iphoto's organisation

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Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
me again



i've imported all of my old photos into iphoto now, but for the time being i've kept the originals because i'm not sure if i like iphoto's organisation method. correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems to lump them all together in chronological order whereas i prefer to have them in small albums based on particular places/events where i took my camera, and then have the albums in chronological order.



if that makes sense!



iphoto doesn't seem to let me browse by album. am i missing something stunnigly obvious here?



i had the same problem when i first started using itunes - i like to have my tunes organised by genre/artist/album/track but itunes doesn't support genre ordering. i like this because some of the file sharing i use is quite genre specific.
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  • Reply 1 of 22
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    iPhoto automatically creates "albums" for each year, but you can also make your own albums, as many as you like. Create a new album by clicking the "+" button on the bottom of the left side of the screen. Drag and drop whatever photos you want from the main window onto the new album. Do that for each album you want to make. You can add a photo to as many different albums as you like. And there you go...browsing by album. Or am I the one missing something stunningly obvious?



    As for iTunes, have you ever tried clicking the "Library" button at the top of the playlist panel? You can browse your music collection by genre, artist, album, song, etc. Only those songs that match the criteria you are browsing by will appear in the main window. You can also easily sort the contents of that main window by genre, artist, album, song name, etc. by clicking on any of those column headings.
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  • Reply 2 of 22
    iphoto - yep sounds ok, but is there any way to automate this process based on the folder structure when you import? my photos are in folders according to album.



    re; itunes, i want the folder structure to be organised genre/artist/album. seems like i can't do that tho
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  • Reply 3 of 22
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Not sure on iPhoto - might be a third party utility to facilitate it.



    I'm not quite sure that I see what the issue is on iTunes. Its browser allows you to do exactly Genre -> Artist -> Album (with tracks for the selected item in the bottom tableview). Unless you're meaning to have this logical organization in the filesystem to facilitate file sharing of those tracks to others (in which case: ) - maybe you just haven't seen the browser option yet? Edit menu --> Show Browser.
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  • Reply 4 of 22
    navigating using the browser in itunes is fine, it's just that i'd like to have the folder structure organised by genre.



    seems no can do unless there's a hack?



    gonna experiment more with iphoto. got a feeling i'll have to organise manually tho
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  • Reply 5 of 22
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    I don't know that anyone's bothered to make something to have folder organization by genre. The vast majority of users are satisfied with seeing it in iTunes itself.
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  • Reply 6 of 22
    'cos of filesharing!!!



    anyhows, sorted out the initial iphoto issue. discovered the view by roll feature and made albums for all my rolls as well.



    so i'm happy now
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  • Reply 7 of 22
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Yeah - I was just going to say - each folder could be added and it should be a roll... so you could drag a roll into an album. Completely forgot. Oh well, good job
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  • Reply 8 of 22
    Note that you can actually move pictures among rolls too. I do this to create a single "roll" of a particular occasion rather than having 5 rolls of each day of my vacation.
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  • Reply 9 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jonnyboy

    'cos of filesharing!!!



    ...




    Am i allowed to mention that i stand completely

    in the dark regarding your ...er...issue with "genre"/"sorting"

    actually.



    You do see the "genre" column on the left side,

    even you have mounted another ones iTunes library (filesharing)

    don't you? So maybe i am still missing something

    very obvious. Enlighten me please.



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  • Reply 10 of 22
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    I get it. He means he wants to preserve his own folder structure in the Finder, so he can tell his file sharing client to share only certain folders, without having duplicate files all over.



    iTunes doesn't do this by default. The whole philosophy of the iApps is to free you from having to muck about in the file system yourself. You let the program take care of the files, and you do the more elaborate organization possible within the programs. Usually, that's the far easier way to do it - for example, a song can only be physically in one folder, but can be on any number of playlists and sorted by any category. But for you, now I see why you'd prefer to keep the physical files organized.



    The way to do that is to open iTunes Preferences/Advanced, and tell it to NOT organize your music and NOT copy files into the iTunes Music folder. Now, when you "import" songs into iTunes, it will leave them where they are. So after you uncheck that box, delete your Library*, make sure your songs are organized into folders the way you want, and re-import them all. That maintains your original folder structure, without duplicating files, while letting iTunes still do its magic in the program.



    If you don't have your songs pre-organized like that, iTunes can still do most of the work for you. First, create the folders you want in the Finder. Now go into iTunes, and select all the songs you want to put into that folder. Drag them out of the iTunes window, and onto the folder. The Mac will make a copy of the original files and put the copies into the folder. To make grouping the songs easier, you can use the Library browse and column-sort functions. Then, once all your stuff is in your self-organized folders, delete your entire Library (as above)*, uncheck the two preferences, and re-import the songs from the new folders.



    *(You need to delete all the songs in your old library, because otherwise iTunes will retain duplicate copies of every song you re-import. Very annoying. And you can't just throw out the iTunes Music Folder, because iTunes retains a memory of all the songs that were once there - it just can't find the file to associate with each of them. So delete all of the songs from within iTunes, from the main Library (not from playlists). It will ask you if you want to move them to the Trash. Go with it. Before you empty the Trash, of course, make sure that you aren't throwing away anything you don't have another copy of.)
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  • Reply 11 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Towel

    [B]I get it. He means he wants to preserve his own folder structure in the Finder, so he can tell his file sharing client to share only certain folders, without having duplicate files all over.



    NAIL ON HEAD!!



    in some sharing clients i only want to share certain genres.



    yes, i sorted the iphoto's prob by dragging each folder separately into the left albums pane. took a little while but it's how i want it now.
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  • Reply 12 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Towel

    I get it. He means he wants to preserve his own folder structure in the Finder, so he can tell his file sharing client to share only certain folders, without having duplicate files all over.





    Quote:

    Originally posted by jonnyboy

    NAIL ON HEAD!!





    Now i get it too

    But one more little question still remains:

    Why treat an easy thing in such a complicated manner?



    First of all do you mean by "filesharing" sharing

    songs via finder, so other clients will have access via

    finder to your "sorted" iTunes library? If so, than your

    approach would make a little sense.



    Or else, do you mean "filesharing" as sharing within iTunes,

    so other clients have access to your Tunes within iTunes?

    Than of course i'd say it doesn't make sense at all.



    You do know, that iTunes allowes you to drag the entire

    "Genres Column" to the left in order to make a "playlist", don't you?

    Therefore you could check in iTunes pref pane, that only

    some certain playlists (eg "Genre") are visible to other clients.

    I do this a lot and it works perfectly fine.

    Well iTunes organizes your stuff. No need to play around

    in the "Finder iTunes library" any more.



    my2cents
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  • Reply 13 of 22
    Btw, did i mention that I wish so much the iPhoto library

    goes into the User/Library folder? I could swear i did.
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  • Reply 14 of 22
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    The library folder is not a good place for user created documents. It should contain settings, preferences, and other things used by programs. Things created by the user, as an end-product of a program, should never ever be in a library folder.



    Providing a mechanism to copy particular genres via the finder? Whew... that's a rather convoluted use scenario. If you just want to let people listen to particular genres, smart playlists of those genres can be chosen as one of the playlists to share.
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  • Reply 15 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dfiler

    The library folder is not a good place for user created documents. It should contain settings, preferences, and other things used by programs. Things created by the user, as an end-product of a program, should never ever be in a library folder.

    ...




    Yeah, but the iPhoto Library placed in the

    User/Picture folder makes people believe they

    "own" this folder (and its content). And this is not true,

    particularily in the current state as it is right now.

    At least the "iPhoto Library" should appear as a "bundle",

    no editing allowed.



    Quote:

    Originally posted by dfiler

    ...

    Providing a mechanism to copy particular genres via the finder? Whew... that's a rather convoluted use scenario. If you just want to let people listen to particular genres, smart playlists of those genres can be chosen as one of the playlists to share.




    Exactly.
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  • Reply 16 of 22
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Vox Barbara

    Yeah, but the iPhoto Library placed in the

    User/Picture folder makes people believe they

    "own" this folder (and its content). And this is not true,

    particularily in the current state as it is right now.




    Good point, it isn't good for users to muck with the iPhoto folder directly. Hmmm, it seems that apple has gotten themselves into an interface dilemma. Break the folder organization rules or put the confusing folder out in plain sight. Hopefully... they can come up with a better, third option.
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  • Reply 17 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dfiler

    Good point, it isn't good for users to muck with the iPhoto folder directly. Hmmm, it seems that apple has gotten themselves into an interface dilemma. Break the folder organization rules or put the confusing folder out in plain sight. Hopefully... they can come up with a better, third option.





    I am watching this particular folder with fierce eyes.

    This folder has have to disappear soon. I hate this

    folder in my user/picture directory so much.

    It violates my sense of aesthetics, usability and user friendly

    and on and on every time i look into my picture folder.

    It is ugly and very non mac-like. Period. *snip*



    But well, the world doesn't just dissapear

    when you close your eyes. Does it? Dilemma, so

    you are right, dfiler.
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  • Reply 18 of 22
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    They should just make the iPhoto Library folder a bundle, and it looks like a single, self-contained icon. That way, 99% of the time, its contents are hidden and thus no longer confusing to people who want to tinnker with it in the Finder. For the rare cases when people really want to peek inside and know how to, the contents are still available using the "show package contents" command. This feature IMO is one of the really nice aspects of Mac OS X, and there are lots of ways to apply it: native file formats, applications, private libraries and frameworks, etc.



    Still, the one really important thing that people just never seem to get is that iPhoto is there expressly to help you organize your photos. That is its raison d'etre. If you're organizing your pictures in the Finder, then you don't need or want iPhoto; it just gets in the way.
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  • Reply 19 of 22
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    A bundle! That's the solution. Amazingly simple!

    Off to Apple's feedback page...



    It really does seem like a good solution. If a user doesn't understand how to view the pkg contents, then it probably isn't a good idea for them to muck with the contents. On the other hand, power users can easily view the contents or even convert the bundle into a regular folder.



    Is there a downside?
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  • Reply 20 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BuonRotto

    They should just make the iPhoto Library folder a bundle,...



    Good.



    Quote:

    Still, the one really important thing that people just never seem to get is that iPhoto is there expressly to help you organize your photos. That is its raison d'etre. If you're organizing your pictures in the Finder, then you don't need or want iPhoto; it just gets in the way. [/B]



    Let me add something: What about a similar

    structur like, say, iTunes? You'd gain two of

    both worlds: Organizing within iPhoto and

    managing with Finder.app (copy, paste etc.).
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