can't find my iphoto library folder in finder

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Level 1

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can't find my iphoto library folder in finder

Hi Everyone,

I bought a Macbook Pro a few months ago and am having trouble with my iphoto.

1. I can't see or find the iphoto library photo in finder so that I may access my photos without actually opening iphoto

2. on my old macbook i could drag a photo from my iphoto library to the desktop and that would simply create a copy. If I do this with my new mac it transfers the photo out of iphoto to my desktop.

Any suggestions on how i can fix these 2 things, particularly the first one?

THANK YOU!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Apr 26, 2011 6:09 PM

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Answer 1

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salty777

Level 3

543 points

Apr 26, 2011 7:42 PM in response to lucy-k

If you want to copy, not move, hold the "alt" key when you drag and drop.

As for your library, it should be in the "pictures" folder. If it isn't, use spotlight and search for iPhoto. If no joy, search for a photo name that you know..... if you find one, click it and it will give you the location where it is (as a path)

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Answer 2

lucy-k Author

Level 1

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Apr 26, 2011 10:32 PM in response to salty777

Thank you very much salty777

I was able to find the path and the iphoto library icon in "pictures". This allows me simply to open iphoto when i select it. What i'm wondering is why i cant look at the images by image numbers in finder like i could on my old ibook so that way i can attach a picture to an e-mail that is stored in i photo. right now i can't seem to find a way to do this.

thank you again for your help 🙂

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Answer 3

salty777

Level 3

543 points

Apr 27, 2011 6:01 AM in response to lucy-k

I'm not really sure what you mean..... I haven't updated iPhoto for a while, and things may have changed (if so other's help will be needed!).... but, it used to be that they were stored by date. You would have to open a file within the iPhoto Library called "originals" and then sort through the years, months etc to find your photo. They are there somewhere!!

You might get better quality help at the iWork forum.....

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Answer 4

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Apr 27, 2011 7:43 AM in response to lucy-k

iPhoto

MacBook Pro

http://www.apple.com/support/iphoto

http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro

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Answer 5

lucy-k Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 27, 2011 1:35 PM in response to salty777

Ok the problem then is that i can't find the "originals" folder that contains the image files no matter where I look. If i click on iphoto library it simply open iphoto rather than extending into another window to allow access to the originals folder. because of this when i want send a photo as an attachment on something like g-mail i can because i have no way of finding and accessing the lone image file.

I appreciate your attempt at assistance though!

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Answer 6

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Apr 27, 2011 2:26 PM in response to lucy-k

Look in Preferences but iPhoto will normally be

/Users/account_name/Pictures/

There there is a "package" which is actually a huge hidden folder if you will, with all the pieces.

Get Info on the file or files that are now bundled into packages, and you can look inside to find everything.

Also reason I posted the links to support page and forum.

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Answer 7

lucy-k Author

Level 1

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May 5, 2011 2:17 PM in response to The hatter

Thank you! 🙂

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Answer 8

zx5000

Level 1

4 points

Jan 26, 2013 1:46 PM in response to lucy-k

Yeah ... old thread but here's an answer for those google hits.

OSX 10.8.2 / iPhoto 9.4.2

Open terminal

cd ~/Pictures

ln -s iPhoto\ Library.photolibrary/Masters

You now have a folder in Pictures called Masters that you can actually do something with in finder. This way you can upload to facebook, attach to email, open in gimp, whatever.

Otherwise you can only use iPhoto to do essentially nothing with your photos but look at them.

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