Many of my photos appear briefly as I scroll down the page then disappear leaving a box outlined with a broken-line. The menu bar says that I have 300 pictures hidden, but I am unable to get them unhidden.

Question

I am experiencing difficulty with iPhoto '11.  Some of more recent photos can not be accessed.  As I scroll down the page of photos, the most recent ones appear briefly, then disappear to be replaced with a box outlined by a broken-line.  The menu bar says that I have 317 photos hidden.  Hiding photos is not something that I normally do, can't imagine why these are hidden.  Anyway, when I try to unhide the photos, I can view them as an event, but if I click on a single photo, or try to move it into an album, the photo does not display.  Instead I get a dark exclamation point within a triangle.  Another problem with these same photos is on the event page there is no key photo for these events only a dark screen.  I can't find an answer to my problem.  Has anyone experienced this?  What is the problem and how can I correct it?  

Answer 1

The ! turns up when iPhoto loses the connection between the thumbnail in the iPhoto Window and the file it represents.
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
If that fails:
Option 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. .
Regards
TD