iPhoto event/album thumbnails missing

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Level 1

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iPhoto event/album thumbnails missing

Since updating

iPhoto '11 ver. 9.2.3 (629.52)

the event key photos are missing (Picture 1) and the thumbnails for the actual photos are missing as well (Picture 2). I have not reinstalled iPhoto nor have i taken any other actions to solve this issue. the image files are still present and within the iPhoto library (Picture 3) however this issue is purely cosmetic.

note: I have rudimentary technical literacy and i have tried troubleshooting through the support web-site/several forums.

please advise.

(Picture 1 above)

(Picture 2 above)

(Picture 3 Above)

iPhoto '11, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Apr 27, 2012 6:48 AM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,320 points

Apr 27, 2012 2:50 PM in response to dhjinn

Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Include the option to rebuild the thumbnails. It can take 3 or 4 goes for this to work

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Answer 2

dhjinn Author

Level 1

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May 20, 2012 4:16 AM in response to Yer_Man

unfortunately this doesn't work for me, even after trying multiple times.

thanks for responding though.

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,320 points

May 20, 2012 4:38 AM in response to dhjinn

Where have you got your Library stored?

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Answer 4

dhjinn Author

Level 1

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May 24, 2012 4:23 AM in response to Yer_Man

in default /user/pictures/iphoto library on my macbook Macintosh HD.

the recovery method you posted has restored the thumbnails partially in that all of the thumbnails are of 1 photo now, but it seems when i try to take a screen shot it turns out blank like the inital image i posted.

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Answer 5

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,320 points

May 24, 2012 4:33 AM in response to dhjinn

Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.

Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.

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Answer 6

fontan75

Level 1

10 points

Jul 3, 2012 7:42 AM in response to dhjinn

I had the same issue and finally found a common link in the problem. There are a number of files that seem to have extensions missing. Whatever happened in the upgrade many extensions got dropped. I had to go in and export the images, add the extension and reimport them. I am looking for a faster way to do this, but it seems to work.

Unfortunatly this happened to .pct, .jpg, .avi, and many other files and I am slowly figuring out which is which. Quicktime 7 does a good job at figuring them out without the extension.

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