even less so than Windows users, since the iPad does not mount as a USB drive on OS X.

Anyway, I have no good suggestions.

You could delete the folders using iFiles (computer or iOS version), but be careful. It's hard to predict what direct deleting of files and/or folders will do. If you choose to do this, save them elsewhere and remember where they were, so you can put them back in case of mistakes.

Ultimately you could restore the iPad, but that's rather extreme for such a small irritant.

 

[Zergslayer69]

Thanks for trying! I have restored the ipad before and the folders still persist. I *think* when I updated from ios 7 to 8 it consolidated all the folders until I started using it more. Maybe ios 8 doesn't like it when I copy stuff out of the ipad directly instead of using itunes.

 

[twerppoet]

If you restore from a backup, then the folders probably get restored. If you did a clean restore (ultra-extreme solutions) they should all be deleted.

Now, if you were to turn off Photos in the backups, then backup, and restore that backup, it 'should' delete everything. Of course that's all photos, not just the ones you wanted to delete.

If you decide to use the new iCloud Photo Library (when it's ready) that would become a non-issue. They would sync back.

Anyway, what method are/were you using to copy the photos off the iPad? If it was using the DCIM folder on a Windows computer did you then delete those photos directly using the computer? I consider that an iffy thing to do, and one of the results might be ghost photos and folders that you can't delete.

It is fine to copy photos off the iPad by that method; however you should always delete them from within the Photos app, if at all possible; and you should never add photos directly to the DCIM folder.

 

[dhewson777]

My theory is that the multiple folders are due to the various apps people use to create photos and videos. Also some of there apps may create additional folders based on date, events, etc.

You sometimes see cameras create sub-folders based on these as well.

 

[twerppoet]

My theory is that the multiple folders are due to the various apps people use to create photos and videos. Also some of there apps may create additional folders based on date, events, etc.

You sometimes see cameras create sub-folders based on these as well.

Yes, several apps create folders, Skitch does, but they are usually visible and editable in the Photos app.

 

[dhewson777]

Yes, several apps create folders, Skitch does, but they are usually visible and editable in the Photos app.

True, but I also see ones that just add photos to the Camera Roll, but you'll see a separate folder under DCIM.

 

[Zergslayer69]

If you restore from a backup, then the folders probably get restored. If you did a clean restore (ultra-extreme solutions) they should all be deleted.

Now, if you were to turn off Photos in the backups, then backup, and restore that backup, it 'should' delete everything. Of course that's all photos, not just the ones you wanted to delete.

If you decide to use the new iCloud Photo Library (when it's ready) that would become a non-issue. They would sync back.

Anyway, what method are/were you using to copy the photos off the iPad? If it was using the DCIM folder on a Windows computer did you then delete those photos directly using the computer? I consider that an iffy thing to do, and one of the results might be ghost photos and folders that you can't delete.

It is fine to copy photos off the iPad by that method; however you should always delete them from within the Photos app, if at all possible; and you should never add photos directly to the DCIM folder.

Maybe that's my problem. I hook my ipad up to my pc, copy or sometimes cut pictures directly off the ipad into the computer. I can't copy anything into the ipad though since it's locked down. So maybe every time I cut stuff out it gets angry at me and makes a new folder to spite me?

 

[twerppoet]

True, but I also see ones that just add photos to the Camera Roll, but you'll see a separate folder under DCIM.

Interesting. I've never seen that, but as I've said I don't spend much time looking at the DCIM folder. Not recently anyway.

 

[twerppoet]

Maybe that's my problem. I hook my ipad up to my pc, copy or sometimes cut pictures directly off the ipad into the computer. I can't copy anything into the ipad though since it's locked down. So maybe every time I cut stuff out it gets angry at me and makes a new folder to spite me?

Maybe. To be honest I don't now for sure. My reasoning is based on camera SD cards. It's a bad idea to edit them on the computer. They tend to become corrupt and then you end up reformatting them (on the camera) and potentially losing everything.

I don't think the risk is that high with the iPad, but the general principle applies. It's best to edit files through the app/device that creates and manages them.

Think of it this way. The iPad is a big file office, and the apps on the iPad are a bunch of clerks, each with their own specialty. If you use the clerks to add and remove files then you can reasonably expect everything to end up where it belongs. If you walk into the office and start shuffling files for yourself then you 'might' mess up the rather complicated filing system those clerks use to keep track of things. Or you might not. Without knowing exactly what the clerks do, you're taking chances.

 

[Zergslayer69]

Hmm, guess I should stop cutting pictures out of the DCIM folder from the pc. is there any way of easily transferring camera roll pictures through itunes? I haven't noticed a way to browse it on pc outside of "my computer".