how can I find all my .jpg files NOT in my Pictures folder ?

I've been playing around with this for 15 minutes or so and it's a lot harder than it looks. I'm not sure you really want all .jpg files and the first part will show you why. If you do, the rest explains how to do it.

1. Open the Applications folder.
2. In the search field input ".jpg" (no quotes).
3. Switch to "File Name" vice "Contents"

The results lists all the .jpg files (none of which you normally see) in the Applications folder used by applications. This was to show that you may get a lot of stuff you don't really want (or maybe you do).

If that's what you want you can repeat this for the folders at the root level of your hard drive (System, Library etc.) EXCEPT the Users folder.

Next open your home folder and move your Pictures folder to a location outside your Home folder, not on your desktop because that's in you Home folder. Move it to a location like the Users folder or up to the root level of the hard drive.

Open your Home folder and repeat steps 1 thru 3 for your Home folder instead of Applications. Double check at the top that you're searching your Home Folder and by File Name. That should list everything in your user account except what's in the your Pictures folder.

When done move the Pictures folder back to your Home folder.

*A couple more notes and cautions:*

1. If >10,000 items are found the search window will indicate that at the very bottom, you'll have to scroll down to the bottom and click More... to add another 10,000 to the list. I'm not sure how many can be listed before the Finder bogs down.

2. DON'T just drag the files to a new folder. You may be moving all those .jpg files out of the locations they are in (Applications for example) into the new folder and you could corrupt your system. If you want to copy them to a new folder make sure you hold down the Option key while doing so and make sure you see the little green "+" sign indicating you are duplicating the files and not just moving them.

Message was edited by: Martin Pace

Also note that there can be .jpg files in your Sites folder and various ~/Library folders such as Mail attachments. You will also need admin access to do stuff like move folders to the Users folder or the root level of the disk.

This can easily be done from the Terminal, although you would still need to restrict where to look, and getting the results into a FInder window would be problematic.

It might be easier to just look in a specific folder, such as Documents.

HI,

Go to Spotlight and type in: .jpg and hit return on your keyboard.

Any files with the .jpg extension should show up. If there are any that aren't in your Pictures folder, move them to that folder so you can Import them into Aperture.









Carolyn 🙂

I'm afraid the only obvious way to exclude the Pictures folder is indeed to move it. HOWEVER, if you have the standard permissions that Apple sets on the Pictures folder you can't move it, you can only copy it. That is because of the ACL that Apple has decided to set on the folders created in a standard installation. If you were able to move your Pictures folder I suspect you have removed the "everyone deny delete" ACL that Apple slaps on the folder.

For a normal user with a standard installation and standard permissions the only real way is to just search folder by folder.
Francine


Francine
Schwieder

You're right, that was the only step I didn't actually perform. Can't do anything but copy System created folders in the Home folder. I guess the only option is to search each of the folders individually.

It might be easiest to just clear what .jpg files are in Aperture and start a search from scratch for all .jpg files on the drive.

This must be one of the reasons why I abandoned storing files in my Home folder altogether and created a separate folder just for me on my hard drive.