Help with 'unlocking' iPhoto Library! SO LOST!

I was a PC user all my life and recently I decided to switch to Mac. I'm still figuring things out and for the most part I've got the hang of it, with one exception...iPhoto. I'm not having problems with iPhoto or using it for that matter, my problem is this; I want to be able to upload photos using Facebooks photo uploader instead of having to upload the entire album using the iPhoto uploader. My next problem is that I just purchased Pixelmator and it won't let me open photos from my iPhoto library. The only photos I can access are the ones from Photo Booth. So, how do I 'unlock' my iPhoto library so that I can actually access my photos? HELP!!!

To up load selected photos to Facebook (or any other supported service) select the photo(s) and click on the service name in the tool bar - it will create an album in the source pane on the left and up load to the selected service. Any changes made to the album on the service or in iPhoto will be synced so they always stay the same
TO access your photos in any open/attach window look in the lower left hand corner under media ==> photos ==> iPhoto (*the media browser) - click here for a discussion on the many correct and safe ways to access your iPhoto library photos.
and it would be a worthwhile investment of time to take the iphoto tutorials - http://www.apple.com/findouthow/photos/ - they are very helpful and will save you a lot of time and frustration.
LN

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IPhoto library has lost all my landscape photos.

Hi, My iPhoto library has lost all my landscape photos (the thumbnails are there, but no photos when you try to slide show them).
I've tried reverting to original and restoring the library. No luck.
I have them all in a back up outside of iPhoto - as individual jpg files. Can Iphoto help to re-import the missing ones bring them back into the library?
I'm hoping to avoid having to start from scratch!!!
I don't know what caused the issues - I haven't made any changes to the back end!!!
Thanks.

If that doesn't help...
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In Library Manager it's the FIle -> Rebuild command)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.

Upgrading to iPhoto '08 - what's going wrong with my iphoto Library

Hi,
I would appreciate your advice/knowledge on this problem.
==> Short Description of my problem:
I can't recover the keywords associated with my pictures. I am asked to import my pictures although I choose to open my previous iPhoto Library after converting to iPhoto 08.
==> What I did:
1. I recently upgraded my mac to Leopard, and then to iPhoto'08. When opening for the 1st time iPhoto '08, I selected my iPhoto Library (as I held the option key while opening iPhoto).
2. I then get the message: “The photo library needs to be upgraded to work with this version of iPhoto. Your photo library will not be readable by previous versions of iPhoto after the upgrade. The upgrade process may take several minutes depending on the number of photos in the library.” I clicked on the "Upgrade" button
3. My Mac then loaded/created ALL my previous albums and smart albums (including the most recent ones). It loaded pictures up to April 2005. BUT then, it prompted me with the following message : "5584 photos have been found in the iPhoto Library that are not a part of this photo library. Would you like to import them?". I was surprised to get this message, as I read that the upgrade should run smoothly.
4. I made two tests, following this prompt. First, I answered "YES". I ended with a 24.5 GB iPhoto Library (instead of my previous 12.64 GB library). Then, while repeating steps 2&3, I answered No. I then decided to import manually my missing pictures, and ended up with a 14,4 GB (surprisingly, I got events called originals that contained same pictures than other created events). I have repeated the steps 2 to 4 from a new user account, but got the same results.
5. None of these solutions are satisfactory as I had assigned keywords to my 5000+ photo. What is going wrong? Here is the content of my iPhoto Library (before conversion), if this is of any help:
In my iPhoto Library Oct 23, 2007:
folder 2000 Oct 18, 2007
folder 2004 Feb 13, 2005
folder 2005 Jan 29, 2006
folder 2006 Jan 7, 2007
folder 2007 Oct 23, 2007
AlbumData.xml Apr 17, 2005
folder Album Nov 11, 2007
Dir.data Apr 9, 2005
iPod Photo cache Nov 11, 2006
iPhoto.db Apr 17, 2005
Library.iPhoto Apr 9, 2005
Thumb32.data Apr 9, 2005
Thumb64.data Apr 9, 2005
ThumbJPG Apr 9, 2005
This library is an external-drive backup copy of my HD photo library (that no longer exists).
==> What to do next?
1. How to check if my keywords information is still present in my original iPhoto library? Is there any solution to get back my photo with their keywords?
2. Manage my iPhoto library with a smaller quantity of pictures, to ease backup and conversion. I have understood that iPhoto Libray Manager is a convenient free software to merge/de-merge libraries. Is that correct?
Thanks for your help,
Nicolas

NicoSou
This sounds to me like your v5 library is corrupted.
Try using the rebuild command from iPhoto Library Manager to recreate the library - it won't get everything, but should get albums and keywords. Read the iPhoto Library Manager Help for more details.
Regards
TD

How do i launch iphoto on an external drive with my iphoto library already on it, how do i launch iphoto on an external drive with my iphoto library already on it

how do i launch iphoto on an external drive with my iphoto library already on it, how do i launch iphoto on an external drive with my iphoto library already on it

If you start iPhoto while holding down the option key you will get the library choice window.
From here you can select the library on the external drive and have iPhoto open it.

Help to restore iPhoto Library from TM backup

I use an external hard drive to store my iPhoto Library which was manually added to my Time Machine backup as my iMac internal hard drive is insufficient to store all my media.
I set up Time Machine to back up both the iMac and the 1TB external drive to a second 3TB external drive. Now that the 1TB drive with my iPhoto Library has failed, I seem to be having problems restoring all the media from 2TB drive. This is because the Time Capsule interface is designed to display finder windows at various points in time so you can go back to when your missing files existed and restore them.
The problem is that I need the entire contents of the dead 1TB drive restored to a new drive. When I open the 3TB drive in a Finder window I can clearly see that it has backups of the 1TB drive, but they are spread out among different folder snapshots of various dates.
How can I use Time Machine to restore the entire contents of the dead 1TB external drive from the 3TB TM backup to a new external drive?

To restore the dead drive from your Time Machine backup use Pondini's FAQ, that Larry pointed to - a combination of the entries 17 and 16.
You need first to open the backup in Time Machine, as described in item 17. " How can I see my backups, or the Backups for a different Mac? http://pondini.org/TM/17.html ", and then restore to the new drive, using the procedure "16. How can I restore a file/folder to an alternate location? http://pondini.org/TM/16.html"

Help with Sharing iPhoto 9.5.1 library between users on same computer

Hi,
I have upgraded operating systems to Maverick on my macbookpro which also upgraded iphoto to 9.5.1. Previously in IPhoto I could choose to share the library in each of three user accounts. The third account was used only for gathering photos to make books, calendars etc. There does not appear to be a way to do this now. How do I share libraries on the same computer without creating a library on a separate device?
So frustrating....I was right in the middle of creating a book.
Thanks for any help.

That particular feature has been discontinued with iPhoto 9.5.1. However, you can use iCloud to share photos via Shared Photo Streams. Each user account will need their own iCloud account and each user can create Shared Photo Streams to be shared with the other accounts. The photos in the SFSs can be downloaded by any account with access to the stream.
Anbother option would be to create a Dropbox account and when the 2 accouts come across photos to be used in a project they can export the original file to the Dropbox in the account so they can be downloaded into the 3rd account and imported into the project library.
If you have an external HD you could put the project library on it and access it from each of the other 2 accounts. Project photos could be added to that library directly by the other 2 accounts by exporting to the desktop and importing into the projects library with an easy library switch. Or one can use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager to copy selected albums between libraries.
OT

Help! I can't sync my phone with new iPhoto library

I recently split my iPhoto library into two separate libraries to save space on my hard drive. One is now on an external drive and the one that I want to sync with my iPhone is on my hard drive. Now when I try to save the iPhone and asks me to choose a library but won't allow me to choose the new library I created. the library is located in my pictures folder. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Version 11.1.5.5 of iTunes was just released today. If you update to that, does that help with the recognition troubles?
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Problems with copying iPhoto library onto new hard drive from external HELP

I had to get a new hard drive installed onto my MacBook Pro, but was able to copy my iPhoto library onto my external hard drive via another computer before the old hard drive failed. Now, I am trying to copy that library back onto my MacBook.
After I copied the library onto the MacBook, when iPhoto was opened, it showed no photos but I could see album titles. Then when I opened iPhoto while holding down the option key, it was all clumped into one event and not nearly all of the photos were there. Also, I have right-clicked on the library to see package contents and everything seems to be there, but I don't know how to make it all show up in the library.
I've downloaded iPhoto Library Manager because I thought that might help (but haven't used it yet -- don't know how) and I just need some help to recover my iPhoto library... and is there a way to restore all the separate events imported and time/date stamps, in order to get all the photos in chronological order?

Should I just go through the iPhoto Library package contents and drag every folder into iPhoto?
No. That will get you massive duplication.
Try these in order - from best option on down...
1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 08* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
Regards
TD

Is there a way to open an iphoto 9 with a iphoto library that was saved in iphoto 11?

I recently reformatted my hard drive which had iPhoto 11 on it. I backed up the iphoto library by copying it to an external hard drive.
I re installed Snow Leopard on my Macbook and do not want to re install iPhoto 11 or Mountain Lion as my Macbook struggles with lack of RAM.
I copied the iPhoto library to my Pictures folder but cannot open my library since it was upgraded in iPhoto 11.
Is there a way to roll the library back to allow it to open in iPhoto 9?
Thanks

Have a look at the paid version of
iPhoto Library Manager
It promises to be able to downgrade your library - I have not tried it yet, so test with a trial library:
http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/Help/downgrading%20a%20library%20to%20an%20ea rlier%20version%20of%20iphoto.html
Regards
Léonie

Hard Drive Crashed and Ended Up with older iphoto- Library wont transfer

I have been using my macbook for two years now and have used iphoto since I got it to start saving all my pictures (some 6 to 7 thousand pictures) though I never did check what version it was. I had made a back up of my iPhoto Library and good thing I did because my hard drive crashed.
I had kept all my photos organized by Events, rather than dates and such because I scanned photos in here and there as well. However, after I had my new operating system installed, I plugged in my external drive to transfer my iPhoto library into iPhoto (by clicking on the iphoto icon while holding option/shift to choose a library) but it came up with an arrow message saying that I needed a new version of iPhoto for it to work. Sure enough, when I just let iPhoto open up with a new library it would not in any way let me sort photos by events, just by year.
I tried reinstalling iPhoto with the original disks my macbook came with and even downloaded an update. This may not seem like a huge problem because thankfully i still have all my pictures but they are all over the place and organizing all of the pictures again would take a ton of time.
I do not get how I started with a newer version of iPhoto that let me organize my photos by events compared to the one I have now that came on my installation disk. I dont want to pay for a new copy of iPhoto if my macbook already came with it installed when I first bought it but I want my Library and its Events and albums to work (which it does because I tried it on a newer macbook) Any ideas? Thanks

Okay Sory about that. Here is the problem- i think- When I bought my laptop in May of 2007, the iPhoto that came preinstalled was a better version than the one that came on my Mac OS X install disk that I now have to use since my hard drive crashed.
In iPhoto 6, you can not sort photos by Events, only by date. In iPhoto 7.1 you can because when I tried opening my library on another computer with that version of iPhoto by holding down option/shift and choosing my library from my external drive, it worked since all my named events showed up.
I never bought an update for iLife, nor did I ever have my computer worked on. I only downloaded the free updatess for my specific version from the internet, what ever version it was.
I have always been able to sort my pictures by Events because when I bought my macbook, I immediately put pictures on it (my Library can prove that). I really do not want to buy the iLife 08' if I had already had the better version of iPhoto on my computer before it crashed.
I guess, is it possible that I did have iPhoto 7.something installed on my computer when I bought it (or at least an iPhoto that can sort pictures by events, since that is the main problem) and have an older version on the install disk it came with? That is the only conclusion I can reach.
Thank you for your help.

Help! Whole Iphoto library is gone.

So I have been having a few problems with the computer shutting down lately but I haven't noticed any major problems when rebooting. But then I went to open iPhoto and my entire library is gone. When I go into finder they are all still in folders under the iPhoto library but when I try to resync the folders to the iPhoto library while the application is open but it won't let me. I tried syncing a new set of pictures and it worked and saved to iPhoto but those are the only pictures that show when I open the application please help!!!

Your database has been corrupted.
Try these in order - from best option on down...
1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 6* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Rolls and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Roll Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
Regards
TD

Something weird is going on with my iPhoto library!

Help! I tried to import a photo from my scanner and it didn't work. The only problem now is that each time I start up iPhoto I get a message...
"A photo has been found in the iPhoto Library that was not imported. Would you like to import it?"
Whether I choose Yes or No I get the following message...
"Unreadable files: 1. The following file could not be imported." It then puts the file in a iPhoto recovered photos folder in my shared area.
This on its own wouldn't be a problem (just a nuisance) but since then I have been unable to import photos from anywhere else into iPhoto. When I try I get a different message that says...
"Unreadable files: 6. The following files could not be imported (they may be an unrecognized file type or the files may not contain valid data).
I'm pretty sure the files are fine I can copy them to the computer and view them as jpegs but I can't get them into iPhoto.
Any ideas?

Yes that worked. I also realised that I'd tried to scan as another user on the Mac, so I logged in as that user and got rid of the offending photo.
So now I'm back in the original user and my Import folder is at the desktop and I can import new photos from my SD card...hooray! However when I try to move the import folder back to the iPhoto library I get the original error when trying to import new stuff. Am I stuck with my Import folder on the desktop? (Not a big deal if I am, just wondering)
Thank you!

Problem with rebuilding iPhoto library

Hi,
I'm having problem to rebuild my iPhoto library. I have more than 11 000 photos / video clips and 70Gbs in my iPhoto library and everything has been ok until I started to import photos from my new iPhone 4. First issue was that when I imported photos from iPhone those new photos disappeared after restart of iPhoto. I read from somewhere that iPhoto library rebuild -functions might help and I rebuild the library and thumbnails. It actually worked for that problem. After that those photos which I imported from iPhone remained in iPhoto and I even got some disappeared photos back. But after that rebuilt I noticed that most of the video clips could not be opened inside iPhoto. When clicking thumbnail of a video clip just a big exclamation mark jumped up. I checked from iPhoto library originals -folder that those video clips still remain. From there I can open the clips in Quicktime Player. So, I tried to rebuild my library again. Rebuilding started ok, it went smoothly up to 65% but ceased there. Now it has been in that 65% -condition for 24 hours and I don't know what to do. I don't know if it's still actually doing something or not. "Force to quit" -function does not say that iPhoto is not answering and "System Monitoring" shows that there are still some messages going on in iPhoto -process. I don't know should I force iPhoto to quit or just wait another 24 hours...
Any advices what I should do and how I can get my video clip viewing back to iPhoto?
Computer is iMac 2006 with OS 10.6.8 and iPhoto is version 9.1.5. I have both Quicktime players (7 and 10) installed.
BR,
Osku from Finland

If the rebuild doesn't help try Fix 101: make a temporary, backup copy of the library if you don't already have a backup copy and try the following:
1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your
User/Home()/Library/ Preferences folder.
2 - delete iPhoto's cache file, Cache.db, that is located in your
User/Home()/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder.
3 - launch iPhoto and try again.
NOTE: If you're moved your library from its default location in your Home/Pictures folder you will have to point iPhoto to its new location when you next open iPhoto by holding down the Option key when launching iPhoto. You'll also have to reset the iPhoto's various preferences.
OT

I'm trying to merge (unify) my Aperture library with my iphoto library and have doen the merge and consolidate functions in Aperture. I have found that this process increased my Aperture library form 30 to 39 gigs and duplicated many photos in the proces

I've just merged my Aperture and iphoto libraries and have found that my combined new Aperture library has grown from about 30 gigs (the total size of the Aperture and iphoto libbraries prior to merging) to 40 gigs. Also, in reviewing photos in the Aperture browser I find that photos appaer as duplicated, one photo with no tag (the original) followed by the same photo with a small tag (suggesting edits). HAs the merge process caused an unintended increase in library size? My initial reason do consolidate the libraries was to eliminate the "referenced" portion fo the Aperture library that refernced the iphoto originals. Any thoughts as to how I can get one consolidated non-referenced combined libray inside Aperture with no duplicates. I run a Time Capsule and can access backups of the original Aperture and Iphoto libraries if I need to repeat the process. Thanks for any help. Jim.

My initial reason do consolidate the libraries was to eliminate the "referenced" portion fo the Aperture library that refernced the iphoto originals
One for the Consolidate Masters command.
By importing the Library you brought over everything, lock stock and barrell, and your Aperture library still points to those referenced masters in the iPhoto Library.
Regards
TD

Problems with burning iPhoto library to DVD

When I try to burn my iPhoto library to a DVD, iPhoto eventually always crashes.
iPhoto will prepare to burn and the window to select output drive, spee, etc. will com up. After clicking on "burn", iPhoto is always end.
What could be wrong?
Is my iPhoto library maybe corrupted?
If yes, can I do something about it?
Infos:
iBook G4, 640 RAM, HD 30GB (3.72 available), OSX Tiger, external LACIE d2 DUAL DVD+-RW DRIVE, iPhoto library: 3.53 GB
Thanks for any help!

Hi iRose,
Thanks for giving all your info. Your free space on your hard drive is not enough to do a successful burn of the entire iPhoto Library. Do you have an external drive? Is your drive supported for iPhoto burning? usually on the internal that comes with the computer is supported.
Try instead to burn the entire iPhoto Library folder in the Finder using your external burner.
Close iPhoto
I can't burn a Cd or DVD
The next info is from iPhoto FAQ on the Apple site
Question 5: Can I burn a CD or DVD to back up my iPhoto library?
Answer: Yes, you can easily back up your iPhoto library by using the CD burning capabilities of Mac OS X. Simply insert a blank CD into your internal or external CD-RW drive and copy the iPhoto library to the CD icon on your desktop. When you drag the CD icon to the Trash/Eject button in the Dock, you are given the option to burn the CD. Click Burn and the CD is created. To burn a DVD backup of your digital images, use iDVD and a SuperDrive-equipped Mac.
Lori

Help with 'unlocking' iPhoto Library! SO LOST!

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