Importing from a Folder on Your Mac or from an External Device

Another way you can import photos to iPhoto is directly from your Mac or an external device such as an external hard drive, USB flash drive, CD, or DVD. There are two ways to import photos that are already on your Mac and on external devices.

Using Drag and Drop

The easiest way to import photos that already exist on your Mac or external device is by dragging and dropping them right into iPhoto. Here's how:

1. Select the photo or folder of photos on your Mac or external device.
2. Drag it onto the iPhoto icon in the Dock, or drag it directly into the body of the iPhoto window. The photos are automatically imported and are added to your iPhoto Library.

Keep in mind that the photos have been copied to your iPhoto Library. A copy of the photograph still remains in the same place on your Mac or external device that you drug the photos from. You can delete either the original copies or the ones you put into iPhoto without affecting the others.