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sorting out photos - MacBook

Hi,

I am trying to sort through / rearrange many photos, albums and folders.

Would it be preferable to delete the folders / albums (I presume photos will remain just in photos), use Photosweeper to locate duplicates then recommence folders / albums anew?


Any ideas would be appreciated.


thanks

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.13

Posted on Dec 26, 2019 9:18 PM

Reply
8 replies

Dec 27, 2019 4:42 AM in response to hopefull

Would it be preferable to delete the folders / albums (I presume photos will remain just in photos),

Deleting folders will delete the folder and the albums and folders inside, but the photos will stay, because the albums are just referencing the photos. The photos in albums are no duplicates, you can have a photo in many albums without creating duplicates of your photos.

You can manage your albums and folders independent of the search for duplicates.


Which system version do you have installed?


And what kinds of duplicates do you have? Are your duplicates exactly identical image files or similar photos in various states of edits? Photo Sweeper is one of the safe duplicate finders, that can find similar photos. Some other duplicate detectors can damage the photos Library badly, as pointed out by tygb.


I prefer to find duplicates by displaying the photos sorted by date. Then duplicates will be shown side-by-side and I can decide, which version to keep.





Dec 27, 2019 3:04 PM in response to léonie

Hi leonie,

Thank you for your reply. Searching by date is a great idea as I do take multiples to try to get a good photo.

I am using Mac OS Mojave Photos Version 4.

Am feeling there are too many folders /albums and I am looking for better organisation. Unfortunately my knowledge of how to do this is limited.


The information you have provided is very helpful, thank you :)

Dec 28, 2019 12:17 AM in response to hopefull

As far as I can tell, based on my experience on Mojave, Photo Sweeper is safe to use, also Power Photos, and Duplicate Annihilator. Photo Sweeper is perfect for detecting similar photos, because it is comparing the histograms or bitmaps of the photos, not just the file attributes.

PowerPhotos is looking for duplicates by comparing the file attributes, but also by looking at the date ranges and can detect bursts of photos taken at the same time.

Power Photos (https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/) is also very useful for moving photos between libraries or as a second browser window for the Photos Library.


sorting out photos - MacBook

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