Windows 10: Need to Specify a Folder on a Drive for Autoplay Import From Mem Card

Hi,
I'm stumped but before I upgrade to Windows 7 I thought I'd ask here and see if anyone can help. I have 1000's of photos stored on a separate hard drive system. In Win 7 I had set up auto play to save the photos to a folder on the external drive. In Win 10 I can't seem to do this, I've been to Settings/Devices - Auto Play, and in the end the only way round was to change the path of the system folder 'pictures' to the path on the drive. Photos now get imported to the right place but I'm not happy it being a system folder and the photos are imported into a folder named by the date. In Win 7 I could tag the photos on import and the folder & photos would be named with the tag and numbered sequentially. I need this functionality back.

:)

 

Bring Back the AutoPlay Options For Importing Photos

In Windows 7 using AutoPlay you could insert a memory card of photos and choose the imported pictures folder, you could then specify how the folder would be named using a combination of date and/or tag information. So if you entered the tag 'Wedding' photos
would be imported to the specified location, in a sub folder called 'Wedding +the date' and the photos would be named 'Wedding' and numbered sequentially.

All this has been downgraded in Windows 10 - you can no longer specify the folder location (it has to be the Pictures folder on C drive) and you can no longer specify a folder name/tag. Basically Windows rather patronizingly decides for you and it's really
useless - especially if your C drive is small and you use an external drive for storage. Please bring back the efficient AutoPlay functions that were in Windows 7.

 

Windows 10 photo import settings

This is not helpful. I do not have anything on my computer called Photo Gallery. If I double click on a photo I get photo viewer, not Photo Gallery.

The options I have for autoplay on the SD card are:

Import Photos and Videos (Photos)

Import Photos and Videos (One Drive)

Take no action

Open folder to view files (File Explorer)

Ask me every time

I want to be able to specify the destination file folder and name the photos like I could in Windows 7 with Import Photos wizard.

 

I can't find a solution either. Looks like it might be time to downgrade back to Win7 Ultimate until this is more stable / offers existing functionality. This changes my whole workflow. And the default settings for Windows Photo viewing is to enhance all of your photos... might want to check that out if you use a Win pc for photo workflow... more and more tempted to switch over to linux or mac for this. #DiscouragedByWIN10

 

After poking around a bit I noticed that it's still the same old Windows underneath a bare bones UI and I found a solution. Right-click on the desktop, select 'new' then 'shortcut' and paste the following in the location box:

%SystemRoot%\system32\rundll32.exe "%SystemDrive%\Program Files\Windows Photo Viewer\photoAcq.dll",PhotoAndVideoAcquire

Click next and give it a name e.g. photo import.

When you insert a memory card ignore the popup that asks what you want to do with memory cards and click your new shortcut instead. Click import and on the next screen you can set up the save location and tag and keyword the images - the same as in Win 7. It will also remember what you imported last time and only look for new files.

I haven't been able to figure out how to disable the Win 10 autoplay and make the shortcut open automatically when you insert a card ...yet.

 

The Photos app currently saves imported stuff to the picture library's default save folder, that you can change from Explorer: Libraries, Pictures (right-click), Properties, then you can add locations and set the default save location.

Photos uses a new Windows 10 API that is far quicker than the old Win7 thing that you dug out, but it only imports by date at this time, due to an unfortunate choice made by the Photos app. You can send feedback using the Windows Feedback tool.