Search multiple libraries in AP3?

If you're using multiple libraries in AP3 can you search all those libraries at the same time? Or would you have to open each library separately to look for images?

Thanks for the quick reply. That's what I thought, but I couldn't find anything that specifically addressed this question. The reason I asked is that I read about a commercial photographer's workflow recently, and he said he creates a new Aperture library for each project he shoots. I couldn't understand why he would do this, and thought it would be a nightmare to find older images unless it was possible to search all those libraries at once.
Perhaps he is creating a new library for the shoot, especially if it's on location, and then merging that library with a main library after the shoot is completed.
Would there be any benefit to doing this? Would it speed up Aperture if you were working with smaller libraries?
I'm using AP2 now and thinking of upgrading to AP3, so I'm just trying to think of how I might want to modify my workflow after the upgrade.
Thanks again,
Andrew

Similar Messages

Multiple libraries - why not?

I realize this might be beating a dead horse, but after reading around a bit I can't quite get why having multiple libraries is regarding as "bad".
I'm looking for alternatives to iPhoto; I am considering iPhoto Library Manager.
Reason: We (our home) have about 87,000 photos. Our iPhoto Library is 316 GB. Simply put: that's too big.
Now, I realize that iPhoto and Lightroom handle libraries differently, but the primary concern, as it is with iPhoto, is that all the eggs are in one basket. As I'm just starting with Lightroom, maybe the man negative considerations are that LR cannot open/search multiple libraries? (If that's the case, it seems odd that LR would not let a user open multiple libraries simultaneously and transfer/copy between them.)
Any help appreciated...
thanks,
Andrew

As far as searching multiple catalogs... well, we name everything we transfer and back up - hence, it would not be too much of a stretch to know to look in "Zoo Visit 2009" to find photos from our zoo visit in 2009... I can see where this would be trouble if someone didn't name catalogs.
This is the perfect situation to use a keyword.
However, I also realize that a catalog this miniscule might not make sense, so maybe it would be by year, with named subfolders or whatever the method is. Not sure yet...
The problem with catalogs by year is that you now have to remember the year of 87,000 photos. This is an impossible task, it cannot be done. Human memory simply doesn't work that way.
Even in the example of "Zoo Visit 2009", suppose you want that really cute photo of the kids outside of the monkey cage. Now again, you have to remember what year that was taken in order to find the photo. As I said, this is a place where human memory simply doesn't work well, and by splitting your catalog into years, you have made your search difficult. If you have one catalog, and search for keywords kids and monkey, the search is pretty simple. Your approach of catalogs by year makes sense only if you can associate a year with every single one of your photos in your memory, and then retain that memory. If you use keywords, this is a natural descriptor of the photo content, and photo content is the way everyone thinks of photos (kids, grandma, ocean, beach, winery, etc.)
The whole idea of using a database is to make finding the items you need as simple as possible. As soon as you start breaking things up into multiple databases, you have destroyed much of the usefulness of a database and you have to rely on your (fallible) memory.
Same comment applies to a single corrupted catalog; while backups are great, you might not necessarily know when it happens if it isn't something that either crashes the program or is otherwise not immediately noticeable.
There are no guarantees. Your solution of multiple catalogs then suffers from the same drawback, that your catalog can get corrupted, causing you to lose the organization and editing on those photos. (By the way, I should point out again that there are thousands ... 100s of thousands? ... millions? of Lightroom users who use catalogs and they work; very very very tiny percent ever report corrupted catalogs, but yes, there are no guarantees. Professionals who rely on Lightroom to access their entire portfolio have placed 500,000 images into a single catalog ... but there are no guarantees) If you are really that worried about catalog corruption, you'd be better off using your operating system to organize, you ought to avoid catalogs entirely and the problem goes away. Oh ... wait ... your file system is really just a database on your computer ... so I guess that same problem with a database would eliminate this as a possibility. I guess you should PRINT every single one of your photos, and then no computer glitches could destroy your photos or the organization ... oh wait ...
Listen, Andrew, if you want to use multiple catalogs, I wish you luck. I think that is 100% a horrible decision, but it's your decision.

Spotlight and multiple libraries

I am using iphoto library manager to run several libaries. I would like to use spotlight to search all of them for keywords. It does this very well with the library that is currently in use, but it does not seem to search multiple libraries, which would be very useful for me. Does anyone know how to get around this problem?

garinh wrote:
I have two boot partitions -- "Leopard" for a 10.5 boot, and "SnowLeopard" for a 10.6 boot. They both boot fine, and the boot drive shows up as the "root" (/) drive as expected, with the non-boot drive also available (under /Volumes).
I noticed that Spotlight was picking up "duplicates" for various app searches. Oops -- that makes sense -- Spotlight was seeing both drives. I figured I'd fix the problem by setting "SnowLeopard" as inaccessible through the Privacy pane on the Spotlight control panel for the 10.5 boot, and "Leopard" as inaccessible on the 10.6 boot.
Here's where things get weird, IMHO. If I add "SnowLeopard" under "Privacy" on the 10.5 side, a re-boot to 10.6 will show "SnowLeopard" on that side as well (which isn't what I want), and setting on the 10.6 side will likewise affect the 10.5 side after a reboot.
this is normal and there is no way around that. spotlight exclusion data for a drive is stored on that drive in .spotlight-V100 directory at the top level of the drive. so the exclusion data is shared across different systems because it reads the same exclusion file. as i said, no way around this. if you don't need 10.5 partition while booted into 10.6 you can set it not to mount automatically when you boot in snow leopard by modifying /etc/fstab. you can do the same when booting in 10.5 that's the only thing I can think of that could somewhat address the issue.
What the $%(#& is going on, and can it be fixed without me disabling Spotlight on one of my boots? I guess OS X is saving its Spotlight "Privacy" settings in some location other than "local" to the boot volume?
Thanks,
Garin

Multiple libraries/smart playlists for different disks, or sort by location

Hey.
My iTunes music is physically stored on my computer's local hard disk, on an external hard disk, and on a remote server from which I stream online. When my computer is disconnected from my external hard disk or from the internet, I don't want to seeing unreachable tracks in my iTunes library; I'd rather have a list of songs which are available for me to play. I'd like to create multiple libraries, one for each disk.
Or I'd like to create smart playlists which automatically fill with content from specified locations (as opposed to content added by artist, duration, last playtime, etc).
Or I'd like to be able to sort my library based on physical file location.
As far as I've searched, this isn't yet possible. Anyone know how to make this work, or know how to suggest this feature to Apple?
Thanks.
iTunes
iTunes 6.0.5.20 Windows XP Pro
iTunes 6.0.5.20 Windows XP Pro

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. This worked but it doesnt seem to be consistent.. not sure if the fact that I have a smart playlist based on another smart playlist (only because I want 5 anded conditions + 1 or'd which is playcount=0) and hence something goes wrong?
Any better way overall to manage these? I now have 4 pairs of these.
Also, any way to have a Smart Playlist that selects only video? They have the Media Kind = Podcast, but no Media Type = Video..
Many thanks,
Vik

Multiple Libraries - One Preferences File

Hi all,
I would like to set up Multiple Libraries in iTunes to Sync one with ATV and stream the other to ATV when it is active.
The problem I have is that iTunes has ONE preferences file independent to the library and in particular the "Shared Name" - if you change it in one library it changes it in all libraries to be the same.
Is there a way to have multiple iTunes Libraries each with it's own preferences file to assist with this?
Cheers,
Dean

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Multiple Libraries: DON'T MESS WITH MY ORGANIZATION!

Many music/audio fans are obsessive about how they organize their collections (see the movie/book "High Fidelity"), and I am one of them. I've spent HOURS organizing my iTunes Library, and I'm very protective about my genres.
About 50% of my iPod use is listening to audio books from Audible.com. I've always kept these books in a genre called Spoken Word, along with other spoken files (podcasts, etc.)
Low and behold, I install iTunes 7, and my Audible files are gone. I try to re-import them, and noting happens. I spend a couple of hours searching around online but turn up no info.
Finally, I notice that iTunes 7 has created a new Library called "Audiobooks" and moved all my Audible titles into it.
Well, I'm relieved that they aren't gone, but I'm still really ****** off. I don't want two Libraries. I want my titles to be organized the way I organized them. Why is Apple pushing their organization on me?
And, as-far-as I can tell, there's no way of changing this. If iTunes is going to create multiple Libraries, I should be able to drag titles from one to the other. Or I should be able to right-click a title, choose Info, and be able to switch Libraries, just as I can switch genres.
Now some of my spoken content (Audible) is in one Library and some (non-audible) is in another. I HATE that.
Worse, there no way (unless I'm missing something) to search all Libraries. For instance, I listen to "The Ricky Gervais Show." Some I downloaded from Audible and some I got from elsewhere. If I search for Gervais, I only get the items in the currently-selected Library.
This makes me really scared to install future updates. I don't want iTunes to mess with my organization any more. I have thousands of files, and I want to be able to fine them easily.
DON'T MESS WITH MY LIBRARY, APPLE!
5G 60Gig Windows XP Pro

Yes, that's what is showing as "modified time" by windows explorer.
In a sense, it is indeed operating system dependent because everytime you write in a file (.doc, .exe, .whatever and in our case .jpeg), the modified date will change in windows.
Yes, But.
In other applications, such as Irfanview, you can tick "apply original exif time/date" and as a result, even though you have indeed changed the file, windows explorer will still show the original date, meaning when the file was taken.
I am looking for a similar option in Lightroom or a trick to get that result.

IPhoto vs Photo multiple libraries

The Yosemite upgrade eliminated iPhoto and replaced it with Photos app, how do I use the multiple libraries that I previously set up in iPhoto? When I opened the Photos app after the upgrade it gave the option to choose a library, but not multiple ones. Now what? How do I switch to and use multiple libraries in Photos?

After I figured that out about the multiple libraries I have a new headache. I wonder if this is your issue as well? I can't sync one library for ex. work library to my ipad and my creative library to my iphone. The only option I am provided is to sync the main system.library Photo.app library which is my personal library.
I created 3 libraries initially using iphoto Library Manager. I wrote and asked them if they would be creating software or changing theirs to address this issue. I am disgusted with this role out. Nowhere was I told to merge all my libraries in order to have access while syncing. I have over 100gb so I created a work, creative, and personal library.
I back up on an external. I am not going back to the cloud as I don't need ALL my photos on ALL my devices, just my desktop. The cloud did not offer me the options I needed. I spent a whole workday trying to gain back some usability for my work library. I am completely updated in all areas.
I don't need "moments" I need dates and I need descending order, plus key commands and not three steps to do what was one in iPhoto. Ready to chuck it all and look elsewhere (Lightroom- perhaps) as this is costing me money and time from work. I keep filling out feature requests to no avail or help via searches on the internet.
I hope someone has figured out how to sync the additional libraries Photo.app allows for, if not, then why give the user the option?

How do you organize multiple libraries?

Last year, I kept one big giant library for every 6 months. This consisted of a terabyte of images per library.
I have always feared a library becoming corrupted and being unable to successfully restore the images.
Do people keep smaller libraries?
I am thinking of starting a new library every month. Does this seem like a good idea? or a waste?
Lastly, do people keep the actual images not stored in the aperture library itself in case you need to get to the original file if something were to happen to the library?
Thanks!

My biggest objection to multiple Libraries is that you then can't search for anything except the 'current' images, but I'm doing a lot of DAM tasks with Aperture as well as normal processing.
I mostly use referenced files, but that's because I'm usually working on a MBP which simply doesn't have the room to store all the files.
Ian
P.S. Don't worry too much about corrupted Libraries - your images aren't being stored in a binary database file, they are in a 'package' - in other words it's a special kind of folder which you can access by Control-clicking on it in the Finder and choosing 'Show Package Content'. You can then do a Spotlight search in the folder and find all your image - doesn't matter if the DB is corrupt, you don't even need Aperture on the machine.

Does it work well to have multiple libraries?

I just got a new iMac and am trying to sort out the best way to deal with all the images. I've got a library on my powerbook, and one on a Mac Pro at work and a library from my old G5 iMac.
One thought is to have separate libraries, and from this point on, create a new library for each year.
Anyone have experience with this, and want to advise me?
thanks

Yes it's perfectly possible.
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' to pick between them. The same menu gives you the option to Create a new Library.
Managing Multiple Libraries - including moving pics/albums/rolls and metadata between them - is greatly facilitated by using iPhoto Library Manager
You can only access one Library at a time, however. That means quitting iPhoto to search or view a Library. It can be inconvenient.
As iPhoto is good for 250,000 images in a Library, why would you bother?
Regards
TD

Multiple Libraries on one computer

I want to store more music in iTunes than my iPod has room for (original iPod). I want to use one library for music that I don't want on my iPod and the other for the music I want to sync. I also want to be able to move music back and forth between the them.
How do I store music in multiple libraries on one computer without making separate computer user accounts or using the playlist work around?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, apple-rules

Yes, I am referring to the auto syncing of playlists. Not all of my music is assigned to playlists and I don't want to create them - too many songs.
As I mentioned in my original post:
I want to store more music in iTunes than my iPod has room for (original iPod). I want to use one library for music that I don't want on my iPod and the other for the music I want to sync. I also want to be able to move music back and forth between the them.
I want to be able to store music in iTunes and play that music in iTunes without having them downloaded to my iPod. It would be nice to have a Library in iTunes that can be separate from the iPod stuff.
I think I found a work around (#12). Until I get a better solution I am going to create a master folder to which I will move all my music that I do not want syncing to my iPod. Then, I will do a manual sync and exclude that folder.
Thanks everyone.

How do I go from using a single Apple ID with multiple libraries to using home sharing?

Until now my wife and I have opted to share our iTunes/Apple ID and use multiple libraries to manage our iPhones. This has become increasingly difficult...with issues such as having apps I've downloaded that she doesn't want automatically downloading to her library and even her phone. Now, add in the fact that I want to continue to manage my iTunes library from our PC and allow her to manage hers from her new MacBook Pro and we have good reason to move to home sharing with separate Apple IDs for each of us.
My question is the logistics of doing so. Not only do we need to replicate her existing library on a new Apple ID, but then we need to migrate all the necessary files over to her MacBook Pro. Quite honestly, I don't even know where to begin. Is it possible to associate her existing library with her new Apple ID without having to create her library from scratch? Then is there anyway to migrate only the items in her library over to her MacBook Pro as opposed having to move all of our music & apps? Where do I begin?
Thanks!

Okay...I misunderstood and thought we needed separate ID's...but I see we actually need to use the same ID which simplifies things in my mind a bit. But still some followups...
1) What do you mean by restore the library on her computer? Simply open her library file in iTunes?
2) On our current machine...media is actually split between a couple folders but all under the My Music folder. But there are multiple subfolders (iTunes, Her iPhone, and Amazon MP3). I presume as long as I copy over the entire My Music folder there shouldn't be any access issues when the library is opened on her machine?
3) Is there any easy way to get rid of all the extra files that she doesn't have in her library? For instance, all my music and apps that she doesn't actually want, is there any easy way of separating those out from the files that are actually linked to in her library? Vice versa for me...once we've go her library set up on her machine, any easy way to purge all the extra files from my PC that aren't actually in my library?
Thanks!

Multiple Libraries & duplicates

I am sure that my problem is common so hopefully this post will help other people solve similar problems. It may have been answered in other posts although nothing has popped out as a clear and concise way to solve how to deal with multiple libraries and duplicate pictures.
I have over the years created, edited and merged various iPhoto libraries. I now have such a mess of pictures and libraries I don't know what to do to organize them all. The smallest library is about 10GB, the largest about 45GB. I purchased iPhoto Library Manager and Duplicate Annihilator. I have attempted to merge some of the libraries but that didn't work that well. It created yet another library and more duplicates. I then (foolishly) attempted to drag and drop a library file and that created extra pics like thumbnails of the all the faces.
So is there an easier way that sifting thru about 30,000 images?
Do I deal with the duplicates in each separate library first, then merge and do it again. Or attempt a total merge, then scan for duplicates?
Another approach I thought about is to work directly with the originals in the library contents.
I am lucky that I haven't spent too much time with albums, books etc. There is some metadata (comments, maps and faces), but nothing to serious.

Try using a free tool, ExifRenamer (http://www.qdev.de/?location=mac/exifrenamer)
Do not use this tool on files inside of iPhoto Library. You can use the tool only with originals, in simple file format. So you probably need to export the files from iPhoto first before using the tool.
It renames photo/video file names to date/time they were taken. You'd drop a folder containing the files onto ExifRenamer icon, and the files will be renamed. Pretty simple. You can specify the format of file name and other settings to your preference first. Once the files are renamed, you'd drop them into folders based on year/quarter/month.
Basically you'd reorganize the files in this folder structure
2009_01
2009_02
2010_03
Or you could work with
2009-q1 (for Jan - March)
2009-q2 (for Apr - June)
As you are dropping the renamed files into their directories, you may be asked to overwrite files, which you should do.
Once you've renamed the files, you can reimport them into iPhoto Library. I recommend one iPhoto Library for 1 year. Maybe you could keep more years in 1 iPhoto Library. My personal preference is 1 iPhoto Library for 1 year.
Lastly, please make a good backup and test before proceeding. I recommend this.
-Let Time Machine run with iPhoto closed.
-Export all photos from iPhoto into a separate folder. This is for backup and not to be touched.
-Export all photos from iPhoto or duplicate the folder you created in previous step. Work with this folder when using ExifRenamer. Start working with small sets of files initially until you are comfortable.

ITunes match with multiple libraries

I can't seem to find a satisfactory answer to this. Namely, how does iTunes Match treat multiple libraries on the same Mac. In my case, I spent a lot of time segregating my music. Thus, I have a rock library, a classical library, an instrumental (Windham Hill and Narada) library, an ambient recording library. It makes sense to me to do this rather that dump everything into one pot. That way, I can load a Touch with a specific library and don't have to create a zillion playlists. Using the same iTunes login, how will Match treat these different libraries? Will it only concern itself with what it finds in the currently open library? How will it treat different iPod Touches that are linked to a specific library? Will it want to push the wrong music to a Touch? Would appreciate any thoughts.

One person sets up Match on their computer using the iTunes account. Uploads everything to match.
I would recommend waiting until that person is done, and do computers one at a time. No particular reason, just seems sensible.
Next person sets up match using same iTunes account details. Uploads their stuff. They will then see everything the previous user put into the system, unless you select "Hide music not on this computer" in the view menu. Previous user will now see their stuff too.
Rinse and repeat.
This is how it worked with my multiple machines anyway... As long as every computer uses the same iTunes account for the store, you all get access to the same Match account.

How to set up multiple libraries on one computer

How do you set up multiple libraries on one computer for itunes?

Launch iTunes with the Shift key(Windows) or Option key(Mac OS X) held down.
(90004)

Multiple libraries or multiple accounts ?

Hi,
At the moment, everybody in the family is using my apple ID and it's getting difficult to manage because I don't want to share my password to avoid high expenses and also when the kids get older, it will be a problem.
So I need to know which is better for my family's future : multiple libraries on one account or creating different users on my computer with different itunes accounts ?
Also if I have different accounts, can I share music and apps ?
Thanks

I recommend you get her her own iTunes account for purchasing from the iTunes store.
You/she can add gift cards instead of using your credit card so you won't have to worry about how much she purchases.
should I just have one account and create a new library for her music and videos?
Create her own iTunes account and create her own library by creating a new computer login for her.
She will have her own iTunes library in her own computer account.

Search multiple libraries in AP3?

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