What is updating thumbnails in iphoto

my iphoto says "updating thumbnails" and continuously asks me if I want to find a photo because the original is missing..??

Updating thumbnails means that iPhoto is updateing the thumbnails
what version of iPhoto do you have?
What is the exact error message you are getting
in the iPhoto preferences is sthe preference to "copy imported items to the iPhoto library" checked or have yoou unchecked it?
LN

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Diskspace decreases when updating thumbnails in iPhoto?

I recently had a problem with iPhoto showing the same thumbnails on multiple images. I cleared the issue by updating the thumbnails. But by doing that my internal drives free space dramatically decreased, down to below 1 GB of free space! And I had to stop updating thumbnails.
I have my iphoto library on an external drive, and assumed that all databses and thumbnails was stored inside that package, isn't that right? and if so, why is space decreasing on the internal drive instead of the external? Should it decrease at all?
My son has a very tiny iPhoto library on the internal drive (approx. 300MB) could that somehow have tricked iPhoto in to believing that my library is also internally stored?
I hope someone can help me answer my questions, so I can get my space back:)
Thanks in advance!
Kind regards,
Thomas Detlefsen

down to below 1 GB of free space!
You have a big problem and you need to fix it fast. Very fast.
OS X needs about 10 gigs of hard drive space for normal OS operations - things like virtual memory, temporary files and so on.
Without this space your Mac will slow down as the OS hunts for space on the disk, files will be fragmented, also slowing things down, apps will crash and the risk of data corruption - that is damage to your files, photos, music - increases exponentially.
Your first priority is to make more space on that HD. Nothing else can be done until you do.
It's most likely that the space on your internal is eaten by temporary files. But it doesn't matter a whit. Your are in grave danger of serious dataloss.

Can't use iPhoto/updating thumbnails/original can't be found

I haven't used iPhoto in a long time, and have rarely ever used it, have always found it counterintuitive and unnecessarily difficult. The last time i used it was probably in the past 6 months and it worked OK. Today i'm having a new problem that i can't fix, hoping someone more knowledgeable can help me.
I opened iPhoto because i was going to try using iCloud for storing photos. The "beta" iCloud Photos opened and said that i would have to turn on Photo Library on my iPhone. I looked at that and it said "automatically upload and store your entire photo library in iCloud to access photos and videos from all your devices."
I'm not sure i want to do that, i don't want all my storage used up. I googled "Can i store selected photos on iCloud photos," to see if i can choose which photos in my photo library i want to put on the cloud. I got a link to an Apple Support page which was titled My Photo Stream FAQ. I was reading the beginning of it and it said i needed to have iPhoto v.9.2 or greater. So, i clicked on the iPhoto icon in the doc to open it and see the version number that way.
That was the beginning of the trouble.
I can't remember the whole sequence of what happened, but at the beginning, i got a message window telling me that there were problems with my data directory, it didn't use those terms but something about inconsistencies between different things which it said could cause problems, and one of the options was a button that said Repair. So i clicked on Repair.
Then i got a small window with a progress bar that said Updating Thumbnails. Pretty soon after that, i got another window, a message window that said something like "Alert - The photo “IMG_9673.JPG” could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found." The two options were Cancel or Find Photo. I clicked on Find Photo, a window opened with a field to type the name of the photo but iPhoto had taken the window away that had the file name, so i had to close out and wait for the window to come back. Then i memorized the obscure file name and put it in the search field after clicking Find Photo. Nothing happened. Nothing was found or not found, there was no response and no button to click on. there was no way to use that window to search with. There was a grayed out "open" button. What a waste of time. This is why i don't use iPhoto.
So, then i used the Finder Find file window and typed in IMG_ because there were a lot of them, not just a few, so i wanted to find out where they all were and maybe i could just delete them. Find file showed that a lot of them were in Mail, apparently mail attachments, and there was a total of over 4700 of them. So, there was no way i was going to be able to click Cancel 4700+ times, this was a very slow process, each time, there was an extended pause until the next window with 'cancel' came up, and of course, it would be too easy to have an option to apply the choice to all. That didn't exist. I couldn't do anything functional with iPhoto, everything was grayed out, including Quit. I used force quit.
i tried restarting iPhoto, the same thing happens, i got the same 'updating thumbnails' and 'Alert - original cannot be found'. One time, i got the original "you have inconsistencies" message and the options to repair or or cancel, and i chose cancel this time, but it still brought up the Updating Thumbnails/Alert - can't be found' windows.
Each time, i force quit.
Is there anything i can do? i don't want to reinstall the whole system. Is there something somewhere i can throw in the trash? I do not want to have to reinstall the system software for a program i rarely if ever use because i find it so difficult.

Terence--thank you for the reply. To my knowledge i haven't ever done anything with iPhoto preferences to change it from the default. i have very rarely used iPhoto because i have found the interface difficult and awkward. Because i use it so little, i would've had no reason to change the preferences that i can remember. i certainly would not have known anything about the options you describe and would not have selected a Referenced Library because i don't know where else i would put the photos. I have been managing my photos on the iPhone for the past 5 or 6 years, and before that, i used a Canon photo management program. i mostly store my photos on the phone but i email photos to my computer in order to post them on facebook etc, before that became easier to do from the phone . i would edit photos in Preview or on the phone. I have barely used iPhoto. i think occasionally, i sync the phone photos with the computer as a back up. That would account for there being a lot of photos in the iPhoto Library, maybe. As far as i know, i have the default settings on iPhoto.
I used iPhoto a couple of times in the past year, to find some old photos, and the program opened normally. Today, it did not open normally but gave me the message about having some inconsistencies and asking if i wanted to repair them, which then led to the Updating Thumbnails window, which then led to the Alert - The photo could not be opened because the original could not be found message window. Nothing else opens. There is no functional iPhoto at this point. I can either open it and look at a screen with those messages on it, or i can force quit it. I can't check the preferences settings, not from within the program.
I searched for the IMG_ files and found about 3000 of them and put them in a photo on my desk top. Does that mean they are in a Referenced Library?
Do you know of any way of getting this 'updating thumbnails' process to stop?
There was a time when dragging a plist file to the desk top or the trash could help to fix problems, and i was hoping there would be something like that i could do. i don't know what changed since the last time i opened iPhoto that has caused this problem that i have not had before. Maybe it was after the change from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion. I can't remember.

Iphoto keeps asking to update thumbnails - EACH TIME

iPhoto iphoto keeps asking to update thumbnails - EACH TIME. I've told it ignore 5 times, and each sessions involves about 100 photos and 2 horus of clicking no - help!
Where is the file that I can update?
Thanks
George

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 Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In Library Manager it's the FIle -> Rebuild command)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places 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

IPhoto 9.3 Rebuild/Updating Thumbnails

Hi there,
So I'm on a MacBook Pro, Late 2008 with OSX Lion, and recently did a software update that included the 9.3 version for iPhoto. I plugged in my Nikon D5100 yesterday to get import photos into my iPhoto library when a message popped up that said: "The photo library needs to be upgraded to work with this version of iPhoto. Your photo library will not be readable by previous version of iPhoto after the upgrade. The upgrade process for very large libraries may take an hour or more to complete."
After contemplating for about a day, I talked to a friend who had a similar problem, he did a rebuild on his library and got his photos back with no problem.
I have a library with about 20,000 photos and numerous videos. I've never backed up my MB so I don't have a backup for my photos or anything of that sort.
I took the plunge because my friend was confident in it and I did the upgrade. I did the whole rebuilding database process and I thought it was fine since I saw all my albums afterwards. I didn't see thumbnails, so I asked him what I should do. He suggested I restart my computer. Restarted my computer, opened iPhoto back up and it started the "Updating Thumbnail" process. It was going okay until it got just a little over the halfway mark on the progress bar. It has been stuck in that same spot for about 2 hours now. Am I just being impatient about it or does it really take that long to update the thumbnails? WOuld having a lot of videos in iPhoto hinder the process at all?
Before asking this question I researched the community questions quite thoroughly so I didn't ask a question that could already have a solution that I need, however, I still couldn't find quite the right question or answer for my problem, hence my asking. I'm a little worried that since I don't have a backup hard drive that I'll lose my photos if I Force Quit iPhoto, especially when it says that it's still running and responsive. I tried clicking on "Finish Later" but it now seems like iPhoto is completely frozen up and I'm really not sure what to do about it. I'm just hoping I don't lose five years worth of photos because of one of Apple's mistakes. Also, I do have an external hard drive coming my way so I will have a way to back up my photos for the future. Any suggestions are helpful! Thanks!
Catherine

first - not having a backup is a terrible user mistake - people, computers and software fails and a backup is the only way to protect your files and photos - if you do not have a good, crrent backup you are 100% guarenteed to lose your file sincluding your photos sooner or later - not haveing a backup is playing Russian Roulette with yoru information
As to rebuilding thumbnails - yes it can take a while
At this stage since you choose to not make backups your choices are to wait and hope - if things do not work out you can backup what you have and try rebuilding the library (depress the option and command keys and launch iPhoto) - if nothing works you will have to start over with th eoriginals and possibly with photos recovered with expensive file recovery software
LN

Attempts to rebuild thumbnails did not work. How do I get rid of message "Updating thumbnails" every time I open iPhoto?

After repairing and rebuilding the iPhoto libary/database, I attempted to rebuild the thumbnails on an older Mac Book (10.7.5) and iPhoto 9.0. I believe there was not enough disk space for this function. Now when I open iPhoto, I get the message "Updating thumbnails." I then need to hit "cancel" to open iPhoto, How can I get rid of the "Updating thmbnails" message?

Basically none.
That is the problem
you need a minimum of 10GB of free space just for normal os - with little or none y0u risk damaging yoru iPhoto database and other important system components - you must make space immediately
Exporting photos is not the solution - unless you can delete some large files that are not needed The fastest way is to purchase an external hard drive formatted Mac OS extended and move your iPhtoo library to it -
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
I would not put my iphoto library on a flash drive - and usually they are not formated correctly wso will nto even work
LN

What do i do when iPhoto Deletes my recent pic's all the way to 2010????? i opened the program and it said i needed to update my library otherwise i wouldn't be able to view the images that were not updated-- and now they are gone!!!!!! WHat do i do!!!!!!

what do i do when iPhoto Deletes my recent pic's all the way to 2010????? i opened the program and it said i needed to update my library otherwise i wouldn't be able to view the images that were not updated…… and now they are gone!!!!!! WHat do i do!!!!!! Is this some type a virus???? my mac is protected!!!!! tried to chat with an IT person but they keep asking if its like a tech problem and it is just iphoto

You should get your keyboard checked as it's repeating on a lot of keys and makes you look silly.
There are 9 different versions of iPhoto and they run on 9 different versions of the Operating System. The tricks and tips for dealing with issues vary depending on the version of iPhoto and the version of the OS. So to get help you need to give as much information as you can. Include things like:
- What version of iPhoto.
- What version of the Operating System.
- Details. As full a description of the problem as you can. For example, if you have a problem with exporting, then explain by describing how you are trying to export, and so on.
- History: Is this going on long? Has anything been installed or deleted? - Are there error messages?
- What steps have you tried already to solve the issue.
- Anything unusual about your set up? Or how you use iPhoto?
Anything else you can think of that might help someone understand the problem you have.

Trying to download updated version of iPhoto in app store, am asked to provide apple id, one is preselected (but not mine) but can't edit it since it is not highlighted. What do i do ?

Trying to download updated version of iPhoto in app store, am asked to provide apple id, one is preselected (but not mine) but can't edit it since it is not highlighted. What do i do ?

Updating thumbnails and the disappearing iPhoto library

i was greeted with a message asking if I wanted to updated my thumbnails in iPhoto 08 earlier today. When I selected "yes", every photo I had vanished. I can still find them on my hard drive, but, I recently spent a good amount of time creating events.
When I click on my iPhoto library, iPhoto simply launches. If I search for the name of an event I created, say "vacation" for instance, the folder shows up in finder. Also, I backed up my home folder yesterday, and tried to restore the library without any luck. I do have an iLife backup from 2 weeks ago, however, I have spent a fair amount of time organizing and don't particularly want to do it again. Anyone know if there is a way to recover?

Robert
Sounds like you have a corrupted database file.
Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file. 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 Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events UNcheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders 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 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.

Since I updated the latest iPhoto I haven't been able to export my photos. It crashes every time. Please advise what I can do to fix this.

Since I updated the latest iPhoto I haven't been able to export my photos. It crashes every time. Please advise what I can do to fix this.

I no longer have this problem. Thanks to Terence Devlin. Thank you for the information you provided on other posts.

Updating thumbnails can't find original

Every time i launch iPhoto 11 (after i connect iPhone), and the updating thumbnail process initiates, iPhoto stalls saying it can't find about ~20 original photos. It the same ~20 photos everytime. Tried repairing database. No change.

I did try iPhoto Library Manager before posting here, but it told me it couldn't rebuild the database because it was corrupt! Yikes.
Okay, so I did what someone suggested on another thread, and tried to identify all the 80 or so photos that were supposedly 'missing'. I wrote down the name of every photo on a text edit doc.
Then I did something strange that seems to have worked: I went to Spotlight, and searched for one of the image names. I found it inside the iPhoto library. (I'm not sure why you can't navigate to photos from inside iPhoto, but you can from Spotlight - note, you can't find them in any other finder window, just Spotlight).
I dragged the culprit file to my desktop. Then, when the alert came up again, I used File > Reveal in Finder to navigate to the photo...interestingly, iPhoto then pointed to the original location of the missing file...I then dragged the photo from my desktop back into iPhoto's library via the Finder. Voila, the photo was re-linked.
But here's where it gets interesting. Somehow other photos got re-linked, too!
I quit the program, and the same problem reoccurred. So I took the steps again above, but this time I did something slightly different afterward.
I went to the TextEdit doc, and I found each and every photo, and dragged it into an album I'd created (I called it something like "Photos to Fix" or something). I then went to the Trash, and found some broken aliases in there, too. I emptied the Trash, after clicking 'cancel' on each error message. Then, I quit and restarted iPhoto several times. The problem is gone! I then moved the photos out of the "Photos to Fix" album, and the problem has not returned.
In short:
- Find a broken photo in iPhoto, note the name
- Navigate to the photo in Spotlight (not finder)
- Drag it out of the iPhoto Library and onto the desktop
- Go back to iPhoto
- Select "Reveal in Finder" on the broken thumbnail
- iPhoto will go to the location the photo USED to be
- Go back to Finder
- Drag the photo back into its old location
- Go back to iPhoto
- Move that photo, and any other problem photos, to a new album
- Empty Trash if there are any problem files there, too
- Restart iPhoto
- Problem solved
That's what worked for me, though I admit it is wonky and illogical. Maybe someone can shed light on why this worked.

Updating Thumbnails

I'm trying to convence myself that I like iPhoto, but...so far It looks like I'm staying with iView. (it cost enough..I'd better...LOL)
I spent some time this a.m. messing with iPhoto. Downloaded some pics from the media card to the computer. Did it 2 ways..directly into a file/iView and then into iPhoto.
They both showed me the RAW files. Editing pics from iView to PS is easy and you get the finished product back easily.
In iPhoto it opened into PS just fine, did the adjustment and hit saved. It told me which internal iPhoto file it was saving it in.
Now, how do I get it back? The thumbnail in iPhoto didn't change.
From what I can see, I'm better off saving in a separate file, and re-importing into iPhoto if I'm to use that program.
If I do an adjustment and the pics is in JPG it updates the thumbnail, but so far it looks like extra steps when you start in RAW.
Also, iPhoto seems to duplicate the photos. When looking at the library section I have the same photos as "Data" "Modified" and "Originals". Data and Modified have been saved as JPG and Originals are in RAW. Whew, that takes up a lot of space, especially since my photos are taken in a large size and in RAW.
I'm agreeing with Old Toad, stay with iView.... then only use iPhoto for special stuff. I was hoping to just use one and have it work easily. But not sure this will happen.
I need to wipe out hubby's total iPhoto library on his computer. I deleted the pix, then did a total update and new photos on his computer not realizing the old ones were still on his hard drive. He has double...no wonder he was wondering why he didn't have a lot of space left on his hard drive.
Allie

Allie:
A caveat to using PS via iPhoto is that if the edit requires saving as a psd file you'll have two options:
1 - flatten the image and save as a jpg . If you start the save and then select jpg you'll get the message that a file with that name already exists and do you want to replace it. That will require the rebuilding of the thumbnails to get the thumbnail to update correctly. The best way is to flatten the image before starting the save process. Or....
2 - do a Save As to the desktop and import the new psd file.

My JPEGS are no longer being copied over to Finder. Only a random fraction are copied. It use to work perfect. Is there a bug in the updated versions of iPhoto?

My JPEGS are no longer being copied over to Finder. Only a random fraction are copied. It use to work perfect. I can move them 4 or 5 at a time, but it is very time consuming. Is there a bug in the updated versions of iPhoto?

OK - here is what I've done in the past. As I want to be able to save my photos on a DVD that can be read by both a PC and a Mac, I am burning them in Finder. I start by downloading into IPhoto. I'll flag and edit the ones I want to print or post to the web. After that I want to take all the keepers and move them from IPhoto to various files I create in the document section of Finder. I've done it both ways in the past, copy and paste or just drag over, all the files would transfer over. Now there may be dozens of pictures that do not move over - very random, in one case there were only 6 photos and the 3 vertical ones did not copy over.
I'm wondering if this is a software issue or if there is just too much data being moved around. FYI there are 2 Nikon cameras I use and the files from both do this.
Thanks

How do I update iMovie and iPhoto? it tells me "To update this application, sign in to the account you used to purchase it."

I have been trying to update imovie and iphoto but i keep getting the same message and dont know how to go about it. Help please!

You obviously haven't bothered to read the software license agreement that covers iPhoto.
It states exactly what I have been explaining to folks that you now come along and contradict;
http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/iPhoto.pdf (underlining mine)
B. If you obtained the Apple Software preinstalled by Apple on Apple-branded hardware, in order to use the Apple Software on more than one of the Apple-branded computers you own or control under the Mac App Store Product Usage Rules, you must log in to the Mac App Store and associate the Apple Software with your Mac App Store account. If you choose not to associate the preinstalled Apple Software with your Mac App Store account, you are permitted to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-branded computer at any one time. Please also note that by choosing to associate the preinstalled Apple Software with your Mac App Store account, you will also associate any other Apple software applications (i.e., iMovie and GarageBand) that are provided to you as part of the same preinstalled application bundle.
You have been lucky, because they realized that you were not intelligent enough to work with logically or to understand the license agreement, the Apple employees likely gave you these redemption codes to get rid of you. I seriously doubt that Apple is going to make a policy and give every user redemtion codes because they fail to read the terms of use and fail to associate their iLfe apps to their Apple ID correctly.
There is no bug. It works this way by design.

What are the differences between iphoto ios5 and iphoto ios6?

what are the differences between iphoto ios5 and iphoto ios6?

There is no difference unless you update iPhoto.
The iPhoto.app was updated and now version 1.1 is available. This version includes the ability to create Shared Photo Streams if you have iOS 6.
-Doug

What is updating thumbnails in iphoto

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