How to remove the handwriting, receipts, documents, and illustrations albums

Most of the tools built into Photos for Mac and Photos iOS are now built on top of the Artificial Intelligence scanning and analyzing our photos and videos, for example the clean.

-up or the duplicate detection. Photos is trying to recognize the scene and the objects before it is doing anything with our photos. Even hiding the memories or the Handwriting Collection will not prevent the background processes from scanning the photos library, we will just not be able to see the results.

On a Mac some the automatically created collections "Handwriting", etc. are necessary, because there is no other tool to search for such items. there is no rule to search for "Handwriting" in a smart album, so Apple is creating the corresponding smart album automatically for us. I am using the Handwriting collection a lot, when I need to find the notes I made when took the photos. The added bonus of storing the notes in Photos is that Photos can decipher my scribbling better than I could do myself.

As we cannot prevent most of the background scanning, the best thing we can do is to help Apple to improve the results, so the classification will become better. Keep reporting incorrectly classified images, preferably with the feedback assistant, so you can send sample images to Apple.

What albums are you referring to? The ones at the top of the library's sidebar?

If it's these you can't delete them. They are build into the library. However, just below that is a folder titles Albums that you can add albums or smart albums to and you determine what is in them and how they are sorted as long as it's one of these sorts:

including manually.

These automatically generated albums "Receipts", "Handwriting", etc. do not need extra storage, even if hey are hiding many photos. They are just an additional index. You will not see these albums, if you are keeping the "Utilities" and "Media Kind" sections of the sidebar closed.

The albums are needed for the users who need to find photos with documents, receipts, handwriting on them, because we cannot define smart albums to find this kind of photos. There are no rules to set up our own smart album "Handwriting" or "panoramic", etc.

Starry001 wrote: How to remove the handwriting, receipts, documents, and illustrations albums

muguy wrote: you cannot.

But luckily, you are not required to look at them.

Those two are built in and can't be removed or changed.

What about them is wrong? Can you describe for each?

Starry001 wrote: … They gather together all the wrong things and there’s no way to correct or remove images.

That's right. I choose not to look at them.

If you would like to make suggestions to Apple, go here:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

you cannot.

Richard.Taylor wrote:

But luckily, you are not required to look at them.

But it does mean that something has been messing around with my photos, scanning and analysing them. I'd prefer to be able to prevent my phone doing this.

[Edited by Moderator]

OT-- Handwriting is in Utilities. It's possible it doesn't show if you don't have any. It has stuff like this:

This is a scan of a letter from 1924 in my wife's mother's baby book. The section has anything with handwriting on it, and, apparently, several other random things.

Zurarczurx wrote:

I'd prefer to be able to prevent my phone doing this.

Oh, this problem is on your iPhone? That's the first we've heard of that. Some of us were answering as if it were on your iMac. Photos on a Mac and iPhone are two different animals.

Come on-- stop this. There are no humans involved. There's no data leak. There's no one snooping. This is not  Reddit or 4chan--your exaggeration and fabrication violates the conditions of this site.

I notice that the most offensive part of your original post was removed. The rest of this should be, as well.

Old Toad wrote: … Oh, this problem is on your iPhone?

The original post was about the Mac, but the sections for handwriting, receipts, documents, and illustrations are on iOS and iPadOS, as well. It would be fine if Utilities had a Modify, like Pinned does.

People with concerns can leave feedback here:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

Richard.Taylor wrote:

Come on-- stop this. There are no humans involved. There's no data leak. There's no one snooping. This is not  Reddit or 4chan--your exaggeration and fabrication violates the conditions of this site.

I notice that the most offensive part of your original post was removed. The rest of this should be, as well.

I didn't say anyone was snooping in my phone - I said 'something'. I said that the emotional response it triggers in me is the same that would occur if someone went through my personal possessions because that's what it did. I had a physical reaction the first time I saw the handwriting and receipts section. That's a fact, not an exaggeration or fabrication.