Editing in External Editor Has Changed

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Level 10

207,409 points

Editing in External Editor Has Changed

Editing with an external editor in iPhoto has changed. If, when using an external editor like Photoshop. Pixelmator or Acorn, a second copy is immediately created in the Versions folder (formally Modified) of iPhoto and is used for the editing ending up with two copies of the photo, the original and edited.

If the edit creates layers, like adding text with PS or Pixelmator, the file must be flattened before saving. Otherwise the Save To navigation window appears with the Master/Originals folder as the default location. If saved there the copy that was first created remains just that, a copy of the original and the layered file is lost to iPhoto in the Masters folder. Bottom line, flatten the image before saving if the editor presents a Save to window.

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Additional edits by the external editor do not create another copy but are applied to the first edited copy. Therefore, any edit with an external will result in the two copies being displayed in iPhoto side by side.

Previously, flattening the image and saving as a jpg would have the modified version replace the original as the displayed version. just like when edited by iPhoto. No longer true with iPhoto 11.

OT

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Posted on Oct 21, 2010 5:14 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad Author

Level 10

207,409 points

Oct 21, 2010 5:30 PM in response to Old Toad

Note: if you start an edit with an external editor and then abort before any editing is attempted there will still be a copy created. 😟 If we're not careful that can bloat the library somewhat.

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Answer 2

Oct 23, 2010 1:08 PM in response to Old Toad

This is a huge bummer. You would think there'd be a preference that you could turn off for this "feature." What a huge pain to have to delete and delete and delete, every time you edit a photo. crazy that Apple did this.

Let me know if you find a way around this. For now I'll just leave more feedback to apple. Just left feedback about no true fullscreen. Now this. Apple's really pulling some features away on us.

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Oct 23, 2010 1:11 PM in response to Joel Henriques

What a huge pain to have to delete and delete and delete,

Why delete? Why not Hide and that way preserve your Original.

Regards

TD

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Answer 4

Oct 23, 2010 1:21 PM in response to Joel Henriques

OK, this whole thing is a bug I believe. Listen to this. I open a photo in CS5 to edit it. iPhoto makes a copy. I finish editing my photo in CS5, then save. The changes take place in iPhoto like you'd expect. Now there are the two photos in iPhoto. The edited and the unedited. Now I select the edited photo and choose "Revert to Original" from iPhoto menu, and iPhoto warns me like always, "are you sure you want to revert?" I click "Revert" and nothing. It doesn't revert to the original photo.

So if I were to delete the "extra" photo, I've now got no backup of that photo! I think iPhoto is just "showing" us the original backups on accident now. If this is how they intend it to be now, then they sure better warn people before everyone starts deleting their backup copies of their photos. This is crazy.

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Answer 5

Oct 23, 2010 2:29 PM in response to Joel Henriques

You could be right, doing:

Reveal in Finder > Original
Reveal in Finder > Modified

Both options take you to the same modified file that was saved from the external editor.

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Answer 6

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Oct 23, 2010 11:57 PM in response to Cristofer Cruz

iPhoto menu -> Provide iPhoto Feedback and file a bug report

Regards

TD

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Answer 7

Oct 28, 2010 2:12 AM in response to Old Toad

I hate this feature. If it actually is a feature. The way iPhoto '09 dealt with editted images (by storing the original away and replacing it with the new version in the image library) was far superior.

Apple, please fix this issue. And If it's not a bug then gives us a preference to switch it off. While your at it, if you could let me send my images directly to Mail.app without the silly background feature that would be great.

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Answer 8

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Oct 28, 2010 2:32 AM in response to Jordan Sky

File a bug report at

iPhoto menu -> Provide iPhoto Feedback re: the external editor issue. The more that do, the aster it will get fixed.

While your at it, if you could let me send my images directly to Mail.app

Drag the images from the iPhoto Window to the Mail icon achieves the same thing. Otherwise have a read of this:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2627690&tstart=0

Regards

TD

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Answer 9

Nov 1, 2010 3:49 PM in response to Yer_Man

hi everybody,
There is another big problem with this new "feature"... > just after editing a photo in Photoshop, saving and going back to iphoto, i choose to "trash" the original file because i prefer the last edited/cropped one, and because i don't want to see 2 "same" pictures in my event... if i quit iphoto, relaunch it, then choose the edited picture in full screen mode, what i see is a big "!" logo!! unbelievable, i used to work the same way in iphoto 9, and everything was Okay...if i choose the "show in finder" menu then "modified", iphoto can't find the picture... great no?
what about you?

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Answer 10

Old Toad Author

Level 10

207,409 points

Nov 1, 2010 3:58 PM in response to Olivier Batelos

Do a Revert to Original on that modified file and the modified version will now become the original and you can open it by double clicking and not get the missing file warning.

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Answer 11

Nov 1, 2010 6:10 PM in response to Old Toad

Thank you very much Old Toad, your solution did work 😉 but to be honest, developpers should do something soon to fix this kind of non-sense logic.Its definitively a bug and not a feature.

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Answer 12

Nov 1, 2010 6:23 PM in response to Olivier Batelos

By the way, another thing i don't really understand > i used to have a smart folder in iphoto 9 with a simple rule: "tag is video", which mean that everytime i used to capture a video with my iphone 4, Nikon D5000 or any other video/photo device, it transfer the "movies" in that folder so i can't mix photo and video; easy.
Now and since the update to iLife 11, the same rule seems to do...nothing! i have 5 sequence from my daughter Halloween party taken in the same way as any other previous ones, and those video are not in the smart folder. I have try to change the rule with any other possible choice, nothing happen, the video are not in the smart folder... a brand new feature again? lol

Message was edited by: Olivier Batelos

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Answer 13

Old Toad Author

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207,409 points

Nov 1, 2010 8:14 PM in response to Olivier Batelos

Oh, I agree. Post the bug to Apple via http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphoto.html as will I.

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Answer 14

Old Toad Author

Level 10

207,409 points

Nov 1, 2010 8:15 PM in response to Olivier Batelos

Change the smart album to Name contains .mov and another other video extension that you might have.

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Answer 15

Nov 3, 2010 6:45 AM in response to Old Toad

I am having the same problem and it is a real pain. I always thought that a new version of a program should improve things, not make them worse!! Until Apple fixes this duplicate problem I think I will just have to edit in iPhoto. Could this be a deliberate ploy by Apple to encourage users to stick with the iPhoto editor??
I have also encountered another problem, although I don't know if this is a problem with iPhoto 11 or Photoshop Elements 9. When I tried using PSE 9 as the external editor, PSE9 would open but the photo would not open. I therefore had to re-install PSE8 and then I experienced duplicate photos each time I tried to use PSE8 as my editor. What a shambles!!!

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