mystwillow

Q: Reverting to iPhoto after Photos migration

Does anyone know if it is ok to delete the new Photos library from the Pictures folder after you've migrated your iPhoto library to Photos? This is the situation I'm in - I migrated my library to Photos but I HATE it. I am very invested in Events and being able to review each new batch of photos before categorizing them into the appropriate events, and with this new app it's like everything is in a giant shoebox, it seems to include all my Photo Stream pictures in my library before I'm ready (I typically delete a lot of dud pictures every time I import, now they are all mixed in automatically and I have to remember how far back I've gone through and culled), and there's no way to tell which pictures haven't been categorized into an event yet. Worst of all, there's no way to hide photos from all views. Not only are hidden albums/events not even a thing anymore, Photos "conveniently" makes a whole new album of all the pictures I didn't want anyone to see. So now instead of me being the only one who would know where to look for hidden photos/Events in my library when they were unhidden, they're all collected in one place at the top level of my albums view. Why anyone would want an automatic, top-level album of all photos in an entire library that were meant not to be see, I don't know. Seems to defeat the entire privacy/security purpose of the Hide feature. Not to mention, anyone can still see all hidden photos when scrolling through the Albums view.

 

Long story short, I am RUNNING back to iPhoto for as long as Apple allows it to be used. Now, I know that any changes I make to the iPhoto library won't carry over automatically to Photos. I'm fine with that as I don't intend to use Photos until I'm forced to. However, I know that at some point I will be forced to use it, and at that point its library will be (hopefully) several years out of date. Since Photos creates symbolic links to the photo files, I know I could easily have deleted the iPhoto library when I migrated to Photos, but does that work both ways? I guess my question is, can I delete the Photos library I have now, keep working with my iPhoto library until iPhoto is killed completely, and then re-import the entire library back into Photos? Or do my photo files actually now live in the Photos library package instead of the iPhoto library package and deleting the Photos library will delete all my photos?

 

Any clarification on my options would be appreciated.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Apr 9, 2015 6:29 PM

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Q: Reverting to iPhoto after Photos migration

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  • by michelefromwassenaar,

    michelefromwassenaar michelefromwassenaar Apr 14, 2015 5:56 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 5:56 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    Unfortunately with Events gone "Photos" is not good for me as  all my libraries are tagged by Events.  I suspect I will (eventually)

    have to bite the bullet and convert the Events in Directories and that use something like Picasa. Then I will not be anymore dependent on app-specific formats. I tried Picasa already some time ago but I preferred at the time the interface of iPhoto.

    (I use both GC and Photoshop when I need editing but that is not the point as that is a different type of work).

     

    btw I found out an application called Lyn that works (more or less) as a simplified iPhoto without all the (useless) face recognition etc. Unfortunately it does not allow batch change of dates and of location...

  • by grosvenorhirl,

    grosvenorhirl grosvenorhirl Apr 14, 2015 8:14 AM in response to toulouse
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 8:14 AM in response to toulouse

    I couldn't agree more. I hate it. I have lost my events system of organising & now have 000's of photo's in date order. Absolutely useless

  • by Richard3030,

    Richard3030 Richard3030 Apr 14, 2015 8:21 AM in response to michelefromwassenaar
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 8:21 AM in response to michelefromwassenaar

    > I suspect I will (eventually) have to bite the bullet and convert the Events in Directories and that use something like Picasa.

     

    How about using Keyword to tag all of your photos and use search as your "Events" alternative. For example, I was able to type "Nicole 2014 Canada Beach" and Photos would find the right photos for me.

  • by michelefromwassenaar,

    michelefromwassenaar michelefromwassenaar Apr 14, 2015 8:58 AM in response to Richard3030
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 8:58 AM in response to Richard3030

    ...... Thanks for the suggestion but (there is always a but)  I am already using keyword for parallel indexing to indicate

    relevance of certain sets of photo for certain applications....grrrrr... Thanks anyway

  • by lgcebuk,

    lgcebuk lgcebuk Apr 14, 2015 9:03 AM in response to Richard Bowes
    Level 1 (65 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 14, 2015 9:03 AM in response to Richard Bowes

    Just spoken to Senior Apple Support technician about the new Photo not working with Apple's iBook Author!  Anyway he first thought that iPhoto could still be used in 10.10.3 but he drew a blank when he tried to find a way to do it.

    Apple have frequently said that they don't monitor comments in their Forums.    (Seems short-sighted to me as it would give them advance warning of issues experienced).  So the best way to ask for old features to be re-introduced is to contact Apple directly - either via phone support, their feedback forms or even emails to T.Cook.

    A few years ago Apple removed features from iMovie but reintroduced them in an update because of the number of requests from users. There are workarounds for some of the features removed but they are a poor substitute for the easy functionality of iPhoto.  Events, Merge events, showing user entered file names can all be done in Photo - it just takes longer!  Not an improvement in my view!

  • by MTNLUVR,

    MTNLUVR MTNLUVR Apr 14, 2015 9:32 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 14, 2015 9:32 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    First, I did register my concerns at the Apple Sight - I hope others do also - it would be nice if they heard our frustrations with this change.

     

    Terence - you seem to know what you are talking about and believe we can do everything we want in Photos.   I go back to the original organization problem that most are upset about.   Is there a way to take our photos from iPhoto and maintain the 'Event Title' line directly above each group of pictures either in place of or along with the automatic date and basically useless location provided?

     

    Because my years of organization and number of photos is so large - that is the only way Photos will do what I need.  I am not only looking to keep my old organization that involved over 100,000 pictures and 3,000 events - but I need to be able to carry the system forward.

     

    If I am forced to go back and re-enter and re-organize into a new program, I want to know that it will be a program maintained by someone who is looking at something other than the social media folks and recognizes the need to keep part of the system so that photographers with large numbers of files that need to be organized - not just by a search - can trust that their years of organization will not be trashed.

     

    I agree that it is nice to have editing tools right in the program and they are apparently there with Photos - but an ongoing, uninterrupted organization is key.   Photos can be edited anywhere and brought into the organization.

  • by MrPheasant,

    MrPheasant MrPheasant Apr 14, 2015 9:42 AM in response to lgcebuk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 9:42 AM in response to lgcebuk

    Can you share an address or three at Apple to which we can send suggestions/complaints?  I'll put it to good use.  Thanks.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Apr 14, 2015 9:47 AM in response to MTNLUVR
    Level 10 (141,304 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 14, 2015 9:47 AM in response to MTNLUVR

    You might consider using Media Pro 1.  It's a professional DAM (digital asset management) application that can keep your organization essentially the same as you have in iPhoto, write the metadata, keywords, descriptions, etc back to the original file and lots more.  It uses Catalog Sets similar to Albums in iPhoto.  It's possible to convert an iPhoto Library over to the MP1 system and keep the metadata and events intact. I believe they still offer a 30 day demo period.  If you want to try it this tutorial may help: iP03 - Converting an iPhoto Library to a Media Pro Catalog System

  • by MTNLUVR,

    MTNLUVR MTNLUVR Apr 14, 2015 10:14 AM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 14, 2015 10:14 AM in response to Old Toad

    Thank you - I will look into Media Pro 1.

  • by AKSMDIHS,

    AKSMDIHS AKSMDIHS Apr 14, 2015 10:16 AM in response to MTNLUVR
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 10:16 AM in response to MTNLUVR

    I just 'upgraded' and at first was alarmed at the new look. But once I showed the sidebar again, it all started to look familiar. My folders are all there. I must say, I am not a fan of the photo-icon instead of a folder, but that's minor.

     

    Yes, the 'event' bar is gone. But when I go to 'iPhoto Events', all my years of sorting is there. Only the more recent photos are first. And I get an image of the event and the events go across the top, instead of down the page. I prefer down the page. The set up now is too chaotic for me.

     

    But my point is that I didn't lose any of the organization.

     

    I MISS the direct link to my iCloud photo stream. Now my shared device photos show up automatically and I dislike that. I want control.

     

    I can still edit and move new photos into older events. Just like before.

     

    So this doesn't actually answer the initial query about migrating back. But I did want to point out that, at least for me, all the 8 years+ of organization did not disappear.

  • by MTNLUVR,

    MTNLUVR MTNLUVR Apr 14, 2015 10:34 AM in response to AKSMDIHS
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 14, 2015 10:34 AM in response to AKSMDIHS

    How were your Events labelled that they are still in some kind of order?    Mine put 13 years of events in completely random order.   Even a week long vacation where I had created an event for each day since we saw so many things daily - I had to scroll through 3,000 events to find the seven days.  They don't appear to be in either date or alphabetical order.

     

    I was thinking I would have to go back and label them with a date first - the way I used to keep Albums in order on my ancient Windows computer (does this feel like going backwards?).   It will be a huge job with so many events.

     

    Assuming I can do this - is there then a way to rename the 'date and location' line above each group in Moments so that it is useful going forward?

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Apr 14, 2015 10:48 AM in response to MTNLUVR
    Level 10 (139,572 points)
    iLife
    Apr 14, 2015 10:48 AM in response to MTNLUVR
    is there then a way to rename the 'date and location' line above each group in Moments so that it is useful going forward?

     

    No. http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html is the place for feature requests and feedback

  • by Richard3030,

    Richard3030 Richard3030 Apr 14, 2015 4:32 PM in response to MTNLUVR
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 4:32 PM in response to MTNLUVR

    > How were your Events labelled that they are still in some kind of order?    Mine put 13 years of events in completely random order.

     

    MTNLUVR, you can sort them alphabetically by title: View>Keep Sorted by Title

  • by Richard3030,

    Richard3030 Richard3030 Apr 14, 2015 4:39 PM in response to michelefromwassenaar
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 4:39 PM in response to michelefromwassenaar

    >Would be nice if it had concept of separate libraries so that I do not need to wade through 60000+ picture every time.

     

    Photos can handle multiple Libraries. You can keep one Library for sharing and another for storage, etc. Also, Photos can reference files instead of importing everything into the Library. You can organize all of your photos into folders in the Finder by date, then reference them in different Photos Libraries.

  • by Richard3030,

    Richard3030 Richard3030 Apr 14, 2015 4:46 PM in response to michelefromwassenaar
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 4:46 PM in response to michelefromwassenaar

    > Thanks for the suggestion but (there is always a but)  I am already using keyword for parallel indexing to indicate

    relevance of certain sets of photo for certain applications....grrrrr... Thanks anyway

     

    I don't see how that stops you from using keyword to tag photos in many different ways. You can search multiple keywords/criteria in Photos. For example, I have Vancouver as a keyword and as an album name.

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