Solving the problem importing Leica LAS X ".lif"-images to FIJI with the Bio-Formats Importer

If you're importing ".lif"-files created with Leica LAS X software (on the Leica microscopes) to FIJI with it's Bio-Formats Importer and it won't let you choose which series to import, here's what you can do.

The Problem

The Bio-Formats Importer on FIJI won't let you choose your images and series from the "Bio-Formats Series Options" visual list with thumbnail images.

Instead it only allows input of numerical ranges of images.

The Cause

The Bio-Formats Importer doesn't understand preview image series within a ".lif"-file. Instead of grouping them as series, it lists them individually. If there are too many preview images (like in the case of a mosaic image), the visual list window gets too long. In that case the importer cannot show the thumbnails and uses the numerical range picker.

The Solution

Delete the preview images from your project using the LAS X software before importing to FIJI.

If you need the preview images to work within LAS X, make a copy of the ".lif"-file before deleting the preview images.