IPhoto Albums to Folders in Finder?

OK...I think I'm getting the hang of the iPhoto system. I had all of my photos organized in folders on my PC. I have now learned that when I drag each folder into iPhoto an album is automatically created. COOL! But...
What about going the other way? If I ever want to burn some photos on a CD and would like to have those photos organized as I have them on the album? I know that there may come "a day" when I need to transport pics and view, org, print, on a PC and I want to view my organization. I tried to drag the album into the finder and it won't take. I also tried exporting but it exports the files and not the album. I'd have to manually create all the folders in Finder one at a time and than export the appropriate photos into them. Is there a simpler way?
I'm definitely more comfortable using iPhoto. Now, I'm just trying to make sure that I'm not in a bind later.
Thanks in advance for your help!

chnewtomac;
To move a photo to another roll you must drop it on the roll icon/title. Not in side the roll if it is open. That gets a lot of users at first.
As far as those deleted files are concerned check the iPhoto Trash bin. Hitting the delete key on a selected photo in a roll only moves it to the iPhoto Trash bin. You need to empty the trash with either the CommandShiftDelete key combination or the iPhoto->Empty Trash menu option.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Similar Messages

IPhoto albums not found in Finder window

I have all my photos well organized in iPhoto, in albums and folders - all labelled exactly what they are. However if I go into the iPhoto Library via a Finder window all I get are numbers which mean nothing to me. My titles don't show at all and I've no idea how to quickly find the image I want.
Incidentally, when I'm in iPhoto the titles do show in the information panel.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Many thanks

Hi Dijw,
iPhoto 5 now stores the Album information in a data xml file. The Albums folder within the iPhoto Library folder is no longer used. At some point, usually after a rebuild, you will no longer have that folder in the Finder.
If you need to access photos from an album it is very difficult for a third party application to navigate the iPhoto Library in order to find the photo you need. You will have to know the date of import in order to find the photo.
There are some third party applications that can read the xml file and can navigate the iPhoto library and show you the Albums. Hopefully more applications will be revised to read this file.
Until then you will have to Share/Export the photos to the desktop. You can then navigate to the desktop to use the photos (example: web uploading from online photo site)
If your application supports drag and drop, you can drag the photo from an open iPhoto Library window into your application.
For email you can also use the email icon within iPhoto to open a message with the highlighted photo attached.
You can also use spotlight to find images in an Album...
This is what I have done using Spotlight to find my images that are in iPhoto albums without opening iPhoto..
In iPhoto, select the album, then select all, go to Photos/batch change.
Change the comments to text. In the text field I put the name of the Album.
Do this for each album.
Close iPhoto.
Open Spotlight and put in the name of the Album ( you have to remember the names of the albums or have then written down)
In the spotlight search results. click on "show all"
Under "Images" click on the "xx more" to show all the images in the album.
Make sure you have it in icon view, the icon view box is the last one on the blue images line.
Now you can control click on the image to "reveal in finder", open in iPhoto or Mail, etc.
I am not sure if this is going to make you happy and it is a little more work, but you can find images in albums and even view them in a slideshow (by clicking the play arrow at the end of the Images highlighted blue line) using Spotlight, all without opening iPhoto.
One important thing to know is you can set up a graphic program to be an external editor (when you double click an image in the library} such as PhotoShop or PS Elements. You set up that within iPhoto Preferences. Just make sure you save the image flattened and with the same name. The edits will then be relected in iPhoto when you hit "save".
I have just found this useful piece of info at Macoshints.com
"Since Apple developed its "digital hub", with iLife and now iWork, I have wanted to have a system-wide panel that would let me choose pictures from my iPhoto library without having to open the application.
For example, if I want to add a picture to a TextEdit RTFD document, I had to launch iPhoto, chose the picture, and drag it to the document. Waiting for iPhoto to launch can be long if you have a lot of photos.
But there is a way to get around this, using an Automator action.
1. Open Automator, and click iPhoto.
2. From the list of actions, select Ask for Photos, and drag it to the right-hand pane.
3. Save this as a plug-in, and select Script Menu (the script menu that displays in the menu bar) so it is accessible anywhere. (If this menu is not visible, launch the AppleScript Utility in /Applications/Applescript, and check 'Show Script Menu in menu bar.')
Next time you need a picture from your iPhoto library, select this action from the AppleScript menu, and you'll have a media browser that lets you do so without opening iPhoto. "
Two Apple kbs for you to read
Don't tamper with files in the iPhoto library folder
About the iPhoto Library folder
Now for the titles issue...titles you give images in iPhoto stay within iPhoto. The original file name always remains the same in the Finder.
Now for finding the photos in the Finder.
iPhoto 6 Library folder in the Finder
As you can see the structure is now related to rolls. Rolls are created for each folder you import and each import session from a camera.
It is very easy to change the names of film rolls within iPhoto to make them easier to find images within. Open the info panel in iPhoto by clicking on the "i" icon. Once it is opened, click on the roll title in the viewing window.
Click on the word "title" in the info pane and type in your new title. I like to use a date and text format such as 12/25/05 Christmas at Mom's, 1/05/06 my birthday, etc. Once the roll names are changed within iPhoto, they are also changed within the Finder, making it easy to locate an image.
When importing from a camera, make sure you name the roll with a date and text before the import.

IPhoto albums and folders lost after transfer of library to new Mac

After transferring iPhoto library from old Mac Book Pro (running OS X 10.8.5, iPhoto 08 7.1.5) to new Mac Book Pro (OSX 10.9.1, iPhoto 9.5) all of the albums and folders from the old library have been lost and photos are just listed as events. It would take a long time to rearrange all the photos into the original albums and folders. Apple one -to -one sessions in store x2 unable to solve just said that the old library must be corrupted
I still have the old photo album arranged in albums and folders on the old Mac.
I also have iPhoto buddy installed on old Mac and have tried transferring to new Mac with and without iPhoto installed but either way albums and folders were lost.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Would upgrading old Mac Book Pro to Mavericks and then upgrading iPhoto before transferring the library be a solution?

I tried again with iPhoto updater and this time it worked on 2 of my 3 libraries so the albums and folders were preserved. I also had not realised that iPhoto updater needed to be opened from Utilities folder nad had thought it would work automatically once downloaded (one -to -one in store trainer had not realised this either).
I then remembered that there was one .mov file shot on my " still "digital camera in an iPhoto album. Once I removed this iPhoto updater worked on the 3rd library so old folders and albums preserved.
Even then there was one small folder of images which has not transfered via Target mode. For unknown reasons when I transferred these images from camera to old MCP they were jumbled and not in normal date order. I will try transferring these images to new MBP on a memory stick.
Thanks for persuading me to persist

Sort iPhoto Albums NOT Folders

I know that in iPhoto you can sort FOLDERS, but I want to sort the ALBUMS INSIDE of a Folder.
I have not been able to find any answers to this question on the web. Any help would be great.
Thanks
Herb

TD, There are folders on the left and then under Parrotheads there are albums. The albums are what I would like to sort. I can sort the folders without a problem.
Thanks,
Herb

Transferring pictures/albums from Photos to Finder and Flickr

I am currently running OS X 10.10.3 which now has Photos. I am trying to transfer albums to folders in Finder in order to send individual pictures as e-mail attachments as well as upload pictures/albums to Flickr. However, I am seemingly unable to either drag, share or otherwise move any albums from Photos. Guidance please.

Hi eprec15,
The page linked below details how to go about exporting images from Photos.
Photos Help - Export photos, videos, and slideshows
https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/index.html#/pht6e157c5f
All my best,
Allen

Albums vs Folders from iPhoto does not show folders on Apple TV

Does anyone have a work around to assist organization of Albums on Apple TV into Folders from iPhoto. We have 12,000 images on iMac organized into 30 Folders within which are 80++ albums. When synced the Apple TV only displays albums, all Folders deleted. The consequence is having to scroll through the 80+ albums when seeking the one album you want to watch. This poor form of organization on Apple TV is really cumbersome and driving us nuts.

Welcome to the  Discussion Forums
The tv can use events as well as albums, although this doesn't resolve the OP's issue, which is simply one of a large number of photo albums. I have a lot of photo albums (without checking, I think I have around 250) and scrolling through them can be challenging.
What I do is to keep albums organised into groups such as 'Holidays', 'Weddings' etc and introduce a specific character at the start of the album title, which indicates which group the album belongs to.
For example ' ☼ Marmaris 2008 ' or ' ♡ Mark and Jasmine's Wedding 1969 '
It doesn't reduce the long list of albums on the tv, but it does help to keep themed albums together in the list and so makes finding the specific album you are looking for much easier.

Cant find iPhoto albums when trying to upload picture on browser!!

Whenever i try to attach a picture online i go to >Pictures>Iphoto Library
but my when i click on iphoto library it doesnt open up to any of my folders/albums..
it just closes and doesnt give me the next option and i tried looking on finder for the albums but i could find them :/

The firs one of these...
There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto: You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
(Note the above illustration is not a Finder Window. It's the dialogue you get when you go File -> Open)
You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
There's a similar option in Outlook and many, many other apps. If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running:
For users of 10.6 and later: You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu.
Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
For Users of 10.4 and 10.5 Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
Drag and Drop: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
File -> Export: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
Show File: a. On iPhoto 09 and earlier: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected. 3.b.
b: On iPhoto 11 and later: Select one of the affected photos in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Reveal in Finder -> Original. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.

How to export iPhoto Album in iMAC and have similar folder structure(with Timestamps) which can be viewed in finder

How to export iPhoto Album in iMAC and have similar folder structure(with Timestamps) which can be viewed in finder
In simple terms, I wanted to view the photos in Windows system, similar strcture of iPhotos

If you want to copy all of your photos to a Windows machine and have them in folders representing the iPhoto Events the were in quickly and easily just do the following:
1 - open the library with the Finder as shown in this screenshot:
2 - COPY the Originals/Masters folder to the Desktop.
3 - copy the Originals/Masters folder to the Windows machine.
This will give you all of your original image file in their Event folder on the Windows machine.
NOTE: With iPhoto 8 or newer the Event folders in the Masters folder will be titled by date (EXIF) if imported from a camera. If imported from a folder the event folder will have the same title as the source folder. If imported singularly or in a group without a folder the title will be a date, either the EXIF date or import date.
With iPhoto 7 (08) and earlier the Event folders in the Originals folder will have the same title as the Event has in the library.
This method would be quicker but not provide the additional metadata you might have added in iPhoto like keywords, titles, descriptions that exporting out of iPhoto with Format=JPEG and the checkboxes selected to include keywords, titles, places, etc, checked.
OT

Renaming iPhoto album folders

I just found out I committed the cardinal sin of renaming iPhoto album folders while in Finder. Of course now nothing shows up in iPhoto app except empty shells of what used to be my photos. All the original photo file names are still the same, I only changed the folder names that they reside in. Is there something I can do to re-access all my photos in the library?

David,
You could rename the folders back to their original name. How large is your library and how many changes did you make? Folders are named year/month/date, all in numbers such as 2005/09/13. You can look a a few photos in each folder and determine the proper naming scheme. If you have a large library, this could be quite an effort. If you moved files around after renaming the folders, you are in for an even bigger task and one that may not be realistic to get right.
You could also extract your photos using iPhoto Extractor and then re-import the photos into a new iPhoto Library.
Hope this helped!
Sam

Why can't i see Iphoto Library as normal folders in finder as Microsoft Windows?

I've been having troubles with this for a long time.
In Microsoft Windows, you don't have any original program as Iphoto, so you have all your transfered photos in folders on "my computer".
In Mac, however, you have Iphoto, and every time you sync your Iphone and transfer your photos to Iphoto, you only have acces to the original files you transfered by opening Iphoto and revealing the original files in Finder (command + shift + R).
That's the way i found to manage my original files. I don't like it though.
I want to know if there is any possible way you can manage/have access to your Iphoto Library simply by opening Finder, and not only in Iphoto.
If i wasn't clear, let me try to suggest you to see it by yourself: Open Finder and search the original file of a picture you have on Iphoto. Normally, you don't find it. So you have to open Iphoto, click on the picture you want to use, reveal it in Finder and then do whatever you need with it.
The problem is that this picture was already in Iphoto Library, which is visible in Finder, but there is no way you can open the Iphoto Library without being redirected to Iphoto.
Sorry if I wasn't clear enough.
Thanks a lot!
Matheus.

In your pictures folder of your user directory, there will be a file called iPhoto Library. Control-click on it and show the contents. All of your pictures will be inside of there. HOWEVER, i you edit, delete, rename, etc... any photos from that folder, you can corrupt your iPhoto Library.

I set my iPhoto to save photos to a non-default location. Now I can't find my iPhoto albums in iTunes, even when looking in my non-default location in the "Sync Photos from" menu. How do I fix this?

I set my iPhoto to save photos to a non-default location. Now I can't find my iPhoto albums in iTunes, even when looking in my non-default location in the "Sync Photos from" menu. How do I fix this?

When you launch iPhoto with the option key depressed you'll get this window:
Click to view full size
All libraries on your hard drive (and on external drives) will be listed and the currently used library will be listed as (default).
OT

I'm trying to place an order for 3 iPhoto Albums, but the system won't take the billing address. I'm in Costa Rica and will send the albums to an address in Miami. Can't find any support live chat for billing issues.

I'm trying to place an order for 3 iPhoto Albums, but the system won't take the billing address. I'm in Costa Rica and will send the albums to an address in Miami. Can't find any support live chat for billing issues.

You need to use a credit card with a billing address in the same country as the delivery address. Since there's no Apple Print Store for Costa Rica I assume you're using the United States print store. Therefore you'll need a credit card with a billing address in the US.
OT

I'm trying to email a photo from my iPhoto album, but I'm getting an error message that says "The email server didn't recognize your username/password combination." Any ideas? I can't find any help in Apple on-line support.

I'm trying to email a photo from one of my iPhoto albums, however I'm getting an error message that says "The email server didn’t recognize your username/password combination." Any ideas? I can't find any help in Apple on-line support.

Never mind. I was able to find the solution via an earlier post from West. Thank you!

How can open an iPhoto album from Finder?

I want to be able to double-click on something in Finder that will open up iPhoto to a specific album.
For a lengthy explanation, read on.
In Finder, I'm making a folder which will hold everything plot-related about the video game The Last of Us (for my own plot-referencing pleasure). Right now it contains a bunch of video clips. Well, you know that comic book prequel of the game; "American Dreams" it's called? I scanned the pages of it and saved the images to my computer, and I want to be able to access them from the Finder folder I'm making.
I could just stuff them in as lone JPGs that open individually in Preview...but I object to doing that, because first off, Preview is ugly, and I don't want my vibe getting ruined by all that white and grey. Second, I want be able to quickly flip through the scanned pages, rather than open the images one at a time. Trying to solve that second issue, I saved all the images into one PDF so I'd be able to easily flip through the images like I want to, but when I looked the PDF over, I realized I still didn't like the feel of that Preview format. Still too grey and white and ew.
SO, I put all the images, in order, into iPhoto (in an album that I named "TLoU: American Dreams - Scanned Pages"). They look great in iPhoto! Only thing is... Yeah, the images are nice and tidy in the iPhoto album...but to view them in iPhoto, I have to open up that application and navigate to the album. Which doesn't jibe with my original idea of packing all TLoU-related files into one Finder folder.
***With MP4 video files, you can double-click on one in Finder and it'll take you right to QuickTime Player. With JPGs, when you double-click in Finder it'll open up in Preview. I could set the preferences so that it'd open the image using iPhoto, but then I'd just be viewing a single image in iPhoto. I want to be taken to an album of pictures in iPhoto. I want to double-click on something in Finder that will open up to an album in iPhoto.***
Is this possible? How do I do it? (If it's not possible, then can you suggest for some kind of workaround?)
Thanks so much. If it seems like I'm awfully nitpicky, it's because I am.

Also, if you just want to chat about TLoU, I'm perfectly fine with that as well

Organizing Albums in Folders still possible in iPhoto '08?

Hi everyone,
I still have to upgrade to iPhoto '08 but there is one thing that puts me off: when watching the online tutorial it seems that you can't add folders anymore in iPhoto '08 and subsequently can't organize albums in diffferent folders, which is what i need, however.
Can anyone of you who already use the software tell me whether the use of folders is still possible in iPhoto '08 or not?
Thanks so much in advance,
Peter

Hi, Peter!
I just installed iLife '08 and finished upgrading. I can put albums in folders just fine. New Folder is in the File menu. Something feels simpler but I can't put my finger on it. Anyhow, the categories (in caps) do fold up if you click the triangles. This should be useful indeed.

IPhoto Albums to Folders in Finder?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for