Aperture 3 : Pics managed or referenced : how can I find out ?

Andreas, if you did not change any settings in the Import panel, your original image files will we imported as managed and stored in the Aperture library. The setting is in the "Aperture" brick of the "Import" panel - check the option "Store Files". This should show "In the Aperure Library".

If you want have changed this setting and want to find out for individual images, how the originals are stored, select an image in the Browser and use the command "File > Show in Finder". This command will only be available for referenced originals.

To check the location of all originals at once, use a smart album (File > New > Smart album) or a search with the added rule: "File status is" and the setiing "Managed" or "Referenced". For a referenced library the the search with "Managed" should turn up no images and searching with "Referenced" should turn up all.

If you have a referenced library, but did not want to have one, it is dangerous, for you may have accidentally deleted origininal image files. You can use "File > Consolidate" to move any referenced files back into your library, see Aperture 3 User Manual: Working with Referenced Images

In that case, I'd recommend to check also with the search rules "File Status is offline" and "File status is missing".

Regards

Léonie

Create a smart album like this

Add the rule File Status: and set it to Referenced. Any images that show up are referenced. You can do the same for managed images. Just set the rule to Managed.