Importing Help and those "Items From xxxx" folders

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Importing Help and those "Items From xxxx" folders

I am having a hard time with Aperture 3. I want my folder structure to stay the same on hard drive but Aperture will NOT sync to them when I add new photos. Also, any time I import folders that contain a sub folder the result I get in the library is as follows:

Importing finder folder named "My Family" with 1 subfolder named "PDF"

Library now shows 3 folders:

My Family

Items From My Family

PDF

Question 1)

What in the world is "Items From My Family"? All it contains is a duplicate of the first folder, what a waste.

It then transfers to the Ipad as an album "Items From My Family" along with the project "My Family" as well, stupid waste of space.

It does not do that if the folder is flat (no subfolders)

I dont want my Apple hard drive storing all of my photos so I chose to reference those files from an external drive.

Question 2)

How can I save scanned photos, new photos, etc. into aperture and store them back to a folder on the external HD, OR, refresh a folder with added photos. Scanned photos appear in a folder in Aperture called "Imported files" not sure if it said files or photos. Basicaly I want the Project in Apeture 3 to match the files location. I want to keep my MASTERS on that external drive.

Am I going about this all wrong. I am used to storing my photos in MY location on MY specific hard drive and using prgrams like Compupic that would just scan those folders for any changes. Aperture doesn't, a real headache.

A noob at Aperture, this is very confusing. I love the non destructive way it handles photos though.

Aperture 3, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Nov 13, 2011 10:22 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 13, 2011 8:57 PM in response to grapplerone

Well, "all wrong" is probably too strong, but "mostly wrong" wouldn't be far off the mark 🙂 . Many first-time users chug along in the direction you are going, and encounter the same frustrations.

Aperture requires a different mind-set. It is an _image-manager_, and it replaces using a _file-manager_ in order to manage images. That's a tall hurdle to clear for many users -- especially conscientious filers.

Additionally, Aperture does not ever scan your drive and update its Library. You _never_ "sync" Aperture with your Finder folders. There is no "sync" function in Aperture.

I will try to find some time to write more tomorrow. In the meantime, read this very short guide to Aperture. The thing to keep in mind is that you create your storage/access/retrieval structures for your Images _inside_ Aperture. You still manage your files -- but mostly just to make sure they are properly connected to your Images. You use Apertures superb tools to create whatever storage/access/retrieval structures you want (and you can do far more sophisticated things this way).

Added:

Some additional reading on organizing with Aperture -- meant to serve as either example or foil.

Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger

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