In Mac Photos app, is there a way to save an edited (typically cropped) version of a photo as a new, original photo? For reasons too time-consuming and pedantic to explain, keeping the original is causing issues and I need a workaround. The only way I can think of is to export it and then import it, which is a bit more time-consuming than I'd like.
iMac (2017 – 2020)
Hi,
you can do this easily using in your Mac / iOS device the Shortcuts feature. I typically do this to convert and Optimize JPG images imported to my devices, but also works for cropped images as you save the new copy of your photos keeping the metadata but removing the cropped area.
Once you have created the new ask you will be able to use it.
Be aware that in the new picture you can’t undo why edit you performed in the original photo!
Step 1: Open the Shortcuts app on your Mac.
Step 2: Switch to the My Shortcuts tab, and then click Create Shortcut. Go to ‘Search for apps and actions’ in the screen.
Step 3: Perform a search for ‘select photos,’ and then click on “Select Photos” under Actions. Afterward, expand the Select Photos action (click on blue icon “Show More”), and turn on the switch to activate “Select Multiple”. This will allow you to add multiple photos at the same time when using the task.
Step 4: click on ‘Search for apps and actions’ again, search for ‘convert image’, and then click on “Convert Image”.
Modify the “Convert Image” action from the default “Convert Photos to JPEG” to “Convert Photos to HEIF” (this will save you precious disk space). Also click the blue icon “Show More” and turned on the switch to “Preserve Metadata”.
Step 5: click on ‘Search for apps and actions’ again, perform a search for ‘save to photo album,’ and then select “Save to Photo Album” under Actions.
You can save the new “optimized” photos in a specific album (select it now — click Recents, and then pick the relevant album on the pop-up list) o If you don’t want to save the photos to any particular album, simply leave the action as it is.
Step 6: Name the shortcut (Optimize photo size, for example), and then click Done. Last but not least, put a name to your new Shortcut.
Now it is time to run the shortcut. Find it in you Shortcut app and click on it.
Step 1: you have to select the multiple photos to “optimize”.
Use the Photos app image picker that shows up to select the cropped images (or jpeg or other format you want to convert).
Click Done to launch the optimization process.
Step 2: The shortcut will show the tal progress, which is really fast. Once completed, go to Photos to view the optimized pics. Using the info utility ou can. Review the size / format of the new version of the pictures, and remove the old ones.
Hope this will cover your need.
Hi,
you can do this easily using in your Mac / iOS device the Shortcuts feature. I typically do this to convert and Optimize JPG images imported to my devices, but also works for cropped images as you save the new copy of your photos keeping the metadata but removing the cropped area.
Once you have created the new ask you will be able to use it.
Be aware that in the new picture you can’t undo why edit you performed in the original photo!
Step 1: Open the Shortcuts app on your Mac.
Step 2: Switch to the My Shortcuts tab, and then click Create Shortcut. Go to ‘Search for apps and actions’ in the screen.
Step 3: Perform a search for ‘select photos,’ and then click on “Select Photos” under Actions. Afterward, expand the Select Photos action (click on blue icon “Show More”), and turn on the switch to activate “Select Multiple”. This will allow you to add multiple photos at the same time when using the task.
Step 4: click on ‘Search for apps and actions’ again, search for ‘convert image’, and then click on “Convert Image”.
Modify the “Convert Image” action from the default “Convert Photos to JPEG” to “Convert Photos to HEIF” (this will save you precious disk space). Also click the blue icon “Show More” and turned on the switch to “Preserve Metadata”.
Step 5: click on ‘Search for apps and actions’ again, perform a search for ‘save to photo album,’ and then select “Save to Photo Album” under Actions.
You can save the new “optimized” photos in a specific album (select it now — click Recents, and then pick the relevant album on the pop-up list) o If you don’t want to save the photos to any particular album, simply leave the action as it is.
Step 6: Name the shortcut (Optimize photo size, for example), and then click Done. Last but not least, put a name to your new Shortcut.
Now it is time to run the shortcut. Find it in you Shortcut app and click on it.
Step 1: you have to select the multiple photos to “optimize”.
Use the Photos app image picker that shows up to select the cropped images (or jpeg or other format you want to convert).
Click Done to launch the optimization process.
Step 2: The shortcut will show the tal progress, which is really fast. Once completed, go to Photos to view the optimized pics. Using the info utility ou can. Review the size / format of the new version of the pictures, and remove the old ones.
Hope this will cover your need.
When you want to replace the original by the edited version, exporting and reimporting is the best way. You will have to export the original anyway, to archive it somewhere, or you will no longer be able to improve the edits later. I have frequently needed to revert to the original, years later, when I got myself an improved editor, or when my taste has changed and I wanted to enhance the composition by cropping differently or adjusting the the colors differently. If you do not want to archive the originals, consider to do your yourself a favor and save the edited version in a lossless format like TIFF, and not in a lossy, compressed format like JPEG or HEIC, so you will be able to add further edits, if need be. But you will not save any storage this way, if that is your intention.
No because Photos is a DAM (Digital Asset Management) app and always keeps the original/source file as the digital negative. When you crop a photo you're not creating another file in the library because the edits are saved to the database and applied to the preview and thumbnail versions of the photo and to the exported edited version of the photo.
You can do that. Control (right) - click on the photo and select Duplicate from the contextual menu. Then edit the duplicate:
Thanks, that's kind of what I figured. What DOES seem to work is exporting the edited photo (choosing settings other than the original, unedited one), deleting that copy from the library and then importing the exported one. But it's too time-consuming to be done for frequently/often.
WOW, this is super helpful. I haven't worked with Shortcuts before, and clearly I should be digging into this.
Only one thing didn't work as I'd hoped: The new photo is stored in the Photos app with today's date instead of the original date--but changing the date is easily done.
Thank you so much for this!
That way you're increasing the size of the library.
Isn't that inevitable, though, if you want to have two images in your library that are based on the same original? For example, one in portrait and another in landscape?
Saving a cropped photo, discarding original
