Uninstall - Reinstalling iphoto?

Janice:

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Unless you're having problems with iPhoto opening or in some other manner there's no reason to reinstall it.

Are you wanting to create a new library and start over? If you can more definitively describe your current situation as far as a library and photos and what you want to achieve, we can better suggest a workflow to accomplish that.

If you do really need to reinstall iPhoto the you'll need to to delete the current application and all files with "iPhoto" in the file name that reside in the HD/Library/Receipts folder. Then install iPhoto from the disks they originally came on, either the System install disk or the iLife 06 disks.

But if you're just wanting to start a clean library then you don't need to reinstall the iPhoto application.

Do you Twango?

Yes, you've committed the cardinal sin of iPhoto: Don't tamper with files in the iPhoto Library folder from the Finder.

In your Originals folder should be all of your full sized image files. At least that's where iPhoto starts out saving them. What you need to do is somehow find all of your full sized files that are in your iPhoto library folder and move them to a new folder on the desktop. If you have some that are the same name you'll have to move one of those to a different folder. Your Originals folder should have all full sized image files. If you didn't move any files from the Data folder in there just move it to the desktop.

You can also move any files in the Pictures folder that are full sized into a new folder on the desktop.

Now move the iPhoto library folder to the trash. It will not be needed. Next launch iPhoto and when it tells you it cannot find the library select the option to create a new library. When that is done you can drag the Originals folder from the desktop into the open iPhoto application window. It will import all the files that were in that folder. When that is complete you can drag the other folder (the one with the other image files from the Pictures folder) into the open iPhoto window. When those files are imported and you can see you have all of your photos in that library, you can move those two folders to the Trash and empty it.

Now you can go about arranging and grouping your photos from within iPhoto. If you select a number of photo from the main library window you can use the menu option File->Create Roll and put them in a roll of their own. That roll will be represented by a new folder with the same name as the roll in the Originals folder. You don't have to go into the iPhoto Library folder via the Finder at all. All file management should be done from within iPhoto, i.e. creating new rolls, albums, etc.

I suppose you can import any photo that's in your Pictures folder (and not in your iPhoto Library folder) into your library. That would be OK. After doing so I'd delete those files in the Pictures folder so you don't fill up you HD with duplicates.

You can try the following:

Copy the Originals folder from your current library to the desktop. Now rename your original iPhoto Library folder to anything other what what it is, say Original Library. Now open iPhoto and when it tells you it cannot find the library, select the option to create a new one. When it's opened, drag the Originals folder you copied to the desktop into the open iPhoto window. That should get your all your photos back and in the same rolls (although probably with different roll dates).

If the keywords in your current library are important to save you can try the workflow outlined in Tutorial #1 before you copy the Originals folder to the desktop. That will write the keywords to the original files and will be read by iPhoto when you import into the new library.

When all is done and the new library is to your satisfaction, delete the old library folder and the Originals folder from the desktop.

I have one more trick we can try.

Run Resize! on that folder with the 660 files. You can set the size to remain the same and the quality to what you want - the highest quality will increase the file size quite a bit so experiment with a few. Resize! will create a new folder with the new files in it. You can then import them into iPhoto and see if they will work.

If you will click on this Resize! link it will take you to the developer's site where you can download it.