Library folder in iPhoto

Question regarding the subfolders under the "Library" heading within iPhoto ......
I have 5 "subfolders" (for lack of the proper description) ... marked 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, "Early Photos".
The photos have been sorted into the various "folders" according to the file date on the original .jpg file. I have no problem with this, it makes sense.
However, everything with a file date of 2002 or earlier gets dumped into the "Early Photos" folder. I know there is a way to reassign a "file date" to older photos (say, old pics I've scanned in), and that's not the question.
Is there a way to add "subfolders" to that Library folder so that older pics can be better sorted in the Main Library?
Thanks in advance!
Joseph.

Joseph:
No there's no way as iPhoto has hardcoded 2003 as the breakoff for the year folders in the Source pane and everything earlier in the "Early Photo"s section. You can bring up all 2001 or 2000 image by going to the calendar at the bottom of the Source pane and clicking on the year, scrolling back to the year you want and those will be in the main window. You can also narrow it down by month that way also.
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, 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 6:Library: Pics missing in Library Folder, although visible in album

Hi. I have my iPhoto Library on an external harddisk drive. Without having tampered with the iPhoto Library Folder in the Finder, the Library Folder (in iPhoto) does not show all of my recent Pictures, although they are organized - and visible! - in albums and folders.
Also the search function does not find all pictures younger than July '06, but the pictures (in the albums) are clearly tagged August '06 to Feb '07.
In the Finder, all photos are present in the "Originals" resp. "Modified".
So the files are definitely not lost, but not organizable in iPhoto.
Rebuilding my iPhoto Library was useless, same result.
Any chance to get my Library working nicely again? Thanks for answers!

sbfrom
I'm afraid this sounds like a corrupted library file - especially as the search won't work. Do you have a current backup? If so, copy the library6.iphoto file from the backup to the iPhoto Library Folder (allow it to overwrite the existing one) and re-start iPhoto.
If not, then you'll need to create and populate a new library:
To create and populate a new library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same film rolls and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, books, calendars etc.
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library Folder on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual rolls 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 Folder 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

Images not in "~/Pictures/iPhoto Library" folder not properly handled

One of the features I was grateful for in iPhoto 6 is the ability to NOT import photos into the ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library" folder. This meant I could use iPhoto to view and edit photos without duplicating a folder structure I use for my photo files.
Unfortunately, I have now discovered that any program that attempts to access photos through the iPhoto API can see the previews for these images, but can not actually access the images. This means the "Desktop & Screen Saver PrefPane" can see the iPhoto previews, but fails to load an image for the Desktop (or Screen Saver). NOTE: It does appear that iMovie does see the photos properly, but other non-iLife portions of the MacOS don't.
Anyone got a fix for this? I suspect it is a bug in the iPhoto sharing API, but I am hoping someone might have a fix.

I don't think there is an API for iPhoto, or at least I cannot find it anywhere. Any integration with iPhoto is purely a hack.
If you can find documentation for an API, please let me know.

Photos deleted from iPhoto, but still in Library folder

iPhoto 9.5.1
Strange behavior in iPhoto : let's say I imported 100 photos. Then, in iPhoto, deleted 80, keeping 20. Emptied trash in iPhoto. Then emptied Trash in Finder.
Let's say the "_DSC1234.JPG" photo was among deleted files. When searching "_DSC1234.JPG" in Spotlight, I find it in the "Master" folder of the "iPhoto Library" folder (Photothèque in French).
I've got a lot of photos deleted, but kept in Library, Not good for privacy, not good for hard drive space.
For exemple, I find 514 ".NEF" photos in the iPhoto searchbox. But when searching in the iPhoto LIbrary folder with Spotlight for files with ".NEF" in their names, I find 1048 ! No duplicates, no previews or "faces" (hey are in JPEG), but photos I deleted, before emptying iPhoto and Finder trash !!
Rebuilding Library didn't help.
I'm using a user account not allowed to administrate the computer. Maybe a link ?
The question was already asked, but never answered :
Growing iPhoto Library, deleted photos still in folders
Deleted Photos: Why are they still in my iphoto library folder?
Photos deleted from within iPhoto are still in Library folder
Thanks for your help !

Strange behavior again, with the original library : If I select NO event and use the menu Information, I've got 14.634 photos. If I select all events, I've got 15.760 photos. How can I have more photos in all events than in my Library ??????
Check, if you have hidden photos.
File > New Smart Album, with a rule: Photo is hidden
In my iPhoto Library the "Hidden" flag accounts for the difference in the Photos count between selecting all events and no events.
Make sure, "View > Hidden Photos" is enabled in the View menu, so you can recognize hidden photos by the X.

My iphoto library folder with files of my pictures is missing from the pictures folder, only the application icon remains. I have read through similar discussions but have not managed to fix the problem with the recommended solutions. Can anyone help?

I have a Macbook Pro with iphoto '08 running on Mac OS X version 10.5.8. I used to be able to go to my pictures folder on my HD and access my pictures via that iphoto library folder. There used to be a small arrow next to the iphoto icon with all the albums then listed within the folder (to the right). That arrow is now gone and all I have is the iphoto application icon which just reopens iphoto when I click on it, but I want to be able to access the data files. Somehow I do have files btwn 2008 and 2009 but it hasn't created these since then...Could someone please help me to restore this ability? I have read other similar posts but they seem to be related to lost data all together and I do luckily have all my pictures in iphoto still. I just can't access them in the pictures folder which means I can't access them on my external hard drive. I am now out of start up disc space somehow so I figured I had to delete some albums (I have 12,090 pictures) and do have them backed up but want to make sure I can go back for them when I need them. I did export all the pictures to a folder on the hard drive but it is all 12,090 in one long list with only numbers as names and not in any order, this will be a nightmare to access later! Please help! Thank you!

You can’t open your current photo library using this version of iPhoto.
That indicates that that is your library. Put it in your Pictures folder if it already isn't there and make sure it's named "iPhoto Library". It should look like this:
Now launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and select that library to open. If you get that same message close iPhoto and try the following;
Apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.

Unable to find Iphoto library folder

I have been trying to attach photos from my gmail account, but after I browse for the iphoto library folder I'm unable to see my original and modified photos folders.
Can anyone advice how to solve!
Many thanks in advance
Raul

This is by far the most ask question - you would have had to look back at least ten posts to find the answer
look here for the complete discussion --- http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1178149&tstart=15
For g-mail specify go to you g-mail preferences and allow POP 3 access to your account and set the g-mail account up in Apple mail - then you can select photo(s) in iPhoto, click on mail and have a new e-mail created in Apple mail which you send via G-Mail
Larry Nebel

I have an external hard drive connected to my iMac 2006; the OS on this iMac has been upgraded. I wanted to have back up copies of all our photos on iPhoto; I moved the iPhoto Library folder to the EHD. Now I want to delete a lot of the photos on the iM

I want to delete the photos on the iMac's hard drive but I want all the copies on the EHD; to free up space on the iMac. I experimented by deleting one photo in the iPhoto library on iMac but when I checked the EHD, it was deleted there, too. How can I delete photos from iMac w/out deleting from EHD?

Photo Library icon that sits on my desktop
Do a Get Info in the Finder on that, is it an Alias pointing to the external drive?
Open the iPhoto Library folder on your actual internal drive in the Finder, is that deleed pic stil there?

How can I access my iPhoto library folder?

My hard drive recently had to be replaced, and when they replaced it, they updated to OSx 10.9. I had not backed up my photos before my hard drive crashed, but they backed up all my files for me. I went to open my iphoto library from the backup files and as a new (to me) version of iphoto 11 opened, I got a message saying that it had to update the photos in my library in order for them to be compatible with this version of iPhoto and that after updating them, I'd no longer be able to read them on an older version of iphoto. I clicked ok. It only imported 9 photos (out of several thousand). I went to finder and tried to open the iphoto library folder (which contains the library file and the cache, etc.), but the folder will not open. Instead, when I click to open the library folder, it brings up iphoto, as though to indicate that my library is there. Did I somehow unknowingly overwrite my library or something?? Any ideas why I can't access my iphoto library? Are my photos gone?
I'm stupid so I don't have copies of the photos anywhere else. I don't have Time Machine or anything. Did I irreversibly screw up??

I didn't think to check what photos were there or what the library size was before trying to import at first. How do I restore my backup of the iphoto library? (sorry if that's a stupid question). I checked in the Masters folder and only saw a few of my photos (the same ones that were imported to iphoto).
I definitely know it was a mistake not to have a backup of the photos. It'll be the first thing I do if I can get them back. The mistake I was referring to in my initial post was clicking "ok" when it asked to update---but from what you're saying it sounds like that wouldn't have deleted anything.
I'm thinking maybe the backup is not complete (even though I asked the tech people 5 times if it was!), because I checked the imovie events folder, and it's also empty (and it definitely shouldn't be)! If this turns out to be the case, I may have to go back to the repair place to see if they can still pull files off.

Trying to restore photos from external drive and realized TimeMachine had been turned off. Found in Imac backup folder in iPhoto library a modified folder with many of the missing pics. Can I restore these?

I recently had a hard drive crash on my iMac. After replacing the drive, I discovered that TimeMachine had apparently been turned off for six months, and all my photos from that period were missing after the restore. In looking on the external drive used by TimeMachine, I discovered a folder called Imac backup, and under iPhoto Library was a folder called Originals and subfolders for each year. To my surprise, there were photos covering the missing time period! Somehow I imported the 2011 folder from the external drive into iPhoto, and then I discovered they were small files of less than 100 KB each, not the 1-2 MB original photos. So now all of 2011 is screwed up, not just from May on. These photos also include faces pulled from many larger group photos.
I can get Jan - April restored using TimeMachine. But in continuing to explore the Imac backup folder, I found a similar folder in iPhoto Library called Modified. This folder has many of the missing photos in their original MB size in folders indexed by date for the missing period after April. Is there a way that I can get these modified photos back onto my new hard drive and into the iPhoto library without causing more damage? If TimeMachine was turned off after April, how did those modified photos and all those small images from the missing period find their way to the external drive?
Any wisdom greatly appreciated.

What you want to do is merge the two Libraries? The only way to do this is to use the paid ($20) version of iPhoto Library Manager
I created a new iPhoto Library on the iMac and dragged the entire iPhoto Library from the MacBook into that new Library. It worked, however it all came over into one big album and my previous album structure was gone
Never import one Library to another. Every version and thumbnail is imported like a distinct photo, you lose all your Albums, Keywords etc., the link between Original and Previews is destroyed, the non-destructive editing feature is ruined and so on. In summary: it's mess.
Regards
TD

I lost an xcel doc. Tried to find the Library folder in Users not there when use Finder. But when trying to upload a photo, iphoto found the library folder I can see my doc in Office 2011 Autorecov, but can't access it! How do I get User to show Library

I lost an xcel doc a couple of days ago. Tried to find the Library folder in Users but not there when I use Finder (even when I do shift-command-G). But when trying to upload a photo in iphoto I found the library folder in Users. I can see my doc in Office 2011 Autorecovery, but can't access it! How do I get User to show Library then I can get to my long lost document?

The auto recovery dat should be in the Microsoft User Data folder in your documents folder, not in the Library. However, I Haven't had to look recently.

Albums folder in iPhoto Library folder missing

The Albums folder in iPhoto Library folder missing. This means when I try to sync photos to my iPod (video) in iTunes, none of my photo albums show up (though I can seclect a specific folder useing year, month day, etc.). It also mens that I must navagate through the date folders to find photos when trying to attach them to e-mails.
I am running a G5 with the latest version of OSX, iPhoto, iTunes.
How do I recreat this folder?
Thankd for any help.
Cheers__ Heath

Hi Heath,
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".
Two Apple kbs for you to read
Don't tamper with files in the iPhoto library folder
About the iPhoto Library folder
Also, when you choose a folder to sync for your iPod, choose iPhoto in the drop down menu in iTunes, then choose the Album you want to sync. Do not choose a folder on your hard drive and then the Albums folder in the iPhoto Library folder.
Lori

Finder can't open my iPhoto Library folder anymore

I recently installed iLife '08, and can no longer open my iPhoto Library folder and subfolders using Finder. When I try, it automatically launches iPhoto, which severely limits my access to these files. I've looked at the built-in help and on-line help, and haven't found an answer yet. Does it have anything to do with something called a "media browser"?

Frsbdg
Welcome to the Apple user discussion forums
Yes - it has a lot to do with media browser
there are many ways to correctly and safely access your photos - using the finder is NOT one of them - it is (and always has been) recommended that you do not enter the iPhoto library directly. click here for a discussion of the ways to safely and correctly access your photos.
LN

I'm trying to transfer my pictures from my iPhoto library to my external hard drive. I dragged the iPhoto Library folder into the drive and after waiting a while it says Error Code -36. I need to free up space asap, what should i do?

I'm trying to transfer my pictures from my iPhoto library to my external hard drive. I dragged the iPhoto Library folder into the drive and after waiting a while it says "Error Code -36 The finder cannot complete the operation because some data in 'iPhoto Library' could not be read or written". I need to free up space asap, what should i do??

Yes, the Old Master file has a folder for each year where I find all photos from that specific year. I am attaching a screen shot of the file.
In the meantime i have managed to download all photos (it did not download any video files though in mpg, avi, 3gp, m4v,mp4 and mov format) to a new iphoto library. Unfortunately the photos are quite mixed and often doubled up. I ma considering to purchase iphoto library which checks all duplicates in iphoto. this will save me a lot of time. What do you think?

Photos in iPhoto cannot be found in the Library Folder on the desktop

I have a perplexing problem with iPhoto 6. A couple of months ago, I started a new Library and renamed it Current iPhoto Library placing it on the Desktop (rather than in the Pictures Folder).
I did this because my laptop became too full and I ran out of hard disk space. The original Library resides on an external hard disk.
I added many new photos to the new Library, inside of new albums.
My problem is that all the new photos seem detached from the Library Folder on the desktop.
They do take up memory, and now my laptop hard disk is full again.
But I cannot free up space because the Library folder does not recognize the existence of the new photos—even though while in iPhoto, with the program is running, I have no trouble accessing all the photos.
I tried DiskWarrior, assuming that there was a Directory malfunction. That did not help.
I tried rebuilding the Library using iPhoto's built-in capability, by starting the program while pressing the Command and Option keys. No help.
How can I make the Library Folder recognize all the photos that iPhoto can see fine within the program?

First, thank you for keeping up with me.
Second, where do look for Folder? On the desktop? iPhoto?
Third, in replaying what must have happened, I think I have an idea of what went wrong. Originally, I moved my first Library to an external HD to free up space on my laptop, and I started a new Library. Some time ago, iPhoto must have spontaneously created a new third Library. It left what I am calling the second Library as the only visible folder containing an iPhoto Library. I was able to mount the small second Library when I restarted iPhoto by pressing Option and selecting the only Library that was visible to me. When I did that, unfortunately iPhoto disengaged from the huge third Library it had created. All along the third Library was invisible on the desktop as a folder--which is why I got into trouble. I ran out of space again and wanted to move the contents of what I now realize was a third Library to another external HD. But I couln't find that Library anywhere. Strangely, for the last three months, I did not know there were three Libraries, only two. The one iPhoto created as the third one worked perfectly when I would start up iPhoto. But now it is gone. Not even DiskWarrior can find it.

I am not able to open iPhoto, when I have used the iPhoto Library Manager, I get the message that "the iPhoto Library folder could not be found" Help!

Help! I can't open the iPhoto! I have os x 10.5.8 and I have tried using the iPhoto Library Manager only to find out that the folder for the iPhoto Library could not be found.
I have also tried the Fix #1 from the user Old Toad who said to delete the preference file :com.appleiPhoto.plist - I could do that, but I couldn't figure out how to delete iPhoto's cache fie, Cache.db because I couldn't find it? I'm not sure how to find the file by it's directory path name of HD/User/Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto .
Help is very much appreciated!
vernawithav

Download and use Find Any File to search for "Library6.iPhoto". It's a file that is present in every iPhoto library. If you don't find one on your hard drive then your library has gone missing entirely.
Another thing you can try is to use the Search For - All Images feature in the Finder window to see if you can see any of your photos.
That will tell you if they are on your hard drive but somewhere other than the library.
What do you see when you insert the DVD into the optical drive? Can you open it and any folders on the disk? If the disk is titled iPhoto Library then open the disk, the the iPhoto Library folder and finally the Originals folder. Check the subfolders to see if your photos are there.
Your original photo files will be in the Originals subfolders.

Library folder in iPhoto

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