Importing media — how it works
What happens during an import from a connected storage, how to follow the progress, and why a count can briefly lag behind.
From your storage into your library
An import does more than copy files. Every item goes through three steps:
- Transfer — the file travels from your storage to footage.one.
- Preparation — previews are generated and technical details such as resolution and duration are read out. While this runs, a list may still show a placeholder instead of a preview.
- Made searchable — the item becomes findable.
That third step is why a count can briefly lag behind right after a large import: the media are already there, they are just not all searchable yet. Wait a moment and the number is right.
Large imports need no special handling
Pick the folder and start — even with several thousand files. footage.one schedules the work itself and makes sure a large import does not block everything else: your next small imports still get through quickly, and other users will not notice your batch.
Videos take longer than photos, and large videos take considerably longer. When there is a lot going on, an import visibly waits for free capacity and then continues on its own. No need to split it up, no need to run imports one after another, no need to restart anything.
How far along is my import?
Under Activity → Jobs every import is listed with its current state. Three of them matter day to day:
- Waiting for slot — the import is queued and starts automatically once capacity frees up. Not an error, nothing for you to do.
- Error — something went wrong here. The detail view shows at which step.
- Finished — done.
In between you can see what is currently being worked on. Clicking an entry opens the details with the individual steps.
When the folder looks empty
If the storage browser shows nothing, there are two possibilities: the folder genuinely holds nothing footage.one can import — or the configured path does not lead where you think it does. A look at the storage configuration usually settles it.
The path to the folder
The easiest way is to click through to the folder in the storage browser. Then the path is guaranteed to be right.
If you type it yourself, use your storage's own notation — forward slashes (/Travel/Morocco) rather than the backslashes from Windows Explorer. Spaces and special characters in folder names are fine.