iPhoto and Photo libraries merged problems

My wife's MacBPro (Big Sur 11.6) is running Photos (6.0) having merged iPhotos about 5+ yrs ago--she has albums, "iPhoto events" (3 differnt listings in left column) and "Rolls" within those iPhoto Events--how can I clean up this mess and know which I can delete?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Oct 12, 2021 9:53 AM

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Posted on Oct 12, 2021 1:15 PM

All the albums (including iPhoto events) are just different views of the photos. They don't contain the actual files, just links to the photos in the "all photos" view.


So you can delete any albums you like, and you won't delete the photos from the library.


However, only you/your wife can work out which albums you want to keep and which you don't need.


I would suggest before you start you make sure you have a backup of the library before staring in case you end up deleting stuff you want to keep.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 12, 2021 1:15 PM in response to triplehjr

All the albums (including iPhoto events) are just different views of the photos. They don't contain the actual files, just links to the photos in the "all photos" view.


So you can delete any albums you like, and you won't delete the photos from the library.


However, only you/your wife can work out which albums you want to keep and which you don't need.


I would suggest before you start you make sure you have a backup of the library before staring in case you end up deleting stuff you want to keep.

Oct 13, 2021 8:41 AM in response to triplehjr

The "All Photos" album should be automatically sorted by date taken, at least, if the system version is Big Sur.

It is not possible to change the sort order of any album that Photos has automatically created for you. All predefined albums are having a fixed sort order, specific for the album. You can see the sort order, if you select the album in the sidebar and look at the menu "View > Sort". Your will see in Gray the fixed sort order for this album.


Only albums or smart albums you create for yourself can be sorted as you want them to be sorted. So she should create an own "My All Photos" as a smart album and then sort it.

  • File > New smart album
  • Set the rule to "date captured is before 1.1.4000".

This smart album should be showing all photos, provided, she does not take any photos with a capture date newer than the year 4000.

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iPhoto and Photo libraries merged problems

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