I am overwhelmed with the 9,000 pictures I have on my Mac Book Pro and I phone. (I also have my photos in I cloud). I try to organize them by putting them in albums but since they stay in the main library I get lost as to where I am as I move along or stop. I need help.
I am also having problems finding how I look for duplicate photos.
I need help.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.12
Hi
For removing duplicates:
There are no facilities in photos to automate finding and deleting duplicates, so either
* manually,
* or using an app designed to work with the photos library (Ie one that marks the photos or puts them in an album, and lets you review and then delete them, rather than doing the delete itself.
Do NOT use a general file duplicate finder not designed to work with the photos library. They will damage your photos library and likely cause loss of your photos.
I personally use PowerPhotos (I also use this for copying images and data between libraries) https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/
Another suitable app recommended by experts here is PhotoSweeper (I have no personal experience of this one)
Both are paid apps. PhotoSweeper is the lowest cost and can recognise duplicates based on content, but PowerPhotos provides a lot of functionality in addition to the duplicate detection.
You want an app that will identify the potential duplicates, put them in an album or mark them with a keyword for easy retrieval and deletion by you. You don't want one that does the deletion itself for obvious reasons.
I've run tests on the these two apps with the following results and found them to be safe to use:
PowerPhotos - $29.95
PowerPhotos is the iPhoto Library Manager version for Photos and is very powerful. Although more expensive I would recommend it as it has more capabilities than the others like the capability to merge Photos libraries or copy photos, both original and edited versions, along with their metadata between libraries.
PhotoSweeper - $9.99 - Demo version available.
PhotoSweeper compares bitmaps and/or histograms so it can detect duplicate images even if they have different file sizes, file names, image sizes and capture dates.
My preferred photo duplicate finder, which handles photos in Aperture as well as iPhoto and Photos = is Duplicate Annihilator by Brattoo Propaganda Software. Nothing against the others mentioned but it works for me and I have had excellent support when needed.
For the issue of which photos are not in albums, create a Smart Album (File menu > New Smart Album) and set the condition to Album - is not - Any.
Then work from that album instead of the library to move photos to albums.
I guess I am looking for something that was in my original I Photo program that is probably no longer available. It searched out duplicates and then I could manually delete them. Thanks for the info on the two programs however, I will keep it in mind. I am not very savvy with this so I am afraid to get into a larger learning curve. I was hoping to just use the Photo program.
I will definitely look into this. If it finds them and leaves one in the main library it will be perfect for me. This is a major undertaking for me so I am looking for anything that works and makes the process easier. Thank you.
I get this option now and I use it. I do recall that previously my old photo program had a drop down to find the duplicates which is what I was looking for. I found that I saved pictures and then later on I came across them again and saved them later but they landed up in different places. With so many pictures it's been hard to know if they were originals or copies. I am sure I will get to the bottom of this eventually. Thanks for caring and sharing.
I will do that because my I cloud is at the limit and I don't want to add too it. That's what got me moving on this now because I have procrastinated on getting serious about it before this. Thanks for your thoughts on it.
This is a great idea. I think it will be a big help. Thank you for giving me the step by step instructions as well.
Yes I have seen this but since it deals with the incoming pictures it's not good for finding the ones already in All Photos. Thanks for helping.
I will look into the power Photos app. thanks for the advice.
Can you tell me what you mean by (Do NOT use a general file duplicate finder). How would I identify what this is?
So do I put the entire library in the smart album or just a portion of it? I think this might work for organizing. If I read correctly then all the originals are still there and I can ignore them.
Also, how do I find duplicates so I can eliminate them before starting?
Thank you.
You don't manually put anything in the Smart Album. If you set the conditions as I described it will automatically always include anything that is not in any other album. Any new photos that aren't in an album will be displayed and any photos you add to an album will be removed.
Sorry, I don't know anything about dealing with duplicates. Someone else here will likely respond.
Keywords can also help to keep track of the photos that have been added to an album.
When I add photo to an album, I add the name of the album as a keyword to the phot. This way I can see in the Infor for a photo the name of the album it is in. to add the name of the album as a keyword you can open the album, then select all photos in the album with ⌘A, then open the Info with ⌘I, and type the album name into the "Add a keyword" field of the Info.
Photo organization
