Hello, is it possible to alphabetize your photo albums in iPhoto? I've tried clicking to rearrange them, but they don't move. It makes it very difficult to sort pictures when albums are not alphabetized. Thank you!
You can sort pictures in an album, and you can sort albums in a folder, and you can sort folders in folders. You can have a very sorted Library!
When you right-click (or control-click) on a folder, like Art Studio, you get a pop-up menu:
Here I've right-clicked on the folder 2014, chosen sort, and I'm offered choices. The same will happen if you right-click on My Albums or on folders containing folders. And, of course, it works on Albums, sorting the pictures inside.
Since you can see that I have my folders sorted by dates, I want to throw in that I have other folders sorted by other topics, as well. And many pictures go in more than one album. The thing is, pictures aren't exactly "in" an album. When you "put a picture into an album," its name is added to a list of pictures to display together when the album is clicked, kind of like a music playlist, but for pictures. So two albums can both have the same picture name in their lists, and that picture will show up when you click either album, but there's only one picture file-- it's just on multiple lists. And when you remove a picture from an album, its name remains in the lists of other albums, and the file still remains in your Library.
So albums give a specific view of your pictures. The picture of "Aunt Ethel at the Grand Canyon" can be in the "Aunt Ethel" album with other pictures of Aunt Ethel, and it can also be in the "Grand Canyon" album with pictures of other people at the Grand Canyon. And it can be in a the "September 2015" album. Each album is pointing to a single file stored in the Photos Library, so having pictures in multiple albums takes up no more storage space. As you can imagine, this is very powerful in organizing pictures.
You didn't ask for that stuff, but I hope it might be useful to you....
You can sort pictures in an album, and you can sort albums in a folder, and you can sort folders in folders. You can have a very sorted Library!
When you right-click (or control-click) on a folder, like Art Studio, you get a pop-up menu:
Here I've right-clicked on the folder 2014, chosen sort, and I'm offered choices. The same will happen if you right-click on My Albums or on folders containing folders. And, of course, it works on Albums, sorting the pictures inside.
Since you can see that I have my folders sorted by dates, I want to throw in that I have other folders sorted by other topics, as well. And many pictures go in more than one album. The thing is, pictures aren't exactly "in" an album. When you "put a picture into an album," its name is added to a list of pictures to display together when the album is clicked, kind of like a music playlist, but for pictures. So two albums can both have the same picture name in their lists, and that picture will show up when you click either album, but there's only one picture file-- it's just on multiple lists. And when you remove a picture from an album, its name remains in the lists of other albums, and the file still remains in your Library.
So albums give a specific view of your pictures. The picture of "Aunt Ethel at the Grand Canyon" can be in the "Aunt Ethel" album with other pictures of Aunt Ethel, and it can also be in the "Grand Canyon" album with pictures of other people at the Grand Canyon. And it can be in a the "September 2015" album. Each album is pointing to a single file stored in the Photos Library, so having pictures in multiple albums takes up no more storage space. As you can imagine, this is very powerful in organizing pictures.
You didn't ask for that stuff, but I hope it might be useful to you....
Ok, I found a work-around. I was using an app called Slide Box that helps organize photos. I was able to alphabetize my albums on there and it synced to iCloud photos. Thank you!
Boy, Emily, I'm confused. We may have just left my range of experience!
In the first screenshot, all the albums, except Van Gough, seemed empty. Swuishmallow and Crabs have 3 dots. My albums don't have 3 dots. I also don't get red text. Hmm.
So, what macOS are you running? I'm on macOS 14.5 Sonoma
Hold it-- you said "iPhoto" in your original question! Are you actually using iPhoto, an app retired in 2015? I don't remember, what iPhoto looked like! (But this doesn't look like it to me...)
Richard:
The three dots after the VanGough/Flow album means the sidebar isn't wide enough to show the entire name. The three dots in the circle, ?????????????
Emily:
Are you saying that when you Control (right) - click on a folder you don't get this:
Yes, when I right-click the sort option does not come up. I am using iCloud Photos (I thought that was the same as iPhoto). Pictures I take on my phone sync to iCloud then I log into iCloud from my desktop to organize my photos. Is there a different app to use? It says my operating system is up to date. This is so strange.
I should know right off to ask what device and OS you're using-- iCloud Photos looks enough like Mac Photos that I made a poor assumption. If you have a Mac, that's the to organize things, since iCloud Photos mirrors the Mac.
So I'm guessing you're using Windows? I haven't done that in years. What is Slide-Box?
Thank you! This is very helpful. When I right-click on the album, the sort button is not an option. Do you have any tips?
Alphabetizing photo albums in iPhoto
