Is it possible to disable Face scanning?
The face-scanning feature ruins iPhoto '09 for us, and we will upgrade to '11 if that's the only way to turn off face scanning. Is it possible to do?
iPhone 4, iPad, MacBook Pro, iOS 4
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There's no way to turn off face scanning in iPhoto 11. However, I worked out a way to sort of disable it in any iPhoto version. This method locks the faces database file, removes the faces thumbnail image files from the library and prevents any more from being created. There will be scanning but no files created due to the scanning. The scanning doesn't take as long as it doesn't create new files in the process. The library size as viewed by the Finder is noticeably smaller.
You will get the faces spinning wheel as it tries to index the library the first time it's opened but it won't be able to write to the database file if you should try to add a face and won't create any new jpeg faces files.
Of course make a backup of your library before trying this and no guarantee implied.
1 - open the library like this.
2 - in the Database folder move this file to the Trash: Faces.db.
3 - close the package/folder and launch iPhoto. Close it after a brief moment.
4 - open the package, find the new version of the file and lock it via the Info window for the file.
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5 - while viewing the contents of the package type Command+F to start a search.
6 - set the criteria of the search to: Kind is Image and Name Contains "face".
7 - select all of the files in the search results window and drag to the Trash.
8 -close the package and launch iPhoto.
You will get the faces spinning wheel as it tries to index the library the first time it's opened but it won't be able to write to the database file if you should try to add a face and won't create any new jpeg faces files.
Of course make a backup of your library before trying this and no guarantee implied.