Does iPhoto not sort photos by time???

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Level 3

934 points

Does iPhoto not sort photos by time???

I have a large batch of photos that I am trying to sort by date in the photos view, but iPhoto seems unable to sort them properly. To be more specific, it is three separate batches of the same event taken on the same day. For example, the first batch of photos shown in the photos view were taken between 12:35 PM and 2:38 PM. This is followed by the next batch, taken between 10:59 AM and 4:39 PM. Finally a third batch is listed, with photos taken between 10:12 AM and 11:49 AM. Note that they are not listed in the correct time order.

I have already gone through all 250 pictures and confirmed that they all have the same date. I have also confirmed that view is set to sort photos by date. I have also tried forcing it to re-sort the photos by clicking "descending order", then re-selecting "ascending order". I have even re-built the iPhoto database. Despite all this, iPhoto seems intent on keeping these batches separate, even though the time stamps on all the photos is not sequential.

Is iPhoto incapable of sorting photos by time, even though it can sort by date? Is it because the bacthes of photos were taken with different cameras? Is it possible to look at the metadata and see if, perhaps, the camera was set to an incorrect time zone, and iPhoto is adjusting for it?

Please advise...

Posted on Jul 15, 2008 3:25 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Jul 15, 2008 5:44 PM in response to Brad DeMoss

iPhoto sorts just fine - maybe you have them in three events - if so either merge the three events or turn off show event titles in photo view

If not then I suspect that your cameras may have had different time settings - select a photo in iPhoto and right click (control click on a single button mouse) or under the photo menu select show photo info - you can now select different photos and look at their dates and times

LN

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Answer 2

Brad DeMoss Author

Level 3

934 points

Jul 16, 2008 8:40 AM in response to LarryHN

Unfortunately, neither has worked. I was optimistic when you suggested merging events. They were separated into events, but once I merged them, no change.

Incidentally, checking the dates of the pictures was one of the first things I checked. I am aware that sometimes people set their cameras wrong. Unfortunately, all photos have the exact same date, and the correct time. iPhoto just isn't sorting them in chronological order.

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Answer 3

Jul 23, 2008 1:54 PM in response to Brad DeMoss

Same here. I have a simpler situation with iWeb though. I dragged 91 photos into an iWeb photo gallery. All the photos were taken on the same day, but with different times. The files are number chronologically, but iWeb is not sorting them by any particular pattern. Is there somewhere I can specify how to sort the photos?

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Jul 23, 2008 4:31 PM in response to Shareef Yousef

If you put them in an iPhoto album and sorted the way you want you can drag that album from the Media pane in iWeb into the photo page and the order should be maintained. It works that way for me.

TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

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Answer 5

Brad DeMoss Author

Level 3

934 points

Jul 23, 2008 5:47 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks for the tip, Mr. Toad (I've used that script you mentioned, by the way - very effective), but putting the photos into a folder and sorting manually kind of defeats the purpose of automatic sorting by date, doesn't it?

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Jul 23, 2008 7:09 PM in response to Brad DeMoss

Yes, it does but I found that iWeb doesn't sort, it just takes them as they are presented and to assure it get it the way I want I use an album and have it sorted as I want, either manually or by date, etc. A little preparation beforehand saves a lot of effort later on.

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Answer 7

Jul 24, 2008 11:00 AM in response to Old Toad

Wow, I can't believe iWeb doesn't have basic functionality like sorting. While I can understand the capability to be available thru iPhoto, I don't think it is efficient to force the use of a separate application just to SORT!

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Answer 8

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Jul 24, 2008 11:24 AM in response to Shareef Yousef

If you're coming from iPhoto then do the sorting there before you drag the album from the Media Browser into the photo page. If you sort by title it will import by title. If you sort by date it will import by date. Just a little preplanning and you've got what you want. That's why the iApps are so integrated as they are.

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Answer 9

Brad DeMoss Author

Level 3

934 points

Jul 24, 2008 2:43 PM in response to Old Toad

Now I can see there is a miscommunication here. I am not talking about the way iWeb sorts the photos, but iPhoto. iPhoto is not sorting the photos by date, even though it is selected. Per my original post, I have already tried rebuilding the database, etc.

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Answer 10

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Jul 24, 2008 3:18 PM in response to Brad DeMoss

Duh! OK. How far off is the sorting? A workaround would be to put them in an album, sort them however it takes to get in the right order and then use the Photos->Change Date and Time menu option to sequentially re-date them, a minute delta. That should do it. Sorry about the miscommunication. Do these photos sort properly by date in the Finder?

I should have suggested this first but delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your User/Library/Preferences folder and try the sort again.

OT

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Answer 11

Roberta

Level 1

125 points

Aug 11, 2008 9:43 AM in response to Brad DeMoss

Did you ever get a solution to your problem? I am having the same problem as you I believe. My photos are from the same event, have the correct dates and times, but I cannot get them to sort chronologically. I have tried all of the things that were suggested here. My only guess is that it has something to do with the fact that I downloaded this particular batch of photos from a MobileMe Gallery. Maybe that somehow altered the way they are being sorted??? Also they were taken with three different cameras (but they all have they correct times). I am also noticing that iPhoto doesn't seem to distinguish between am and pm.

Even if the times were incorrect, there are just way too many photos for me to have to adjust their times manually - one at a time.

Please share any advice that you found helpful.

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Answer 12

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Aug 11, 2008 10:58 AM in response to Roberta

You have checked the photos times via the Info pane at the lower left corner and they are correct? If they are correct in that window then they should sort correctly when you set the sort order via the View->Sort->By Date->either ascending or descending.

If that's not working a workaround is to put the photos in an album, manually get them in the order you want, select all , go to the Photos->Batch Change->Date to (put in the date you want) and check the Add X minutes between each photo. That will force the photos into that chronological order. You can also check to have the date changed in the original files.

TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

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Answer 13

Aug 28, 2008 3:18 AM in response to Roberta

Your comment about MobileMe makes sense. I have the same problem with an event in my library.

I was in a different time zone for a month, so I set my laptop and camera to that time zone, obviously. I took a lot of pictures and some of them I uploaded to my gallery, while being in the other time zone.

Back home I noticed how the sorting was mixed up. I found out the times had changed for all the pictures that were published on MobileMe, exactly 6 hours. Which is also the difference in time between the time zones. I guess it must be because of the syncing between MobileMe and iPhoto and poor time support in the pictures on MobileMe. Have you uploaded pictures when being in a different time zone?

The workaround would be to republish the pictures. But I guess you get problems again when in a different time zone.

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Answer 14

hotoru

Level 1

13 points

Nov 24, 2008 9:17 AM in response to Brad DeMoss

Sort Smart Album?

I cannot figure out how to sort my smart album in iPhoto 08. I have a "Recently Added" smart album that I use to update pictures on my iphone. By default, it seems to put the most recent pictures on the bottom. On my iPhone, I do not like having to scroll all the way down to see the most recent pictures.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Hotoru

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Answer 15

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,290 points

Nov 24, 2008 9:19 AM in response to hotoru

View -> Sort Photos -> Ascending (or Descending) ?

Regards

TD

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