Q: what is the .AAE extension?

Thanks Lawrence. I'll try to drag them back onto my external drive, where the .jpg's are.....I'm leaving work now so will let you know how I get on a little later...

Or-are you saying it's too late to bring them back in (drag them back in)?

Many thanks!

If I right click on some of the files-I see the option to "Put back", but for some files (those with 13.19.38 at the end) I do not have the option to "put back"-see below. What are *those* files and how do they differ from the ones without the 13.19.38?

I don't know enough about the naming convention, but my guess is they are earlier versions of the file. Either that, or you deleted files twice and the trash manager added a code to know where they go. I would ignore them.

I'm actually wondering: is it possible that the AAE files got deleted when I deleted the .jpg files/images they were associated with? Would it not make sense that the AAE files get deleted with their associated .jpg files? This may be how they got deleted, and so I've been putting back AAE's that I don't need...this is my concern:).

Thanks-that makes sense...many thanks!

Where were the JPG files when you deleted them? If it was on the phone then it's quite possible that the AAE files were deleted at the same time if you used the Photo app to delete them, or if you used iPhoto to delete them after importing them. 

Files were a very bad idea when they were invented. A computer user should never see a file, because files interact with each other, and manipulating them independently can have unexpected consequences. Apple tried hide files with iOS; there is no Finder, no way using the built in tools to see any files. And, in fact, they aren't files, but objects in a database. But people found ways around this innovation, and the results have not been good. I'm following other threads where users are trying to delete images to free up memory using iOS file managers. The results aren't pretty. You end up with iOS thinking there are a thousand images on the device, but it can't find them. They were deleted, but the index database wasn't updated to reflect the fact. The same risks occur in iTunes on a computer; if you attempt to move media files using Finder or Windows Explorer you break the iTunes database. Likewise for many other PC and Mac programs.

Thanks Lawrence-any .jpg files that I deleted, were deleted either from my iPhoto APP (the albums or Library) or from the external hard drive. I never delete from my phone...I always import everything and then delete thereafter, from the external hard drive.

If you deleted an image with iPhoto it would have deleted any associated AAE files also.

Thanks Lawrence-that's what I thought. So therefore, the deleted AAE files are probably ones I *wanted* to delete (along with their associated .jpg files). That is good to know.

Many thanks!

I think Apple is doing a great thing and it just occurred to me what.

[ I only photograph in RAW format, a pure digital capture of an image through the lens; jpeg format are mathematical interpretations, in a smaller image file format. But it comes in 2 flavors. if you shoot Canon's proprietary RAW FILE (.CR2 ) you can either shoot .CR2 and always carry around .xml (sidecar-.aae file) file forever or convert the RAW file to Adobe's proprietary .DNG (digital negative) which contains the edits to an image that can only be interpreted through another program like Lightroom, or iPhoto etc.. The same thing is happening on our phone's format. ]

The end result that is in front of all this technical crap is: NON DESTRUCTIVE EDITING to a photographic image. The edits you make to an image, i.e. instructions on how you want to view the final image for printing or playback-are contained in sidecars; in this case .aae or .xml.  or embedded in a propriety file format. How one views the image in print or screen depends on the device that the edits control. Most images are USUALLY converted back to jpegs which are a fraction the size of the original image and so on.

"Forget about the AAE files for now.

When importing photos from iOS 8 to your Mac:

– Importing them with 'Image Capture' will give you the original photos

– Importing them with 'AirDrop' will give you the edited photos.

So you can have both versions on the Mac should you so desire."

This is not my experience.

i have a number of photos on my iPhone and until recently when importing to my Mac I was able to import the photos to any folder of my choice where they would show up as jpegs. Now, unless I import to Photos I only get the .AAE file, but Photos is useless to me as it won't allow me to access the jpeg I can only "share" to a variety of destinations. I have never used iPhoto, and I've no real use for Photos either; I prefer to maintain all photos in an indexed hierarchical folder structure rather than use "library" apps.

Either there is something wrong (I am using the latest public beta of Yosemite or this is another example of Apple taking control of something away from the user, which is the way they seem to be heading now.

OK... I'm using Adobe Photoshop CS4 and I downloaded about 50 shots made with my iPhone to my iMac.  I go into PS and try to use the image processor to downsize these photos so I can actually create a "How-To" thread in an automotive Forum.  Used to be a piece of cake... now Photoshop sends me a pop-up saying there are no files in the specified directory that can be read.  In the directory are both JPG and those AAE files.  I can edit the JPS individually, but cannot do a quick, down and dirty "Image Processor" function?

How do I fix this?  I have no use for Apple's editing, its way too limited compared to Photoshop.

Mike

I have got a solution for those who want to transfer their edited/cropped pictures to mac.

1, Select all the pictures on iPhone.

2, iMessage them to your Mac.

This way pictures are sent in their final version & in .jpg format.

Cheers.

Thanks for your useful advice!  I have tons of photos in Photos on my MacBook Pro.  Unfortunately, I have to export them to change the filename.  I was doing this when I ran into a bunch of .AAE files.  What would you do if you didn't see the AAE files until you'd already renamed all the movies and images?

You would llose any edits you made to the images, unless you renamed them using a photo management app that knows about newer image management standards.