jwshack

Q: Batch change in Photos?

Seems like Apple has gotten rid of the "batch change" feature from iPhoto when moving to Photos. I liked using the "batch change" feature to change the "description" for several photos at once. Does anyone know how this can be accomplished in the new Photos app (which doesn't include pasting a sentence 200 times)...

 

Thanks for your response!

Posted on Apr 12, 2015 4:37 PM

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Q: Batch change in Photos?

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  • by Kevin Horton3,

    Kevin Horton3 Kevin Horton3 Jun 6, 2015 4:42 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jun 6, 2015 4:42 PM in response to léonie

    Thanks léonie for your quick and very helpful response.  I tried modifying your batch change script to use a fixed album, along the lines of NicFletcher's recommendation, but I still get errors.  I am not an AppleScript expert, so I may have mucked something up.  Then I tried your script, but from All Photos, and it worked. 

     

    Danke sehr!

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 7, 2015 7:07 AM in response to Kevin Horton3
    Level 10 (106,855 points)
    iLife
    Jun 7, 2015 7:07 AM in response to Kevin Horton3
    I am not an AppleScript expert, so I may have mucked something up.  Then I tried your script, but from All Photos, and it worked.

    I modified the script a bit to include Nic's fix. Also I added some code to catch errors and to try again on error after a short delay.

     

    This version let's you select, if you want to pass the photos in an album with a fixed name, defined at the top-level, or if you want to select the photos in the "All Photos" album.

    This code is meant to be run directly from the script editor. If you compile the script, add the "on run" clause.

     

    --on run {input, parameters}

     

    -- batch change the description of images to a string

    (* How to use this script:

     

    Open this script in Script Editor. Launch Photos.

     

    The photos can be passed to the script in two ways:

    1. Either select photos while viewing the  "All Photos" album; this works better than Moments or smart albums

    2. Or collect the Photos in a top level defined album with a fixed name.

     

    If you want to select the photos without collecting them in an album, set the variable "ReadFromAlbum" to false

    If you want to pass the photos in a toplevel album, set ReadFromAlbum to true and change the variable "theAlbumName" to the name of the album you are using.

     

    When all all photo are selected or in the album and all parameters set, press the "Run" button in Scripteditor. The script will prompt you for the caption to be added to the photos.

     

    *)

     

    set ReadFromAlbum to true -- set this to true, if you want to pass the photos in a toplevel album

    set theAlbumName to "PhotoDropBox"  -- Enter the name of your album here.

     

    set newDescription to text returned of (display dialog "Enter the new caption: " default answer "" buttons {"OK"} default button "OK")

     

    set imageSel to {}

     

    tell application "Photos"

      activate

      if (ReadFromAlbum) then -- the photos will be passed in a toplevel album named "PhotoDropBox"

      set theAlbumName to "PhotoDropBox"

     

      try

     

      if exists container theAlbumName then

     

      set thePhotosBuffer to container theAlbumName

      set imageSel to every media item of thePhotosBuffer

      else

      error "Album " & theAlbumName & "does not exist"

      end if

     

      on error errTexttwo number errNumtwo

      display dialog "Cannot open album: " & errNumtwo & return & errTexttwo

      end try

     

      else -- process the selected photos from the All Photos album

      try

      set imageSel to (get selection)

      on error errTexttwo number errNumtwo

      display dialog "Cannot get the selection: " & errNumtwo & return & errTexttwo

      end try

     

      end if

     

      -- check, if the album or the selected photos do contain images

      if imageSel is {} then

      error "Please select some images."

      else

      repeat with im in imageSel

      try

     

      tell im

      set the description to newDescription

      end tell

      on error errText number errNum

      display dialog "Error: " & errNum & return & errText & "Trying again"

      try

      delay 2

      tell im

      set the description to newDescription

      end tell

      on error errTexttwo number errNumtwo

      display dialog "Skipping image due to repeated error: " & errNumtwo & return & errTexttwo

      end try

      end try

      end repeat

      end if

    end tell

    -- display dialog "Done"

    return newDescription

    --end run

  • by Kevin Horton3,

    Kevin Horton3 Kevin Horton3 Jun 7, 2015 12:48 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jun 7, 2015 12:48 PM in response to léonie

    Thanks léonie.  Your script works perfectly with the photos in a top-level album.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 7, 2015 1:17 PM in response to Kevin Horton3
    Level 10 (106,855 points)
    iLife
    Jun 7, 2015 1:17 PM in response to Kevin Horton3

    That's good to know. Thanks for letting me know.

    I just discovered the first bug, however.

     

     

    The line "set theAlbumName to "PhotoDropBox" appears twice. The second copy of this line needs to be deleted or your changed album name will not take.

     

    set ReadFromAlbum to true -- set this to true, if you want to pass the photos in a toplevel album

    set theAlbumName to "PhotoDropBox"  -- Enter the name of your album here.

     

    set newDescription to text returned of (display dialog "Enter the new caption: " default answer "" buttons {"OK"} default button "OK")

     

    set imageSel to {}

     

    tell application "Photos"

      activate

      if (ReadFromAlbum) then -- the photos will be passed in a toplevel album named "PhotoDropBox"

    --    set theAlbumName to "PhotoDropBox"

     

      try

     

      if exists container theAlbumName then

     

      set thePhotosBuffer to container theAlbumName

      set imageSel to every media item of thePhotosBuffer

      else

      error "Album " & theAlbumName & "does not exist"

      end if

     

      on error errTexttwo number errNumtwo

      display dialog "Cannot open album: " & errNumtwo & return & errTexttwo

      end try

     

      else -- process the selected photos from the All Photos album

      try

      set imageSel to (get selection)

      on error errTexttwo number errNumtwo

      display dialog "Cannot get the selection: " & errNumtwo & return & errTexttwo

      end try

     

      end if

     

      -- check, if the album or the selected photos do contain images

      if imageSel is {} then

      error "Please select some images."

      else

      repeat with im in imageSel

      try

     

      tell im

      set the description to newDescription

      end tell

      on error errText number errNum

      display dialog "Error: " & errNum & return & errText & "Trying again"

      try

      delay 2

      tell im

      set the description to newDescription

      end tell

      on error errTexttwo number errNumtwo

      display dialog "Skipping image due to repeated error: " & errNumtwo & return & errTexttwo

      end try

      end try

      end repeat

      end if

    end tell

    -- display dialog "Done"

    return newDescription

    --end run

  • by MBJtwick,

    MBJtwick MBJtwick Jun 9, 2015 10:51 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 9, 2015 10:51 AM in response to léonie

    Leonie...

     

    Great work in patching up the inane Apple decision to do away with batch changing.

     

    May I suggest you put your caveat at the beginning of your suggestions as many users may be expecting to see the changes appear under the thumbnails and may be too excited to read your post to the very end.

     

    • When you click the selected photos again, the descriptions should change, but you will only see them in the Info panel, unlike the titles, that are showing below the thumbnails.

    Or even better, write some applescript that puts them under the thumbnails as well!

     

     

    ...Mervyn

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jun 9, 2015 10:53 AM in response to MBJtwick
    Level 10 (141,090 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 9, 2015 10:53 AM in response to MBJtwick

    Tell Apple what missing features you'd like restored in Photos via  Apple-Photos Feedback.

     

    The feedback is working as can be seen from the following text form this Apple webpage: Apple OS X El Capitan.

    Photos has been fine-tuned to make it even easier to manage your library. Now you can add a location to a single image or to an entire Moment. Naming your favorite people in Faces is faster with a streamlined workflow. You can also sort your albums — and the contents inside them — by date, title, and more.

    OTsig.png


  • by simpsonma,

    simpsonma simpsonma Aug 12, 2015 6:34 AM in response to jwshack
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 12, 2015 6:34 AM in response to jwshack

    Are you kidding me?   Why, oh Why would they take "Batch Change" away?  And Why oH Why did I start using this App.  I rue the day that I started using iPhoto (though I don't know what the alternative would be).  And why did I elect to transfer to the new Apple Photos.  I believed that it would be a step forward!  Now I realize that it was simply a big step for Apple to blend two different software apps together so certain features had to be sacrificed.  Apparently, few people bother managing their photos.  Or there would be a bigger out cry.  The staff at Apple store simply confirmed that Get Info was gone:  "fill out the feedback form" they say.

  • by Sandra Foster,

    Sandra Foster Sandra Foster Aug 12, 2015 8:11 AM in response to simpsonma
    Level 4 (1,545 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 12, 2015 8:11 AM in response to simpsonma

    Select any photo and hit Command-i. That gives you the Get Info window, which is not gone. HTH.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Aug 12, 2015 9:08 AM in response to simpsonma
    Level 10 (141,090 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 12, 2015 9:08 AM in response to simpsonma
    The staff at Apple store simply confirmed that Get Info was gone:

    They were wrong, totally wrong:

    Pinfowindow.jpg

  • by whitesalmon133,

    whitesalmon133 whitesalmon133 Aug 19, 2015 10:36 AM in response to Mr. Zoot
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 19, 2015 10:36 AM in response to Mr. Zoot

    I agree. Apple took away another feature going to Photos. I'm just a "User" which is what I thought Apple was designing for. Not a guy who knows or wants to know how to use Automator, scripts and all that stuff... I just want a user friendly system to manage my pictures.

     

    I'll add bulk update to feedback to apple..... probably not the first..

  • by Fletch6617,

    Fletch6617 Fletch6617 Oct 2, 2015 6:52 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2015 6:52 AM in response to léonie

    I am hoping you can help me. I would like to just be able to batch change the date and time like I used to be able to in iPhoto. All I want to do is select a bunch of pictures, and change the date and time to the same time for every photo.

     

    Thanks,

    Caleb

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 2, 2015 7:46 AM in response to Fletch6617
    Level 10 (106,855 points)
    iLife
    Oct 2, 2015 7:46 AM in response to Fletch6617

    All I want to do is select a bunch of pictures, and change the date and time to the same time for every photo.

    To change the dates of all selected photos to the same time or step the time with a fixed increment you need an Apple Script.

    I posted an AppleScript in the User Tip section (https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/photos_osx/content?filterID=conte ntstatus%5Bpublished%5D~objecttype~objecttype%5Bdocument%5D). I tested this script for Photos on Yosemite, not yet on El Capitan:

     

    See this link:   Photos for Mac: Batch Change the Date and Time to a Fixed Date

  • by Fletch6617,

    Fletch6617 Fletch6617 Oct 2, 2015 7:53 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2015 7:53 AM in response to léonie

    Thank you. I read that, and I am such a novice at this that I can't get it to work. With he link below I just downloaded a file and it automatically did it for me, for changing a description. Can that be done for changing dates/time too?

     

     

    http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how-to-get-batch-change-back-in-photos-fo r-mac

  • by whitesalmon133,

    whitesalmon133 whitesalmon133 Oct 2, 2015 11:11 AM in response to Fletch6617
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 2, 2015 11:11 AM in response to Fletch6617

    Yes, but sad that just plain users have to mess with scripts to have functionality that was in iPhoto.....

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Oct 2, 2015 11:20 AM in response to whitesalmon133
    Level 10 (141,090 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 2, 2015 11:20 AM in response to whitesalmon133
    sad that just plain users have to mess with scripts to have functionality that was in iPhoto.....

    Yes, so keep telling Apple what missing features you'd like restored or new features added in Photos via https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

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