You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: chill5000
chill5000 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Photo sorting in Photos

Instead of sorting photos by the time they were taken, Photos on my macbook pro (OS 10.12.6) sorts by the time *acquired* by the program. This is dumb and incredibly irritating. For instance, I might take 150 photos, 50 of one subject, then 50 of another subject, then 50 of a third subject. When I import them to Photos, the photos of the first subject will be all mixed up with the photos of the other two subjects, so I can't review them in order and together. Is there a way around this? I find nothing in preferences, and here's what it looks like when I highlighted all the photos in the library and looked for a way to sort by creation date.

Posted on Mar 30, 2020 11:22 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,687 points

Posted on Mar 30, 2020 12:03 PM

All albums in Photos, that have been created by Photos automatically, are having a fixed sort order, specific to this album. This will depend on the system version you have installed. In your system version "All Photos " is sorted by the date the photos have been added, so you can find your most recently added photos in one place, at the bottom of this album.

The Photos album with the moments is sorted by the date the photos have been taken. Instead of changing the sort order, Photos offers different albums sorted differently.


If you want to sort photos differently, create your own albums. Albums you craete yourself can be sorted by the title or the capture date.



View in context

Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,687 points

Mar 30, 2020 12:03 PM in response to chill5000

All albums in Photos, that have been created by Photos automatically, are having a fixed sort order, specific to this album. This will depend on the system version you have installed. In your system version "All Photos " is sorted by the date the photos have been added, so you can find your most recently added photos in one place, at the bottom of this album.

The Photos album with the moments is sorted by the date the photos have been taken. Instead of changing the sort order, Photos offers different albums sorted differently.


If you want to sort photos differently, create your own albums. Albums you craete yourself can be sorted by the title or the capture date.



Reply
User profile for user: chill5000
chill5000 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Mar 30, 2020 12:32 PM in response to léonie

Thanks for that answer, léonie. You hint at, but don't actually say, that other system versions there are other sort orders. Can you offer any more detail there (that is, if I upgraded the operating system, would an accompanying Photos update perhaps sort photos in what I consider a more sensible order, the order the photos have been taken?)?


I guess if not, the workaround is to create a new album and set the sort order every time I import photos?


Sorry I'm so full of followup questions. I also don't know what you mean by "the Photos album with the moments."



Reply

Photo sorting in Photos

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up