IPhoto automatically flags all photos in Library

I feel like I am going crazy. I am using photo-flagging in iPhoto as a way of creating long-lists and short-lists as albums. Should work fine, although people may have a better way to do this.
However what's really frustrating is that once I have cleared all flagged photos, I flag a set of photos within an existing album, then click on "Flagged Photos" underneath "Recent", and - hey presto - every single photo (17,800) in my library is flagged and I have therefore lost the short-list I have created.
What is causing this to happen? It's really frustrating and I find it hard to believe that such a bug has not attracted more comments in this community.
Thanks for any help you can offer - or any ideas on what I might be inadvertently doing to cause this.

Try to find out if this problem is specific to your user account or to your current iPhoto library.
I'd also quit iPhoto and log off and on again, to be sure to be testing with a restarted iPhoto process.
To check your current iPhoto library: Relaunch iPhoto with the ⌥-key held down and select "other/new" to craete a new, empty iPhoto library. Imprt some photos, and check, if you can flag photos. If this does succeed, and you can view the "flagged" album, repair or rebuild your iPhoto Library, see: iPhoto 6 and later: Rebuilding the iPhoto library
To check, if settings in your User account are causing this, log into a different account (don't do any customizations there), for example the "guest" account, and launch iPhoto there. Does flagging work correctly in another account?
Regards
Léonie

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Force iphoto to store all photos in library

I have iPhoto 9 running on a brand new MacBook Air, and my problem is twofold.
Firstly, when I initially created the library, I imported the photos from a variety of folders copied onto an external HDD (which is the location of the iPhoto library too, for information purposese). However, the 'copy files to iPhoto library' option was not checked, so it appears on first impression that the files are referenced and not stored. I realise this was a mistake, not least because all the sorting and deleting I have done within iPhoto is a waste of time, because I have to keep the original folders and cannot delete them, because iPhoto cannot find the files if I do. So the first question is 1) can I force iPhoto to copy all the photos from the original location to its own library so they are not referenced, but managed files? I have tried checking the option to 'copy imported photos into iPhoto', shutting down then restarting in the hope it would do this, but when I delete the original reference folder from which they were imported, iPhoto wont find them - so clearly it hasnt worked. I cannot believe that I will have to start again and there isnt a way to now force iPhoto to just store all the photos it uses, within its own library and allow me to delete the original folders. Can anybody help?
Secondly, I am trying to create a Photobook from within a piece of Third Party software - When I navigate to the 'Masters' folder in iPhoto it wont allow the files to be previewed and dropped into the photobook. So if I do all my photo management within iPhoto, is there any way to be able to view the photos in a finder style window from within the third party software (which for information is CEWE Photoworld, built for Mac)? It seems rather ridiculous that if you manage your photos in iPhoto, you cannot then view them in anything else, or do anything with them. There must surely be some way to open the library and be able to 'use' my organised and edited photos elsewhere...? Otherwise the software I am trying to use is completely and utterly pointless, as most people will presumably use iPhoto (being free and part of the basic Mac software package) as their photo management and editing suite. To say I am frustrated is an understatement.
Hoping somebody can come to the rescue and sort these problems out.
Thanks in advance.

You can get all of the photos into the library by setting iPhoto's preferences to copy during import. Then do the following:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.>Click on the Add Library button,
2 - select the library you want to add from those in the selection window.
3 - make sure that in the rebuild window the checkbox "Scavange orphaned photos" is checked.
4 - now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
5 - in the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed. Click on the Create button.
Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.
Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
The rebuild library will have all of the photos imported into the library. If you can live with the loss of the projects, i.e. books, etc., keep the rebuild library and delete the old library..
As for accessing the photos for the 3rd party application you do not need to access the Masters folder via the Finder and should not. You can drag a photos from the open iPhoto window into the other apps window or use one of the methods described in the following User Tip by Terence Devlin : How to Access Files in iPhoto

IPhoto automatically flags entire library

My iPhoto has started flagging all pictures if I flag more than about 20.
I flag some to move to their proper events, and if I do just a few, I can click on "flagged" on the side album and see what I've selected. But if there are 30 or 40, it automatically flags all the rest of the 37,000+ photos.
Then after unflagging, I have to close and open iPhoto for them to unflag

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 (Snow Leopard and Earlier).
or with Lion and Mt. Lion from the User/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/
Data/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder
3 - launch iPhoto and try again.
NOTE 1: 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.
NOTE 2: In Lion and Mountain Lion the Library folder is now invisible. To make it permanently visible enter the following in the Terminal application window: chflags nohidden ~/Library and hit the Enter button - 10.7: Un-hide the User Library folder.
OT

Why does iPhoto 6 imports all photos in two folders: modified and original

I upgraded from iPhoto 5 to 6. Now I have all my photos in the order and with the name I have given to the rolls. Great!
However, everytime I import new photos from my compact flash card iPhoto automatically modifies the photos by reducing the size and adjusting the orientation. These photos are on average 25-50% of the original size and are saved under the folder: pictures /iPhoto library /modified.
At the same time iPhoto saves the original photos to the folder: pictures/iPhoto library / originals.
The problem is that having more then 6GB of photos this set-up starts to fill my harddisk (presently an additional 2 GB).
How can I change or cancel this feature. Does anybody have an idea or similiar expierence.
thanks, Baguette

baguette
How can I change or cancel this feature
You can't.
Does anybody have an idea or similiar expierence.
Everybody does.
iPhoto is not just an image viewer, but is a Database with a built-in image viewer, version control and lightweight editing.
A Note about the iPhoto Library Folder:
In this folder there are various files, which are the Library itself and some ancillary files. Then you have three folders
Originals are the photos as they were downloaded from your camera or scanner.
(ii) Modified contains edited pics, shots that you have cropped, rotated or changed in any way. This also includes photos that have been auto-rotated by your camera.
This allows the Photos -> Revert to Original command - very useful if you don't like the changes you've made.
(iii) Data holds the thumbnails the the app needs to show you the photos in the iPhoto Window.
So each element is there for a reason and there is no actual duplication.
The notion of version control (the ability to revert to an Original) is central to the philosophy of the application, and if you don't want the feature, then the application may not be for you. There are many image viewers available.
Regards
TD

Why does iphoto not copy all photos when transfering

Hi peeps.
why does iPhoto not copy all photos from an event when im copy/pasting to an external folder on my mac(for later transfer). All softwares are up to date and ive only just realised it happens, but when i copy all pics in an event then paste in a folder, the pic count is substantially different. for example i select all pictures in an event called 'new1', the count of files is 188. i then copy/ paste to a folder, select all files and check 'info' and it says 141 files???
all i can see painstakingly going through to compare which images are in each place is that the ones that arent in my new folder , seem to be the ones ive edited in iPhoto?? conincidence? or am I missing something fundamental here? Ive only just realised this is occuring. The trouble is, after moving images to folders/hard drives I subsequently delete them from iphoto to keep my macbook airs HDD with some space. So basically all of the versions of pictures I want, i.e, the new edited and adjusted versions are no longer! NOT HANDY!
help please.

We've seen a few reports of this in the past while and no one is sure of the cause.
Use the File -> Export command. See this User Tip
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
for details of the options the Export Dialogue offers.
If you're interested in your Photos then this workflow
The trouble is, after moving images to folders/hard drives I subsequently delete them from iphoto to keep my macbook airs HDD with some space.
means you are losing quality, metadata and the version of control. If you don't want these why use iPhoto at all?
You could just move the whole Library to an external:
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Regards
TD

Iphoto 5 cannot add photos to library

hi,
most of the photos that i have on my computer are not showing up in iphoto. they're all in the correct folders (iphoto library with automatic date subfolders), and iphoto used to display them. i have tried several times to re-add the images to the library, but every time i get an error message:
Unreadable Files: 1 [or # of photos i'm trying to add]
the following files could not be imported (they may be an unrecognized file type or the files may not contain valid data).
these are just standard jpegs (and a few movies taken with a digital camera), and they work fine when opened in preview or photoshop. not that i have much use for iphoto anyway, but it would be nice to be able to use it once in a while.
i recently bought a new digital camera, but i doubt that this is the issue - both the old and new cameras are canons and work fine. any ideas?
thanks,
adam

adam
Sounds likr you may have a corrupted databae. Have a read of this article for help in recovering the situation:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107947
iPhoto will not import pics that are in the iPhoto Library Folder - a sensible precaution against duplication.
Regards
TD

IPhoto '08 shows all photos, but can't locate images in Finder

I just bought a MacBook and did an "Import to Library" from my backup external drive. All photos now appear in iPhoto including some that I just imported last night from my camera. The only problem is, I can't find the folder that actually contains all of the pictures. When I click on "Pictures" in my home folder then the iPhoto icon, iPhoto opens. Where is the folder with the actual images?

dave-m:
The photos are in the iPhoto LIbrary package in the Pictures file. SeeTD's treatis on file access. It describes three ways to access the image files.
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. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Upgraded to iPhoto '11 and all photos gone!

Upgraded to iPhoto '11 this evening from iPhoto '09 and all my photos were showing up as blanks. All my events were there and the photo outlines with the correct meta data were all there. But the photos themselves were all blank with a triangle with exclamation point in them.
The Photo Library still showed 44GB in size so I knew it was all there somewhere but nothing was rendering. Tried holding down option/command and rebuilding but that didn't help.
I finally opened up Terminal and went into the photo library and found something that was definitely not right. First the Originals directory now seemed to be a symlink to a new Masters directory and that directory was empty! I also saw a bunch of new "Old ..." directories in there for example "Old Masters". And guess what, inside the Old Masters directory were all my photos!
So I moved all those directories inside Old Masters into Masters and started iPhoto again. All my photos are still blank but if I actually double click on a picture to look at it, it shows up this time instead of the triangle with ! point in it.
I've now restarted iPhoto with option/command and am waiting for the thumbnails to rebuild. It's now taking much longer to rebuild (compared to the first time I tried the trick) and it still has not finished the rebuild process. I'm hoping once this is complete that I'll be back in business.
Looks like Apple was doing some cleaning as part of the upgrade and for some reason, it did not finish it properly. We'll see if I'm back after this rebuild.

Note, here's the sequence of events in my case:
1. Bought new iMac from Apple store
2. Copied iphoto library onto external HFS+ sata disk (~44GB in size) from my old mac's internal disk
3. Copied iphoto library from external HFS+ sata disk onto iMac internal disk
4. Ran iPhoto on iMac and it did some upgrading, etc and then came up just fine
5. Read up on the features for iPhoto '11 on Apple's website and discovered I didn't have some of the new features
6. Discovered in About iPhoto menu that I was actually running iPhoto '09 which was the default installed on my brand new iMac
7. Found that iPhoto '11 was on a DVD that came with my iMac but not pre-installed
8. Used the DVD to upgrade to iLife '11 (iPhoto '11)
9. Launched iPhoto but it did not launch saying I must run an upgrade first using Software Update
10. Launched Software Update and it found iPhoto v9.1.
11. Upgraded to it.
12. Re-launched iPhoto.
13. Started upgrading my photo library
14. Took a long time but finally finished
15. Library came up but with blank thumbnails and blank pictures with a ! triangle in them if you open the photo; but all meta data is correct
16. Ran Get Info on iPhoto Library and saw that it was still the right size (~44GB)
17. Used Terminal to go into the iPhoto Library and saw there was an Old Masters directory which contained all my photos still (hopefully)
At this point tried reading all sorts of forum posts and blogs and found nothing that worked. All pointed to upgrading to 9.0.1 and unfortunately I'm already on 9.1 as part of the software update above. Tried rebuilding, repairing, everything. Nothing works. Eventually copied out the Old Masters into my home directory and created a brand new iPhoto Library and imported everything back in. Just hoping I did not lose any of my photos but I definitely lost all the events and books (obviously).
I have some backups but they are a few months old unfortunately. And I did not even think to back up before upgrading to iPhoto '11 since I have never had an issue with an Apple iPhoto upgrade in the past. Sigh

All Photos in library are "offline or missing"

All photos say that the file is either offline or missing in LR4. Cannot export or do anything with any photos in library. I cannot find the files anywhere on the computer. Need help.

A-M:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions and Merry Christmas (hope this doesn't ruin your Christmas).I get "Unreadable Files
That message comes up because you're trying to import a file that is inside the iPhoto Library folder. That can't be done. That file is the file where your album information is stored. It belongs there. Don't mess with it.
First make a duplicate of your iPhoto Library folder - select it and type Command-D. Now launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys depressed and follow the instructions to rebuild the library. Select all the options except the last one regarding the orphaned files. That should rebuild your library and keep most of your organizational efforts intact. You may have some files that end up in a "Recovered" roll and/or album. See if that doesn't work. Good luck.

Iphoto keeps reimporting all photos on disk though i have selected hide photos already imported. this is new behaviour!

I am trying to import a few new photos from a 8gb card but Iphoto keeps reloading all the files that I have already downloaded AGAIN! This is new behaviour! I have the box ticked to Hide photos already unloded but it is grayed out so couldn't unselect if I wanted to. I've looked at the directions and they seem to say NOT to select the files on the card and drag them into Iphoto. It is taking hours to reload files that are already there. Any ideas? Cheers.

If this is new what has recently changed?
LN

IPhoto not synching all photos to iPhone 4S

When I try to sync iPhoto to my iPhone 4S it will not sync all the photos it says see iTunes for more information, but on my iPad 4th Gen it syncs all photos no problem any help will be appreciated

Accidently posted in wrong forum please move to correct one

IPhoto duplicates (doubles) all photos when importing

Hi
iMac 27 2009/10
OSX 10.8.5
iPhoto 11 9.4.3
When importing from an iPhone (and i think a digital camera) iPhoto imports say 10 photos but it puts 20 into iPhoto - i.e. it duplicates every photo it imports
It never used to do this and i can't see anywhere in preferences where there is a setting to import photos and double them up ?
When we import some 100 photos and we get 200 into iPhoto its a real pain to have to go through them and delete the duplicates

If you're shooting HDR photos with your iPhone and don't want double imports turn off the Keep Normal Photo under Settings ➙ Photos & Camera on your iPhone:
Frankly, I'd keep the normal photo. It might be far better than the HDR version, if the camera was not perfectly stabilised or the target moved. Usually it requires the large screen on the Mac to be able to compare the normal photo to the HDR version, to be able to see, if the HDR version is passable.

Will photo stream automatically sync all photos to iphoto if i am overseas

Photo stream had been turned on the whole time while I am overseas, will the photos and video i took be automatically sync to the Mac on iphoto back at home?

Just wanna clarify... i had already deleted the photos in photo stream and eventually turned it off and sign out of iCloud.... but what's been in photo stream before had already been sync to my brother's Mac and there's nothing i can do right now, is that right? and the only way i could delete my photos is to login to his computer and do it from there?

Imported thousands of photos without "copying" them to Library. Can I now have iPhoto automatically "copy" those photos?

I have thousands of pictures in my iPhoto library. Many of them were not "copied" into iPhoto when imported. I had my preferences set that way to save space on my system's hard drive. I just kept those pictures on a separate hard drive in my Mac Pro. Now I would like iPhoto to automatically "copy" those into it's library while maintaining their locations in Albums and Events. (I realize this will add many GB to the size of my Library).
Is there a way to do this?

No - what version of iPhoto are you running? Prior to iPhoto '11 Alias herder could be used to do this - http://www.rorohiko.com/wordpress/downloads/aliasherder/
LN

Can iPhoto automatically adjust one photo to match another one?

Hi everyone,
I would like to know if iPhoto (or any other application) can do the following neat trick.
Let’s say I have two very similar photos, only differing in parameters like tint, exposure, and contrast for example. Is it possible to have the application compare the two photos and automatically adjust the tint, exposure, contrast, and so on, of one photo so that it looks exactly like the other one?
Maybe no application can do that, but then do you know of any trick to help doing that manually?
Thanks in advance for any much appreciated advice.

iPhoto can't do that and I've not seen or read of any application that can. It would take some very sophisticated analytical software to be able to do that.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) 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 created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), 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. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
Note: There's now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

IPhoto automatically flags all photos in Library

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