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Automatically upload photos to Flickr from a folder

Flickr is a great way to store,search and share your photos.But uploading it manually without any tool is disastrous.Finally there has been a solution to monitor my pictures folder to upload everything I put in that folder.Luckily a cross-platform script called uploadr.py can watch a folder of your choice for new pictures, then automatically upload them to your Flickr account. Here’s how to set up uploadr.py

What you’ll need

Python: The script we’re using is called uploadr.py, which is written in the Python programming language. If you don’t have Python installed on your computer, you’ll need to grab it here (I know Windows users will need it – I think my Mac came with Python installed, but just in case, Mac users can get it there, too).

Uploadr.py: Uploadr.py is a Python script written by Cameron Mallory. When you click the Uploadr.py link, you’ll be taken to the text of the script. Create a new folder anywhere you like and call it something………

. like Uploadr. Then create a new text file in that folder, copy and paste all the contents of uploadr.py, then rename your text file to uploadr.py (extension and all).

XMLTramp.py: This little Python module is required to run uploadr.py, so—just like you did with uploadr.py—copy and paste the text of the XMLTramp link to a new file in your Uploadr folder and name it xmltramp.py.

Configure Uploadr.py

Now that you’ve installed Python and you’ve set up both uploadr.py and xmltramp in a folder, it’s time to configure uploadr.py, so open it up in your favorite text editor and let’s get busy.

  1. First, set the folder you want uploadr.py to monitor for new pictures. Find the line containing IMAGE_DIR =, and inside quotation marks paste the full path to your to-be-monitored folder. For example:

    Windows:

    IMAGE_DIR = “C:/adam/images”

    Mac:

    IMAGE_DIR = “/Users/adam/images/”

  2. Now let’s tweak your Flickr upload data—i.e., the title, description, tags, and privacy settings for the photos. Find the “Flickr settings” section (which should be just below the IMAGE_DIR section you just edited). It should look something like the screenshot. By default, the picture is set as public with the tag, “auto-upload” assigned to it. You can change any of these settings if you have different preferences. If you leave title blank, it will default to the name of your picture.

Test it out

Running uploadr.py varies slightly between Windows and Mac, so I’ll separate them.

Windows: Fire up your command line and navigate to your uploadr directory. For example, run cmd.exe, and enter cd "C:adamuploadr" (or wherever your uploadr directory is). Now just type in uploadr.py and hit Enter.

Mac: Run Terminal and navigate to your uploadr folder—something like cd /Users/adam/uploadr/ (tweaked to match your directory). Type in python uploadr.py and hit Enter.

When uploadr.py runs for the first time, it needs to get permission from Flickr to upload pictures to your account. It’ll launch the proper web page, and all you have to do is click the button labeled, “OK, I’LL ALLOW IT.” Go back to the command line and confirm that you’ve allowed uploadr.py to access your Flickr account. Next time you run uploadr.py, if there are any new pictures in your images folder, they’ll automatically be uploaded to Flickr. Give it a try to make sure it’s working for you.

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