How can I tell which album a searched photo is in?

I have a photo that should be in a given album, but it's not there. Fortunately I had given it a title so I could search for it and when I do so I can find it. Clearly I've fumbled and put that photo into an inappropriate album, but for the life of me I can't tell which album that photo is (wrongly) in so I can remove it. I get that photos can be in multiple albums, but this is kind of a fundamental thing to want to do and it's such a straightforward thing to implement that one would rightfully expect that capability to exist. I'm guessing the feature is hidden behind some UI that may be a little counter-intuitive - to me anyway. How can I do this?


Hmm - just before clicking on the Post button, a kind of messy solution did occur to me. I could export the photo, delete it from my library, reimport it and then just put it in the right album. Either way, the above question still stands and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mac mini, macOS 12.7

Posted on Mar 16, 2025 6:37 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 16, 2025 6:51 AM

Can you upgrade your Mac to macOS 15 Sequoia? The most recent version of Photos can show us the albums a photo is in, finally!


In Photos 10 you can ctrl-click a photo, then use the the command "Show in Album", like this:


You will see the nested folders, enclosing the album. If a photo has been added to several albums, you will see them all.


On older system versions you could try an Apple Script: How to find out the albums a photo is in: Jacques Rioux's Script, Monterey version for Photos 7 or later - Apple Community


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 16, 2025 6:51 AM in response to Mick_M

Can you upgrade your Mac to macOS 15 Sequoia? The most recent version of Photos can show us the albums a photo is in, finally!


In Photos 10 you can ctrl-click a photo, then use the the command "Show in Album", like this:


You will see the nested folders, enclosing the album. If a photo has been added to several albums, you will see them all.


On older system versions you could try an Apple Script: How to find out the albums a photo is in: Jacques Rioux's Script, Monterey version for Photos 7 or later - Apple Community


Mar 16, 2025 6:55 AM in response to Mick_M

Mick_M wrote: this is kind of a fundamental thing to want to do and it's such a straightforward thing to implement that one would rightfully expect that capability to exist.

You can use File>Show in Album:


Oops-- it looks like you are not in Sequoia-- you're using Monterey, is that right?


Hmm. There are lots of "capabilities" added in the last few year.


Back during Monterey, we searched a lot, or we used the trusted 3rd party app PowerPhotos ($30) 


[Once again, léonie and I are typing at the same time…]

Mar 16, 2025 7:00 AM in response to léonie

It's good to know that the feature is available - although only in Sequoia. Just amazing that didn't previously exist! Admittedly there are now several deficiencies in Sonoma that I know have been fixed in Sequoia. I need to think long and hard if I want to upgrade now. Years of constantly reinforced experience with macOS have conditioned me to only upgrade to macOS N when macOS N+1 is released.

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How can I tell which album a searched photo is in?

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