Q: Reverting to iPhoto after Photos migration

I cannot get iPhoto to work again. I just today upgraded the OS and it installed and replaced my iPhoto with Photo, and never gave me a warning that it was going to change my iPhoto library folder and no warning that I would lose the ability to ever use the iPhoto app with this upgrade. I, too, have always filed photos by events, and have no interest whatsoever in seeing random locations as a way of naming my photo downloads, nor the download dates in such an unuseful way.

I went into Time Capsule and have just saved my original iPhoto library from a month ago onto an external drive, so I have it, but now I don’t know what to do because I cannot access iPhoto anymore on my iMac— the machine I do all my real stuff on and that I would expect to be able to use as something more significant and sophisticated than my iPhone or iPad, or in ways more substantial than Instagram or Facebook.

I could not have said it any better myself.  The unorganized shoebox analogy is perfect.  Simply because our pictures are in chronological order does not mean they are organized in any meaningful way to us.  Adding the location doesn't help either.  There are a handful of locations at which I spend a lot of time, so something being designated as happening in my house, at my kid's school, or at the beach in San Diego is not helpful unless I am able to name it as an event that will mean something to me when I scroll by it or search for it.  Luckily, I haven't moved to Photos from iPhoto yet because I was afraid of this very issue.  While Photos may have a lot to offer in many ways, unfortunately I won't be using it until I have no other choice simply because of this reason.  I thought that one of the main goals of the app is to help us better organize and store our pictures.  Someone forgot about the organizing part.

I think the new Photos is a dog.  I wish Apple would stop doing this!  I just get used to a program and start using it efficiently, and some 30 day wonder decides he or she knows better the way users should be "using the product".  If it ain't broke, don't fix it!   Fortunately, I also have Canon's Digital Photo Professional, which I'm beginning to use.  I was surprised to find, when I began looking for better alternatives to Photos, that DPP is a very good program.  I'll be content to use it until Apple gets its act together.  Two thumbs down!

I have decided to leave the whole issue. I am investing in Adobe Lightroom, which, after watching the extremely helpful tutorials, appears to be the perfect catalogue friendly app. Hefty price, but buying the download off amazon saves a few bucks, and I think it will b very worth it. The app also does not alter the original photo when you make edits! Seems like a safe and much longer-lasting alternative to the photo app game-playing by the newer Mac app writers.

> events and albums are two totally different things in iPhoto

For me at least, iPhoto Events are preserved in Photos as "iPhoto Events." They are searchable and can be alphabetized and renamed if needed. To me, both Events and Albums are just 'Play Lists'. How are they different, may I ask? What am I missing here?

> The app also does not alter the original photo when you make edits!

Uh, all apps do that.

iPhotos, Aperture, Lightroom, Photos, they all do nondestructive editing/adjustment. All of them organize photos by date, album, keywords, faces, location.

This discussion thread really hits the spot.  I am not a professional photographer, just a mother making a family photo album every year for my family. We take about 10K photos a year among the 4 of us with 6 camera (including iPhones).  iPhoto has been the workhorse because I can import everyone's photos of the same occasion into separate EVENTs. The kids' EVENTs usually have lots of bad photos but sometimes they do capture moments adults do not notice. I rank each photo at the time of import so that I only need to look at the good photos when I start working on the album at the end of the year.  I also create events like CAT which has all the photos of the cat throughout the year so I can create a CAT chapter. 

I think Apple is too arrogant to think that they know how best to organize people's photos for them. There is nothing wrong with doing what they did with Photo if they ONLY allow people who like to organise the tools to do so too, AND they also migrate all the handwork we have done like ranking into the new system.  I have 10 years of iPhoto libraries and I am not letting them go. So far, I have gone back to iPhoto.  If Apple won't give us the tools and stops supporting iPhoto, any company who can do a good migration will get my business.

I know I am not saying anything new here.  However, I want to make a point that the complaints are not just from a small group of photographers. They are from the common man and woman who have been loyal followers of Apple.  I will also put this to Apple directly.

This is not strictly true. If, like many of of us who are complaining you have conflated say two weeks of photos on e.g Holiday Florida Feb 14 & saved them as an event searching iPhoto events doesn't bring it back . If however you had made a 'virtual event album' by picking photos for example some of the photos from Holiday Florida 14 then they are preserved & searchable but otherwise they just have not migrated. To make matters worse in the Uk we can't even revert to iPhoto as it is just not available here to a compatible Yosemite version. Altogether a disaster

This last statement I do  not understand:

I'm running 10.0.3 (Yosemite) in Europe and I had Photos installation (via AppleStore).

At that point you have on your HD both iPhoto AND Photos (i.e. iPhoto does not get deleted)

To revert you just delete Photos.app and the corresponding directory in your ~/Pictures folder.

The you continue using the old iPhoto as before.

I cannot use iPhoto anymore. It is greyed out in my apps and when I try to open it it says I need an update. Then try to update, but there is none for Yosemite newest version, the OS upgrade to which initiated all this mess for me. There is no iPhoto app compatible with the new OS anymore. So there is no reverting for me.

writedeb:

Go to the App Store and check out the Purchases List. If iPhoto is there then it will be v9.6.1

If it is there, then drag your existing iPhoto app (not the library, just the app) to the trash

Install the App from the App Store.

Sometimes iPhoto is not visible on the Purchases List. it may be hidden. See this article for details on how to unhide it.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4928

One question often asked: Will I lose my Photos if I reinstall?

iPhoto the application and the iPhoto Library are two different parts of the iPhoto programme. So, reinstalling the app should not affect the Library. BUT you should always have a back up before doing this kind of work. Always.

Exactly the same for me - thank you rightdeb i's not just me then!

Before going to the App Store to download iPhoto 9.6.1 be sure to delete any previous versions of iPhoto that may on your hard drive.  If there's an earlier version present the App Store won't show 9.6.1 as available.

I don't know where you live Old Toad, but in the U.S. once you install Photos, you are screwed because the operating system won't allow you to delete it.  Take my word for it:  I've tried several times.   IF YOU DIDN'T UPGRADE TO PHOTOS, YOU'RE ABLE TO RUN iPhoto.  But if you were foolish and upgraded, it's all over but the disappointment. (Shouting does no good with Apple.  They have become as arrogant as IBM used to be and Microsoft still is.  Ultimately, the customer is in the driver's seat, but it can take several years to find alternatives. 

I'm not saying to delete Photos.  I'm saying delete any version of iPhoto that you may have and then go to the App Store and download iPhoto 9.6.1.

If one had been current on their upgrades and had installed 9.6.1 they would not be having this problem. Yes, Apple should have made it clearer but that's not their style.