Organizing iPhoto library

I have iPhoto 2.0.1, and would like to rearrange my library to reflect my albums. ie: instead of pulling up rolls or dates in library, I'd like to access my photos based on my album names. Hopefully this would help me eliminate duplicates I've made over time while reworking photos.
can you tell me how to do this?
thanks,
gene

Paul,
Same problem? Seems like a different application you're after and you're using a different operating system. From the standpoint of organizing those folders, any tinkering you do with the organization that iPhoto has established in the iPhoto Library folder will surely lead to eventual disappointment.
Don't use the folders in the iPhoto Library folder -- they are there for the exclusive use of iPhoto. Instead, create a separate folder in the "Pictures" folder, then from iPhoto export the images you want in your desktop slideshow to that folder. Now you can identify that folder to be used by the Desktop control panel in System Preferences.
In versions of OS X after Jaguar, the "Desktop & Screen Saver" control panel has direct access to iPhoto albums for the purpose you describe.

Similar Messages

Condensing and organizing iPhoto library

I'm trying to figure out the best way to condense and organize my pictures that are stored both an internal and external hard drive. I've been reading some different posts and articles to figure out what to do but am still not sure.
I recently just started to keep closer track of the photos on my internal hd by changing their titles, assigning keywords, etc. and want to do that with my photos that are on my external as well. I don't have the hard drive space to import all of these pics back in to iPhoto but thought I could do this is in batches. Once I've imported and organized these as I'd like what's the best way to move these batches back to the hard drive?
I get confused with whether I should just drag the images straight out of iPhoto, drag from the data/original/modified folders (in the iPhoto library) or do I just copy the entire iPhoto library on to the hard drive each time? Would I simply copy over the older version each time I do this? Also if I've read correctly I should be able to choose which library I want to operate from upon start up of iPhoto.....so I could switch back an forth between my older and newer images? Hope this makes sense and thanks for any responses.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
As you are using iPhoto 6 it’s very easy to simply have 2 Libraries, one on your internal, one on your external drive:
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library' to make a second Library on your external.
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' will allow you to choose which Library to open too.
As you are still using iPhoto 6 keywords added to Photos are not maintained outside of an iPhoto Library. (If you upgrade to a later version you can do this)
drag from the data/original/modified folders (in the iPhoto library)
Never, ever. Don't change anything in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder or any other application. iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.
Managing Multiple Libraries - including moving pics/albums/rolls and metadata between them - is greatly facilitated by using iPhoto Library Manager
Regards
TD

Organizing iPhoto Library in Finder

I was wondering if someone could tell me how to better organize my iPhoto library in Finder. Right now, the automatic setting, it is organzing them by year, month, day. I dont know if there is a way to have them organized in Finder by the albums you create in iPhoto itself. The way it is in Finder makes it really difficult to reach them outside of iPhoto ( to send them thru attachments in alternative emails or AIM it is necessary to access the photos thru finder- if this is wrong maybe someone knows, but if its not, than the way the photos are currently set up makes it difficult to pull them out quickly). Thanks for the help,
Courtney.
Oh I am using iPhoto 5
ibook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO 'ORGANIZE' iPHOTO VIA THE FINDER!! You will corrupt your library and then have a big mess to get your pictures back. Do some more browsing in these discussions and you will find many tales of woe from people who messed with iPhoto via the Finder.
When you want to send attachments etc it is much simpler to export a copy of the picture to the desktop (which also allows you to make it a more email-friendly file size) and then navigate there to attach it. You can also make a selection in iPhoto and then hit the email button which opens your email program with attachments ready made.

Problems organizing iPhoto Library

I am fairly new to iPhoto and have learned the hard way not to manipulate the photos in the "Originals" folder in the iPhoto Library. Basically, I was taking pictures on vacation and each day I was naming the roll month/day/year appropriately. One day I accidentally named the folder innapropriately and then went back later to change the folder name. Now, iPhoto does not show my pictures from that folder in "Edit" mode or in a slide show. In edit mode, all I get is a gray box with a dotted outline and an exclamation point inside. I also rotated some of the pictures in a few of the folders in the "originals" folder with the previewer (not with iPhoto) and these photos appear in iPhoto with the same exclamation point. I have tried to rebuild the library with iPhoto's built-in Option+Command function but with no success. Also, iPhoto has been updated to the newest version. How can I fix this? Please help!
MacBook Pro 15" 2.16 duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

jamison84
Here's the bad news: unless you can recall exacty what you changed in the iPhoto Library Folder and can undo those changes, you can't fix it. The ! or ? symbols show up because iPhoto has lost the link between the thumbnail and the photo it represents.
The good news is that your photos are safe, and it won't take too long to create and populate a new Library.
Some background: iPhoto is a database, and like any database it is necessary that you manipulate the data via the application itself rather than through another element such as the Finder. Therefore we tend to warn people: 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
To create a new library,
1. move your iPhoto Library Folder from Home/Pictures to the Desktop
2. Launch iPhoto. It will ask you if you want to create a Library, say yes.
3. From the iPhoto Library Folder on the desktop, go to the Originals folder. and drag each of the rolls to the iPhoto Window in turn. This will recreate your rolls in the new Library.
4. When you're sure that all is well, you can trash the iPhoto Library Folder on the Desktop.
Anything you need to do with in iPhoto can be achieved through the iPhoto window. I'm guessing that you named those rolls in the Originals Folder to make files easier to find. Well there's no need for that: 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.
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.
I hope this helps. If you need any more info check out the Help menu or post back.
Regards
TD

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

Organizing iPhoto Library Folders in iPhoto 6

Whenever I import photos off of my digital camera, iPhoto automatically puts them in folders by the date. You know, Library>Month>Day>Hour>Second>etc. This bugs me, because I like putting my photos under personalized folders, like "Mexico June06" or something within my Library folder. So now I get into the whole album thing and slideshow with music. I got all excited and then noticed that iPhoto copied every photo from my personalized folder into the standard Library>blah>blah folders again. So now I am stuck with two sets of photos. Is there any way that I can make an album without iPhoto copying all of my photos and putting them in those annoying folders? Please help! I would really appreciate it!

Crabbyhlovr:
If you're going to use iPhoto they you are going to need the Originals folder and the Modified folder. The Originals are the source files. Delete them and you've no longer have your image files. The Modified folder is needed so you can always revert back to the original, unedited source file in case you need to re-crop to print a different size or what ever. The subfolders in the year folders will have the same title as the roll in iPhoto that the represent. If you rename the roll in iPhoto those subfolders will be renamed also. It make it very easy to find a file. Actually all you need to do to find a file with the Finder is to Control-click on a thumbnail and select "Show file" in the contextual menu. You'll be immediately taken to the open folder that contains that file and it will be pre-selected.
If you want a hierarchical folder system you can do that in the Source pane by creating Folders and subfolder into which you can place albums. Those albums can represent entire rolls or specific selections of photos. To import a folder of photos into iPhoto and have it immediately be represented by an album just drag that folder into the Source pane and an album will be created (also a roll) with the same name as that folder. Saves a step or two.

Moving from folder-organized photo library on networked NAS to iPhoto...

Hello,
This is a fairly broad question, I know, but I've been researching for almost a full week and still at a loss as to what to do, so I thought some of the kind souls on here might be able to cut thru the forest of info out there to help me.
I vetoed iPhoto long ago but am now interested in trying it out & testing it against Picasa. However, I have a fairly large photo library that I keep on NAS, and definitely want to keep it there. Basically the research I've been doing has scared me, with all the horror stories about mixed libraries and the dangers of referenced libraries (which is what I was thinking would probably be the way to go), so now I'm a bit frozen.
My photos are currently folder-organized, mostly by date, but the level above date is by major categories (such as child's name, etc). I realize the date organization becomes redundant if I migrated to iPhoto, and even the categories seem redundant too if I can tag them all instead, etc.
The Picasa part was pretty easy, since I can just point it to the externally stored library and it does the rest, not moving anything. That part of Picasa is brilliant and makes a strong argument for going that route. My big hangup with it is the lack of nested collections - particularly in the web environment. The organizational aspects of Picasa seem a bit lackluster - and iPhoto sounds to be pretty good at that.
But with iPhoto, I'm having trouble deciding how to structure things and get started. I've read up on moving an existing iPhoto library to an external drive, but my impression is that to achieve what I'm trying to, I would need to import the entire library into local iPhoto library FIRST, then go backwards and migrate that iPhoto libary back onto NAS - which would then be a duplicate of the entire library since I'd be leaving the original intact to continue using with Picasa. Is that indeed the way to do it? I'm a little worried about ending up with an undifferentiated mass of 50+ Gigs of pics in iPhoto that i'd then need to go thru individually to tag (a monstrous task), as opposed to, say, having the names of folders turned into tags on all the pics within those folders (wishful thinking?).
To complete the picture of my situation for whoever may be kind enough to read all this, we have an iMac & a MBP, and would love to be able to share the NAS library on our respective iPhotos, and be able to keep "sync'd" up to what the other has done. From reading around it seems this is a little trickier, and the stuff I've been seeing about speed issues with WiFi-connected NAS libraries is not making me any more comfortable.
I was somehow able to rig just this situation up for iTunes (the library for which is shared & kept on NAS), which works pretty good (although I'm now concerned that that is also a 'referenced library' and liable to the same horror stories and cautions as external referenced libraries for iPhoto - is it the same? - so far so good...).
I've seen Terence Devlin mention a few times about using 'external managed libraries' instead of referenced libraries, but I'm not sure how to do that. The other vague conclusion I've come to from reading around is that I should probably use iPhoto Library Manager to achieve my goals here, and although I'm aware of what IPLM does, I'm not totally clear about how I would use it most effectively in my situation.
Whew - sorry for such a long rambling 'question'! This has probably been addressed elsewhere in the boards, but I've been reading for hours and can only get glimpses into a possible strategy for my situation - I thought just asking might nip it in the bud.
THANKS!

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
A long question with, I'm afraid, a short answer.
a fairly large photo library that I keep on NAS, and definitely want to keep it there.
Stick with what you have. iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, saving edits and sharing the photos. That pretty much rules out having a Managed Library on that NAS.
In some more detail:
My photos are currently folder-organized, mostly by date, but the level above date is by major categories (such as child's name, etc). I realize the date organization becomes redundant if I migrated to iPhoto, and even the categories seem redundant too if I can tag them all instead, etc.
Here's a fast way to tag them:
Start at the bottom of your Folder hierarchy and drag a folder of images to the Album Heading in the iPhoto Window. iPhoto will import the pics and make an Album of the same name as the Folder. Now: Want to tag all those pics with the same keyword: Select all (Command - a) and apply the keyword.
You can work through your images quite fast in this way.
Alternatively, use an app like Keyword Manager which has Nested Tags as a feature. So, for instance, you can set a hierarchy: John is your Son so tagging 'John' will also add a 'Family' tag and so on. In my case I have tags like 'Seattle' that add 'Washington State' 'U.S' and 'Travel' to the pics. WIth auto completion all I have to type is Sea...
but my impression is that to achieve what I'm trying to, I would need to import the entire library into local iPhoto library FIRST, then go backwards and migrate that iPhoto libary back onto NAS
No, all you need to di is start a Library, then move it to an appropriately formatted disk. You don't need to complete the Library first.
we have an iMac & a MBP, and would love to be able to share the NAS library on our respective iPhotos, and be able to keep "sync'd" up to what the other has done.
Again, noting that the NAS is not the way to go here, you can simply enable iPhoto Sharing or use the same Library with both machines - very easy.
I know that these a pretty short answers, and by all means post back if we can be more helpful.
Regards
TD

Iphoto library transfer not organized in folders

My Mac book pro HD was full and I wanted a larger 500GB HDD. I had Best Buy swap out the old drive for a new HDD.
I needed to transfer my iphoto collection to my computer ( with the new high capacity HDD ). I used a adaptor to conncect the now externalized HDD to the mac book pro. It was recognized. I was able to then tranfer my photos from the library to the desktop of my mac book pro (all 12000 pictures and videos ). I then dragged this to iphotos and all 12000 pictures transferred sucessfully. The problem is that I had all of these pictures organized by folders with event names and dates. They did not transfer over like this. All 12000 came over into a single event folder arranged in random order.
HELP! Is there a way to fix this. I need all of these 12000 pictures organized like they were ...in about 200 or so event folders.
The externalized HDD is now unreadable! Dont know what happened to it but now when I connect it, the mac book does not recognize it and it is unreadable..maybe this can be fixed and it still has all of my folders on it with my pictures organized.
I still have the photos sitting in my desk top as well ( from the original tranfer as I did save then to the desk top thankfully )
Any advise is appreciated
Thank you

You do not provide details of how you transfered the iPhoto library - the correct way is
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
You do not transfer photos and you do not import anything - just drag the iPhoto library package accross and open it with iPhoto
LN

IPhoto Library folders: how are they organized?

Can anyone explain me how the iPhoto Library "block" is organized? I mean, photos and folders in iPhoto Library in Finder. Are they organized by year or by date of import? In particular, I have a mysterious "1904" folder that has photos of 2006 and they're not on the 2006 folder! I've tried to modify the original date and hour but it hasn't worked, they're still in this "1904" folder! How can I modify this?

? I mean, photos and folders in iPhoto Library in Finder. Are they organized by year or by date of import? I
It should not matter to you, since the folders inside the iPhoto Library are not meant for access by the user.
But to answer your question. iPhoto stores the original image files in folders corresponding to the date of the import session, and they will stay there, whatever you do in iPhoto. You cannot control the way iPhoto stores the photos inside the package.
Access the photos using iPhoto's application window or the Media Browser. It is safer.
If you open the library package you might accidentally move or modify the files.
See these User Tips:
How to Access Files in iPhoto
iPhoto and File Management

Organizing and deleting Duplicate Photos in iPhoto library?

Can I easily organize and delete duplicate photos in my iPhoto library?

These applications will identify and help remove duplicate photos from an iPhoto Library:
iPhoto Library Manager - $29.95
PhotoSweeper - $9.95 - This app can search by comparing the image's bitmaps or histograms thus finding duplicates with different file names and dates.
Duplicate Annihilator - $7.95 - only app able to detect duplicate thumbnail files or faces files when an iPhoto 8 or earlier library has been imported the library.
DeCloner - $19.95 - can find duplicates in iPhoto Libraries or in folders on the HD.
DupliFinder - $7 - shows which events the photos are in.
iPhoto AppleScript to Remove Duplicates - Free
PhotoDedupo - $4.99 (App Store) - this app has a "similar" search feature which is like PhotoSweeper's bitmap comparison. It found all duplicates
Duplicate Cleaner for iPhoto - free - was able to recognize the duplicated HDR and normal files from an iPhone shooting in HDR
Some users have reported that PhotoSweeper did the best in finding all of the dups in their library: iphoto has duplicated many photos, how...: Apple Support Communities.
If you have an iPhone and have it set to keep the normal photo when shooting HDR photos the two image files that are created will be duplicates in a manner of speaking (same image) but there are only twp apps that detected the iPhone HDR and normal photos as being duplicates: PhotoSweeper and Duplicate Cleaner for iPhoto. None of the other apps detected those two files as being duplicates as they look for file name as well as other attributes and the two files from the iPhone have different file names.
iPLM, however, is the best all around iPhoto utility as it can do so much more than just find duplicates. IMO it's a must have tool if using iPhoto.

IPhoto Library Manager for organizing iPhoto Librabies

Hi! For those who use iPhoto Library Manager and have multiple libraries, what have you found to be the best way to set up/organize a library? By subject? By year(s)? And where do you store your libraries? On your HD or on an external HD? Thanks!
iMac Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hi! For those who use iPhoto Library Manager and have
multiple libraries, what have you found to be the
best way to set up/organize a library? By subject? By
year(s)? And where do you store your libraries? On
your HD or on an external HD? Thanks!
iMac Core Duo Mac OS X
(10.4.8)
by subject then by date if necessary. i store everything on an external hard disk and i try to make the name as specific as possible.
but you do know now that iPhoto can do the same thing by option clicking on iphoto? Iphoto then asks what do you want to open? if you just click on iphoto it will open the file you were using when you last quit iphoto.
van

How is the iPhoto Library organized

I apologize if this topic has been covered - point me to earlier discussions if appropriate.
I'm curious about the filing scheme in the iPhoto Library. When I look in the Finer in the Library I see that there are folders by year, and within those folders are subfolders, and sometime sub-subfolders, identified (named) with numbers (eg 8, 12,15). The subfolder numbers do not begin with 1, and thought sequential there are gaps in the numbering. How does iPhoto decide what folders to create and what to put in each folder? There doesn't seem to be much rationale?
Also, one of the folders in each year (buried down a few layers) is Orginals - which seems to have the original versions of images I modified. How to I access those Orginals within the iPhoto (v 2) program?
Thanks much everyone.
Jim

Hi, Jim. A correction to my prior post: Pictures aren't filed by the date on which they were imported; they're filed by their "last modified" dates.
Brie will correct me if I'm wrong about this, but I don't think there's any simple way to determine within iPhoto (v. 4 or earlier, anyway — I've never used any later version) whether an image has been altered or not. You have to look into the Finder file hierarchy to determine that, and it isn't very easy. Every image you've edited in iPhoto remains right where iPhoto put it initially, but as soon as you edit it, a *copy of the original, unedited image* is stored in an Originals folder in the same location as the edited image. So the way to figure out which images have been edited is to look in the Originals folder within the day-month-year folder to which a given group of pictures was imported, and compare the filenames of the images stored within the Originals folder with the filenames of those stored outside it, in the same enclosing Day folder. The images for which there are no copies within the Originals folder are unaltered from when they were first imported into iPhoto. The ones for which there are copies in the Originals folder have been altered, and the altered versions of those pictures are the ones outside that folder. That's all clear enough. What's much more confusing is that the originals of pictures you haven't altered are NOT in the Originals folder — they're loose outside it.
If you aren't thoroughly bewildered yet, I can keep working on you. ;o) But in sum, iPhoto's storage habits are strange and arcane enough that most people never bother trying to understand them, and even those who study of them ultimately find it doesn't do them much good. iPhoto is completely inflexible about these arrangements, so if you want your pictures stored in a folder hierarchy you can readily understand and manipulate yourself, iPhoto is the wrong application for you to be using. I have eight separate iPhoto Libraries for different groups of pictures, and of the roughly 100,000 pictures I've stored in all, only a third are in any of those libraries. The rest are filed according to my own needs and preferences, in Finder folder hierarchies of my own design, and I manage them using other applications. iPhoto is a convenient tool for managing my less important images.

How can I create an iPhoto Library from photos on an external drive?

Here's my issue:
I have a MacBook Pro running OS X Mavericks, and I am just about out of hard drive space.
I also have about 20 GB worth of photos on an external drive. The photos are not organized at all, just got dumped into a folder there during a hasty backup a couple years ago.
I'd like to use iPhoto to get these photos organized, but don't have the space to import them into the library on my laptop.
How can I create and manage an iPhoto library with these photos while keeping them on the external drive? They are on a terabyte drive, so I have a feeling I'd like to make that my main library moving forward.

Check that the drive's formatted as Mac OS Extended, drag the iPhoto library to it, launch iPhoto with the Option key held down, and choose that library.
(114618)

I'm a new Mac user. I imported photos from my PC they ended up in iphoto library on the hard drive, but when I open iphoto from my dock its empty. How do I import those photos to the dock file?

I'm a new Mac user. I imported photos from my PC through a jump drive and they ended up in my iphoto library on the hard drive but when I open iphoto from the dock its empty. How do I import those photos to the dock file from the iphoto library?

Paragon Software has the most reliable NTFS driver for Mac
tips on importing and organizing, transferring from Windows etc
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes
http://www.ilounge.com

Can't open or rebuild my iPhoto Library

I was importing a couple of photos from my iPhone into my iPhoto Library when iPhoto crashed. Earlier in the session I downloaded around 6GB of photos and videos into the library and that worked fine. I was only adding four more pictures when this happened.
I have a 900GB library that is stored on a dedicated external 1TB hard drive. I access this library from a MacMini (which the drive is attached to) and from my MacBook Air. Both machines use OSX 10.9.2 and iPhoto 9.5.1 and I set up the external drive to "ignore ownership on this volume".
When I went back into iPhoto, it shows the "Which iPhoto library do you want to iPhoto to use?" window but not my library. When I click on Other Library, I can locate the library, but when I click "Open", nothing happens.
When I tried holding down option and command and clicking iPhoto, it still doesn't find the libary to rebuild.
So I used my iPhoto Library Manager, and the libary is there, but it shows (0) for the photo counts in all the albums, etc. When I try to rebuild, the preview comes up empty. When I click on "scavenge", I get over 10,000 photos appearing in the "Scavenged Library", but I don't know if they are all of the photos. Plus I lose all my events, tags, etc. that organized the library.
Is there any way to get my iPhoto Library back other than through the "scavenge" function and losing all the organization?
Do you know why this happened so that I can avoid having this happen again?

Here's what do to:
Starting over from scratch with new library
Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:
1. Open the library package like this.
2. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
3. Drag the subfolders from the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the open iPhoto Library package into the open iPhoto window a few at a time.
This will create a new library with the same Events (but not necessarily the same Event names) as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects.
Note: your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
OT

Organizing iPhoto library

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