So, from what I understand from this very complicated thread, is that Photos are where they have been input in the first place, and cannot be moved around. In other word, a photo taken in 1974, scanned in 2023 and downloaded in Library, cannot be moved to the 1974 queue of photos. Right ?
iMac (2017 – 2020)
Not at all. But "moved" doesn't really apply to pictures in Photos. In Photos, pictures are organized in albums.
An album is a list of pictures that you want to see together. You can make an album and then drag any picture to it, and it will be added to the list of pictures for that album. Then, when you open the album, you will be able to see the pictures that you listed. The pictures are not "in" the album-- it's just a list. This is cool, because a picture can be listed in the 1974 album and also listed in the Grand Canyon album, for example. And, since it's just a list, they don't take up any more space no matter how many albums you list them in. There aren't more pictures-- just names on more lists.
The Library album is one of the preset lists of all your pictures. Some of the preset albums list by capture date; others list by import date, etc. Those are preset, and you can't remove pictures from those lists. But if you drag a picture thumbnail from the Library list to the 1974 list, you can see it in either list.
If you click on a picture in the 1974 album list, and you hit Delete, then the picture will disappear from that album's list, but it will still be in your Library. If you hit command-Delete, then the picture will be removed from that album and from all album lists and placed on the "Recently Deleted" list. If you you delete the picture from the Recently Deleted album list, then it will be removed from your Library forever. Or, you can wait a month and it will disappear on its own.
As Old Toad says, the albums are like playlists of music. A song can be on many playlists.
So, we organize our pictures in albums. Photos makes a stab at organization with Memories and all that, but it's the albums that make Photos useful at keeping track of your pictures.
Not at all. But "moved" doesn't really apply to pictures in Photos. In Photos, pictures are organized in albums.
An album is a list of pictures that you want to see together. You can make an album and then drag any picture to it, and it will be added to the list of pictures for that album. Then, when you open the album, you will be able to see the pictures that you listed. The pictures are not "in" the album-- it's just a list. This is cool, because a picture can be listed in the 1974 album and also listed in the Grand Canyon album, for example. And, since it's just a list, they don't take up any more space no matter how many albums you list them in. There aren't more pictures-- just names on more lists.
The Library album is one of the preset lists of all your pictures. Some of the preset albums list by capture date; others list by import date, etc. Those are preset, and you can't remove pictures from those lists. But if you drag a picture thumbnail from the Library list to the 1974 list, you can see it in either list.
If you click on a picture in the 1974 album list, and you hit Delete, then the picture will disappear from that album's list, but it will still be in your Library. If you hit command-Delete, then the picture will be removed from that album and from all album lists and placed on the "Recently Deleted" list. If you you delete the picture from the Recently Deleted album list, then it will be removed from your Library forever. Or, you can wait a month and it will disappear on its own.
As Old Toad says, the albums are like playlists of music. A song can be on many playlists.
So, we organize our pictures in albums. Photos makes a stab at organization with Memories and all that, but it's the albums that make Photos useful at keeping track of your pictures.
You can changethe EXIF date on a photo by selecting the photo and going to the Image ➙ Adjust Date & Time menu option:
Then change the date of image to whatever you'd like:
It also depends which view in the library you're using as to how the files can be sorted. This screenshot shows the options of the various views:
With an album that you create you have the most options for sorting.
Well, the Library album really is just a list of all the pictures in the package of pictures and information in the folder called the Library, just the same as any other album. The difference is that the preset albums have preset membership and preset sorting that, to answer your question, cannot be changed. But I never look at the Library view, and I use the Imports and Recents, etc, albums just for the things that they are good for.
If you want a "Library" album that can be sorted, then you can make one. I have a bunch of Libraries I use, and for each I make a Smart Album with criteria "Date Created" "is after" "7/4/1776" which seems to get all the pictures-- and I name it the name of the Library. Then I can sort that album as I please. There is one caveat -- you can't manually sort a Smart Album. So for pictures that I want to appear in some odd order, I put pictures in a regular un-smart album.
To your original question: I have lately scanned thousands of old pictures from family albums and old boxes full of random pictures, and getting them into some order is hard-- most of the pictures have no date on them at all. So I put them into a regular album, and I drag them around until the people in them look like they're getting older rather than younger. Then I use the few dates I know to assign dates to the others. I put that date in the title field, which shows in the thumbnail view. I use things like "1942 08 Wedding" for the title of my parents' wedding, maybe. (Or, at first, just "1943" and refine later.) Once that is done, then I can sort by title, and the pictures will appear in order. I don't worry about the embedded date of the scanning-- it would be awful to fix those up, one by one. When all that's done, I could use a script or 3rd party program to change the embedded dates so that they start with, maybe, 1901 and increment by a minute for each--but that's a phony date whose only purpose would be to keep them in order by date for other purposes.
So, it's use a regular album, drag to manually order, then use dates in the title.
Hello Richard,
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.
I am afraid that I already know the answer but I am still trying to chase the “impossible reality”.
Allow me to be possibly a little clearer. I know that albums are lists and therefore can be “sorted” in different ways. My problem is with Library, which is not a list. Understood. So let’s leave the albums for another discussion. Theoretically, my Library contains 10,000 pictures, actually numbered from 1 to 10,000. And this is the chronological order they are in.
How do I move picture number 9,456 next to picture number 5 (because considering the date and time it was shot (taken)) this is where it belongs?
We are still in Library, not in any Album. If I remember correctly, it used to be a simple click and drag in iPhoto.
It seems like I could rephrase the question by asking: Is there a “sort” option for the original Photos Library ? (besides the greyed out "keep sorted by oldest capture date”).
Thank you again for your interest.
Moving photos around in Library
