Deleting duplicate photos

[EstherN]

Hi All,

New here, but am so frustrated with my iPad 3G. I keep getting the message that my ipad needs to be updated, but there is no room to update unless I delete something. So - I'm trying to delete a picture file. I transferred my pictures to my desktop, but it DUPLICATED the pictures on the ipad! It will let me delete the original picture one-by-one, but NOT the duplicate. So now, I have twice the number of pictures I had on it before. I'm considering getting a Kindle for an upcoming trip where I wanted to use the ipad. I've read other posts, and I'm not the only one with this problem, obviously.

 

[J. A.]

Hi All, New here, but am so frustrated with my iPad 3G. I keep getting the message that my ipad needs to be updated, but there is no room to update unless I delete something. So - I'm trying to delete a picture file. I transferred my pictures to my desktop, but it DUPLICATED the pictures on the ipad! It will let me delete the original picture one-by-one, but NOT the duplicate. So now, I have twice the number of pictures I had on it before. I'm considering getting a Kindle for an upcoming trip where I wanted to use the ipad. I've read other posts, and I'm not the only one with this problem, obviously.

Hi, EstherN! Welcome to iPF!

I suppose when you transfered the photos to the computer, they were synced to your iPad again. The synced pictures can't be deleted on your iPad. That has to be done using iTunes on your desktop.

This is how to remove them from your iPad:

To delete synced photos and videos from your device
In iTunes, click the Device button in the upper right corner. (If viewing the iTunes Store, click the Library button in the upper-right corner first.)
Click the Photos tab in the resulting window.
Choose "Selected albums" and deselect the albums or collections you want to delete.
Note: To delete all synced photos, deselect "Sync Photos from" and, when asked, click "Remove photos."
Click Apply.
(Apple Support)

Hope that helps.

 

[EstherN]

Thanks Joanna, will that also delete the photos from my desktop? They are in a sub folder under my pictures. Would it be the same to delete all of my kindle books? I'm trying to free up space to update my ipad for a trip.

 

[J. A.]

The photos will remain on your computer.

Are the Kindle books in the Kindle app? If you use the app for your Kindle ebooks, only the ones you find in the "Device" tab take storage on your iPad. Ebooks you don't need can be removed easily: tap and hold a book in the app, until a popup appears that lets you decide to remove the book or add it to a collection.

 

[EstherN]

They were. I think I just deleted them by deleting the app?

 

[J. A.]

You purchased the books in amazon, they belong to you. When you reinstall the app, you'll find them in the "Cloud" tab and can download them again. Only the ones you find in "Device" use storage on your iPad.
After reading, you can remove them again. See the edited answer I posted before this one.

 

[EstherN]

Johanna, these instructions didn't work for me. Everything is on the left side in my iTunes, but there is no photo tab.
Good to know the books don't take up storage. I don't understand cloud yet.

 

[J. A.]

This is Cloud in the Kindle app:

 

[J. A.]

In these instructions are a few pictures. Although they are meant for syncing photos to your iPad, they might help: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4236

 

[EstherN]

OK. I saw that, but thought if anything was there it was taking up space. I'll catch on yet.

 

[EstherN]

Well I did it, but it still didn't delete enough to update the ipad. I get the message: "This update cannot be installed because it requires at least 4.0 GB of storage. You can make more storage available by deleting items in Usage Settings." Yet it says I have 5GB free iCloud, and I can buy more storage for a price. Is this SOP for Apple?

 

[J. A.]

iCloud isn't an online storage, such as Dropbox or Box. The 5 GB you mentioned are for backing up your device.

If you need more space, look at your usage in Settings - General - Usage - Storage. You'll see there what needs the most storage and can delete apps you don't use or use rarely.

If you have a lot of music purchased from the iTunes Store, what you could do next is delete the music on your device. The songs you purchased can always be downloaded to the iPad again, if you need them.
Same goes for iBooks from iBooks Store.

If you have files that are saved to your device, use an online storage (as mentioned above: Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, Sugar Sync.. - there are quite a lot of them). The apps themselves will use storage, but not their content. To look at the files, you need to be connected to a network, though (online storage).

Hope that helps.