Organizing iPhoto library and Thumbnails

I am in the process of removing old photos in my iPhoto library. I've cleaned up the Modified and Original folders and I understand the Data folder contains the thumbnails. Is there a quick and painless way to delete the thumbnails from the Data folder of the original photos I deleted without going through every single thumbnail?
Thanks in advance.

Mike1961
Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Huh?
Te correct way to remove photos from iPhoto is to do it in the iPhoto Window. Drag the pics to the iPhoto trash and empty the iPhoto trash.
That's the quick and painless way to remove pics.
Have you being doing this in the Finder? IF so, then you'll need to create a new library and start from scratch.
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.
And remember It is strongly advised that you do not move, change or in anyway alter things in the iPhoto Library Folder as this can cause the application to fail and even lead to data loss
Regards
TD

Similar Messages

Reloading iphoto library and streamlining iphoto file system.

I had a hard-disk failure recently, and lost a lot of photos: basically all the full size files. Only the thumbnails remained on the system disk, so when I had the new drive installed, the engineer made these the iphoto library.
Fortunately, I had most of my photos backed up on a separate harddrive (in the 'originals' folder). What is the best way of putting these into my iphoto library in place of the thumbnails already there? (ie, don't want to see both in iphoto).
I'd put the iPhoto library on the separate hard-disk, but unbeknownst to me, about a year ago, iPhoto began saving imports on the system drive again, so these were the pictures I lost.
On another point, since I installed iphoto 6, the location of photos has become confusing, with the whole photo library pre-iphoto 6 duplicated in a folders called 'Originals' and 'Data'. Neither of these maintain the original easily navigable and logical date hierarchy file structure, but have saved all photos in a folder marked 2007, by roll number. The date folders which remain only contain a 'data' folder containing .attr files. Not very practical.
In short the whole thing is a mess: for some photos the system has saved 5 copies in various places.
Is there anything that can be done to consolidate the iPhoto library and put it back on a date-based filing system?

raggabishp
To start at the end:
Is there anything that can be done ... put it back on a date-based filing system?
No, once you use iPhoto 6, that's the file system. But it's not that difficult to follow: 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 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.
Finding the Picture file is easy: There are three ways (at least) to get files from the iPhoto Window.
1. Drag and Drop: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. 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.
3. Show File: 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.
Rolls in the iPhoto Window correspond exactly with the Roll Folders in the Originals Folder in the iPhoto Library Folder. You can move photos between Rolls, you can rename rolls, edit them, create them, as long as you do it via the iPhoto Window. Check out the Info Pane (wee 'i', lower left) the name and date fields are editable. Edit a Roll Name using the Info Pane, the Roll Folder in iPhoto Library Folder/Originals will also have the new name.
So the structure is different, but - especially if you use the Film Rolls view - very straightforward.
There is no easy way to rid yourself of these 'thumbs become originals'. If the thumbs have the same filenames as the Originals, then you could overwrite the thumbs with the Originals, but you would need to do that on a file by file basis, I'm afraid.
Other than that, compare the full size pics with the thumbs and trash the duplicates is all I can suggest.
Regards
TD

I am thinking of buying a "new" iPad but I have a very large iPhoto library which I would like to keep intact and be able to view on my new iPad. Is there a way to use a external storage device to store the iPhoto library and view it on the iPad?

I am thinking of buying a "new" iPad but I have a very large iPhoto library which I would like to keep intact and be able to view on my new iPad. Is there a way to use a external storage device to store the iPhoto library and view it on the iPad?

You can't use an external hard drive like you would with a computer.
You can use a USB flash drive & the camera connection kit.
Plug the USB flash drive into your computer & create a new folder titled DCIM. Then put your movie/photo files into the folder. The files must have a filename with exactly 8 characters long (no spaces) plus the file extension (i.e., my-movie.mov; DSCN0164.jpg).
Now plug the flash drive into the iPad using the camera connection kit. Open the Photos app, the movie/photo files should appear & you can import. (You can not export using the camera connection kit.)
When you first connect the USB flash drive, you will only see thumbnails of the pics on the iPad; you have to import the pic file to see the full size. With your large library of pics, you will have to do this repeateably and then delete pics so you don't exceed your memory capacity.
 Cheers, Tom

I am trying to rebuild my iPhoto library and noticed my backup contains aliases (pointers?) and not the actual file. What's the best way to rebuild my library?

I am trying to rebuild my iPhoto library and noticed my backup contains aliases (pointers?) and not the actual file. What's the best way to rebuild my library?
Facts:
In moving to a new iMac, I copied the iPhoto library to an external HDD assuming that I would point the new iMac to the backed up iPhoto Library
All worked fine when I pointed the new library but noticed that some folders contained aliases and not the original file. So when I attempt to open that photo it can't find it because the alias is pointing to another drive.
I do have all original photos from a couple of external HDDs. In the folders titled, "Originals" (from older versions of iPhoto) and "Masters" (from current iPhoto)
I'm thinking I can create a new folder and drop the original files and make that my new iPhoto library. Is there a better way to rebuild my library? I do not want to create any future aliases.
Thanks in advance for any help!

do you have a strongly recommended default "managed" library (the iPhoto preference to "copy imported items to the iPhoto library is in its checked state) or a referenced library - you have unchecked that option?
It sounds like you have a referenced library and are now experiancing one of the very siginificant drawbacks of a referenced library and one of the many reasons they are strongly not recommended
Also note that iPhoto '11 may use alises in the originals folder as part of the upgrade
It is important that we understand exactly what you have and what is not sorking - what error messages you are getting
You must NEVER make any changes of any sort to the structure of content of the iPhoto library - there are no user servicable parts in it -- and you can not rebuild yoru librtary - only iPhoto ir iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - can rebuild a library unless you are a SQL programmer and understand the structure that iPhoto uses
LN

I know many have this issue but i can't find a solution to the problem. i get message saying insuffisiant disk space in the volume iPhoto library and i have plenty of space available. i have the new macbook pro with retina display.

I know many have this issue but i can't find a solution to the problem. i get message saying insuffisiant disk space in the volume iPhoto library and i have plenty of space available. i have the new macbook pro with retina display. i have never seen this message before and i have 2 other macbooks and have had many other also. i am assuming this is a problem with the new macbook retina. does anyone know the exact fix to this issue? i have seen many sugestions to try to fix this issue but none have solved the issue for anyone that i can find in the Apple Support Community. thank for looking into this in advance.
******A true apple fan********

Actually your suggestions are the ones that i have tried. i have seen that you have tried to help others with this issue and the only one that i could find that said they found the problem said that it was an ilife update issue and it fixed it and i have no available updates. i know it has to do with something in photo stream because it happens when i create a new library and it is loading the photos but i get the message before i reach the maximum 1000 photos. so i've tried updating, new library(first backing up photos and then deleting them from iPhoto), reinstalling OSX many times, running disc utilities. I called Apple the first day i had this issue and i was the first person to call them for support with the retina display and i actually had it escalated to a senior advisor and we thought we fixed the problem but we did not. i am pretty fluent in dealing with troubleshooting these type of issues and this is the first time i'm reaching out to the community. i figured now that the retina has been out some time now that there would be an obvious answer to this issue. thanks for the quick reply.
Bebers5

Ihave 51 iphoto library and they keep increasing and i do not know why

My iphoto has 51 libraries and they keep increasing and i do not know why, i would like only one iphoto library and consolidate all photos in that.

If you're using an IMAP account, also check your other devices to be sure you don't have some filters or rules set up that either delete or move emails to subfolders. You can see all Emails on your iPad, but displaying the sidebar showing Mailboxes, tapping the email account you are having trouble with (NOT the Inbox, but the section below), then tapping All Mail or something similar depending on your provider.
If the mails are there, they are somehow being moved by one of your mail clients or by a rule you set up with your provider.

Is it possible to copy the iphoto library and albums from a G5 to a macpro

I would like to copy my iphoto library and albums from a G5 10.5.8 iphoto 8 to a macpro 10.6.2 with iphoto 9. I would like all the photos and albums to appear in the macpro just as they were in the G5. I have vantecs ezshare adapter that allows you to drag files between two computers mac or windows. Copying photos should not be a problem but its the albums I want to go with the photos and appear in iphoto 9 on the macpro.

iPhoto '09 will open and convert any previous version of the iphoto library - if it is working correctly on the old system it should convert
Firewire target mode is a good way to transfer the iPhoto library - make the connection and drag the entire iPhoto library at one intact as a single entity to the new computer (put it on the desktop or somewhere so as not to mess up what you have done - depress the option key and launch iPhoto on the new system and select the library you just copies (be sure not to select the one on the old computer - you do not want to convert it - conversion is a one way operation) - it should open and convert and be ready to use - then you can quit iPhoto and place it where you want and do the option launch again to tell iPhoto where it is - and do the option launch any time you want to switch between multiple libraries
LN

I have 2 Macs - an iMac that holds my entire iPhoto library and a Mac Book Pro that I use to hold a subset of the main library - how can I transfer photos and their metadata from the main library of the iMac to my Mac Book?

I have 2 Macs - an iMac which holds my main iPhoto library and a Mac Book Pro which holds a subset of the library. How can I transfer photos and their metadata from the main library to the smaller 1 on the Mac Book Pro?

Link the two Macs together and use iPhoto Library Manager
Regards
TD

I just bought a new Mac and I want to transfer some data (not all) from my old Mac. Basically, I want to move my itunes library, iphoto library, and a few documents. I have not even turned on my new Mac yet. Is the best way by an external hard drive?

I just bought a new Mac and I want to transfer some data (not all) from my old Mac. Basically, I want to move my itunes library, iphoto library, and a few documents. I have not even turned on my new Mac yet. Is the best way by an external hard drive?

If both have Firewire ports then you can accomplish your goal by using Target Disk Mode. If this is not possible then you can do using an external drive or if you have a local network connect both to your network and use filesharing between the two computers.
File Sharing on Macs
Mac 101- File Sharing

I need to create a new iPhoto library and import 'ORIGINALS' from a time machine backup on an external hard drive.

I made the mistake of installing OS 10.9 on my older MacBook Air and the machine has become horribly slow and unpredictable. I visited the Apple store and questioned a 'Genius' about getting rid of 10.9 and reinstalling the previous OS 10.6 for which I have the disks. He advised that I should reformat the Air, reinstall 10.6 and then restore from the Time Machine backup that I have.
He explained that of course, after I reinsatll 10.6, I couldn't import the iPhoto Library from the backup drive complete because it had been recreated using the OS 10.9 and wouldn't work with 10.6. I would have to create a new 10.6 iPhoto Library and move the actual ORIGINALS, from the backup into it. He actually had the path to the iPhoto library shown on my Air to the point of >Pictures >iPhoto Library > ORIGINALS.
I didn't question how he got the path to the point of > ORIGINALS and figured that it wouldn't take too much to do what he suggested. Now I can't find how to get to point of seeing the ORIGINALS in the path. When I go through the path >Pictures >iPhoto Library, the next column shows me the iPhoto Library icon and the info re size, creation date etc.
Can anyone advise how to get to the 'ORIGINALS' in order to import them and does anyone have any further suggestions that might help in completing this procedure ?
Thanks, in advance, for any assistance available.
p.s. is there any way of looking at a Time Machine backup and finding what O.S. was present when the backup was produced ?

Rather than do that, which means starting over from scratch, losing all your edits, organisation and so on, why not simply use iPhoto Library Manager to revert the Library to the older version? Easier, less destructive.
The instructions on that are here
If you really want to start over: you can access the Originals folder simply by going to your Pictures Folder and finding the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.

I have lost my entire IPhoto Library and albums

IMac OS X V 10.6.8
I have lost my entire IPhoto Library and albums.
How do I restore?

Your only other option is to stop using your Mac as soon as possible to minimize precious data being overwritten to, purchase a high quality, fast external hard drive, preferably a FIreWire external hard drive such as these
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
using an OS X Snow Leopard install disc, format this external drive as a Mac OS extended (journaled) formatted hard drive with a GUID partition scheme and then, using a install disc of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, install a fresh copy of OS X Snow Leopard and boot your Mac to that external hard drive by using the Startup Disc icon in the OS X System Preferences Panel to boot your Mac to the external hard drive. Once your Mac is booted and running from this hard drive, then use the OS X Software Update feature to update that version of OS X Snow Leopard to OS X 10.6.8.
Then, you need to do a web search for a Data recovery software such as Prosoft Engineering's Data Rescue and purchase, download, install and use this software to perform data recovery of your iMac's internal hard drive following the proper instructions on how to use the software. to recover the data.
Be advised that any images you recover will no longer be in a format that IPhoto will read and most like will just be a folder with just the images alone without any more linkage to the IPhoto library, but I am not completely sure about this as I always have redundant backups of my entire system.
If this seems all too complicated and complex to you, you need to stop using your Mac ASAP and either contact an Apple Store or Apple Authorised reseller/service/repair center to find out how much it will cost for them to recover your data and bring your Mac in for a more professional data recovery.
I still strongly advise you purchase a high quality, large storage, fast, external hard drive to use for future data backups to prevent such a catastrophic data loss from happening, again.
Every computer user SHOULD have, at least, one external backup drive and having redundant backup drives is even better.

Hard drive packed up, but had Time Machine backup. I installed new sad and upgraded to Mountain Lion., but I can't find iPhoto library and photos or iTunes songs? Is there an answer to this? Graham

Hard drive packed up, but had Time Machine backup. I installed new ssd and upgraded to Mountain Lion, but I can't find iPhoto library and photos or iTunes songs? Is there an answer to this? A backup run did not install either photos or songs. Graham

Thanks so much but none of that helped. It was driving me crazy because it would back up another external drive. I just changed the name of the drive from iPhoto/iTunes Library to Media Libraries and IT WORKED!! I guess for some reason it didn't like the drive being called iPhoto or iTunes ???? I don't understand but I have tried so many solutions and exchanging things out but the name change did it????!!!
Thank you for your help and replying to this. Guess I made my own issue!

Lost link between iPhoto library and iPhoto.app

While learning how to use Photoshop Elements 4.0 and Bridge, I made the choice to "browse" in Bridge. When I next started iPhoto 6.06, my link to the Library was lost. I have worked with AppleCare support, done every exercise short of creating a new library and losing my organization. With 20,000 + photos I would like to avoid that exercise. I do have backups but am trying to figure out if I can solve this any other way. All my files are still in iPhoto Library, and I can see the organization of my albums in Bridge. With some exercises, I get the message: "Unreadable files: 1. The following file could not be imported: '/Users/john/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Library.iPhoto.'"
If I delete Adobe Photoshop Elements and Bridge from the hard drive, will this help? I promise I did not do anything within iPhoto Library in Finder!
Thanks so much!
iMac Mac OS X (10.4.9) iPhoto 6.06
iMac Mac OS X (10.4.9) iPhoto 6.06
iMac Mac OS X (10.4.9) iPhoto 6.06

cdkayak
Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
There's absolutely no harm in using PSE with iPhoto, it's Bridge that's a killer. So that's what you chuck from your machine. Set up PSE as an external editor in the iPhoto Preferences. That way you can double click a pic in iPhoto and it will open automatically in PSE, save it PSE and have it come back into iPhoto seamlessly.
What's likely happened here is that you have (or Bridge has) made changes in the iPhoto Library Folder which has broken the link between iPhoto and the library files.
Some things to try:
Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. Choose Locate, and point iPhoto at the iPhoto Library Folder.
What Back Ups do you have? If there's an up-to-date one, then try copying the library6.iphoto file from it to the iPhoto Library Folder allowing it to overwrite the confused one.
That said, if these don't work, your options will only be 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.
Finally, the message
"Unreadable files: 1. The following file could not be imported: '/Users/john/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Library.iPhoto.'"
is because iPhoto will not import a picture that's in the active iPhoto Library Folder - a sensible precaution against duplication.
Regards
TD

Splitting iPhoto library and social media

Greetings,
I am in the process of breaking up my gargantuan iPhoto library into smaller libraries, by year (this scheme works perfectly fine for me). However, I ran into a problem last night which I would like not to repeat. Starting with all of the photos from 2013, I had exported all of them out of iPhoto.photolibrary into folders on my desktop. Then, I had created "2013 iPhoto Library" and mass-imported all the files from the desktop. When I was satisfied that I had everything I wanted, I both securely deleted the desktop files and also the albums from within iPhoto. However, when I started doing the latter, they began removing themselves from Facebook. It makes sense, but it's an undesirable side effect.
Since I plan on doing this reorganization at the end of each year, I obviously don't want to keep this from happening, i.e. I'd like to leave my albums which take me a great amount of time to put together for sharing on Facebook in place so that they don't get removed. My proposed solution is something like the following:
1. Continue the process all the way back to 2005 and before (since I hate to have a disconnect with last year's albums gone but none of the others deleted, I might as well delete them all from my Facebook).
2. Leave 2014's photos in "iPhoto Library" (thus leaving my photos still connected to my Facebook albums.
3. When 2015 rolls around, rename "iPhoto Library" to "2014 iPhoto Library" and create a new "iPhoto Library" (hoping such a name change is permissible).
4. Repeat 2. and 3. every year.
Can anyone tell me if this is a recommended solution, or if this will/won't work? My main concern is that "iPhoto Library" is somehow special and has to be left as-is, i.e. I can't rename it, or have a new file called "iPhoto Library" which might corrupt something
Thanks,
Mike

The Social Media albums are attached to the library that created them. So step 2 works. Yes you can rename libraries.
The way you're splitting the Library destroys the non-destructive editing feature of iPhoto and, depending on a: what you've done in iPhoto and b: the exact export settings you are using, risks significant dataloss. If you must split the library (and deal with all those inconveniences) use iPhoto Library Manager to do it, and preserve all your versions and data.
For the sake of others who may read this: iPhoto can only open or search one Library at a time. That's just one of the inconveniences of multiple libraries. An iPhoto Library can contain up to 1,000,000 million items

I have deleted the iphoto library and lost my photo's......

i have deleted the iphoto library and cleared my trash and now all my photo's are gone. I have bought software to retrieve deleted data but not sure what file I am looking for. Can anybody help?

best solution is to restore yoru backup form before you made this error - that is the reason you must always have a good backup
If you don't you should start backing up immediately
to use the photos you recovered you look for photos (typically they have a .jpg or .jpeg extention to the name - and select the largest version of each photo and import it into iPhoto
Note that for not much more that the cost of the data recovery software you could have had an extrnal hard drive and been running TimeMachine so none of this would be required
LN

Organizing iPhoto library and Thumbnails

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