No "delete photos after import" option in new iPhoto? How do you delete photos after import?

It's present on mine but I never use for the simple reason that you have no way to confirm the import has gone correctly before trashing the photos from the phone.

So, once I have checked the import I use Image Capture (in the Applications Folder) to delete all the shpts from the phone.

I think it's a bug and is certainly not preferred behavior for me.

Photos Version 1.0 (209.52.0) did not present me with the option to delete originals from iPhone after import.

Image Capture Version 6.6 (525) will not delete images from my iPhone via the delete key. And like the current bug in Photos, it did not present me with the option to delete originals from iPhone after import.

So I am left with manually selecting photos on the iPhone and deleting them. Troublesome and prone to error since I put photos into different Photos libraries and can't just select all.

It's not a bug. It's a factor of iCloud Library. Turn that off and the options is there.

Excellent.

Some more info on what to turn off where and if you have to shut down anything and restart, would be very welcome.

App Request

Some tooltips in the Photos app would be very helpful also.

As would help items on all the displayed text / command / options in the Photos app.

I know that shouldn't really go here, but it would all link up nicely.

This is the iPhoto for Mac forum.

Your comments seem to be about the new Photos.app. Perhaps you need the feedback link:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

Hi Terence,

Thanks, very true, Photos, not iPhoto.

Have already used that link and hope that many others do also 🙂

Actually, the comments apply equally well to iPhoto 9.6.1 (910.42).

Tool tips would be great and greyed-out menu items can just taunt you.

Couldn't get the "turn-off" to work easily.

Is it the case that it a) depends from where you turn it off, and b) there is an apple end lag?

The symptom was that, turning off iCloud Library on the phone and then shutting down both phone and macbook, and rebooting resulted in no change in the iPhoto app, as I had hoped. No option to delete after import was revealed.

To delete the photos I had to resort to a 3rd party app;- Delete photos - Cleanup your album By Jinpyo Hong, which is more of a workaround.

The other failsafe you have to put in, is to have a duplicate photo remover.

It is good that you can get things done one way or another, but it's a shame that so far there aren't more diagnostics within the apple programs that would allow simple users like myself to check over program functionality that can be easily achieved, if you know about it. "You only had to click your heels three times".

In iPhoto, preferences dialog, advanced tab, there is a tick box for importing behaviour, "copy items to the iPhoto library". Could ticking or un-ticking that be a factor that affects the ability to delete after import from being displayed?

Tool tips would be great and greyed-out menu items can just taunt you.

Nothing will change in iPhoto now. It's not developed any longer. Greyed out menu items need not taunt you. They are full of meaning - most especially they mean that there is no place in your current phase of working for what they offer.

I found turning off simple: just turned it off in the Photos preferences on the Mac, phone and iPad. No restarting or other apps.

I see the software you mention is for iOS only. Not sure of its relevance here. As for mer diagnostics, all the information that you find on here is from other users who figured things out, so can you.

In iPhoto, preferences dialog, advanced tab, there is a tick box for importing behaviour, "copy items to the iPhoto library". Could ticking or un-ticking that be a factor that affects the ability to delete after import from being displayed?

Are you confusing iPhoto and Photos again?

In either case the specific answer is no, but in the added note that in Photos you cannot use a Cloud Library with items imported on that basis. The next is written about iPhoto but applies in the most part to Photos too:

For more on iPhoto and file management see this User Tip:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6361

Hi Terence,

Yes I have been getting confused by "new iPhoto", thinking it was a version I didn't have and that it is meant here to mean "Photos", which is a totally different program on many levels.

Your article

iPhoto and File Management

helped a lot.

The point about the iOS software is that if you are stuck not being able to delete your iPhone photos without the benefit of doing that from the MacBook, and not wanting to do a photo by photo delete, then other than 3rd party software what can you do.

I don't have or want aperture and Image Capture.app was of no use, nor should it have to be used.

Advice welcome again.

I think a lot of people like myself who make local copies of images for say testing a website are worried that deleting files might somehow accidentally delete the masters. A small note when you are deleting and image that the original will still be safe would be easy and most re-assuring. But that is another topic.

Thanks again.

Again, I'm unclear on what exactly the problem is.

If you turn off the iCloud Library then

1. Importing via USB to the Mac is exactly the same whether with iPhoto, Photos or anything else. There is always a local copy on the HD of the Mac. End of.

2. If you use iCloud Library and do the same, then there is always a copy on the HD of the Mac.

3. If you delete a picture from Photos on the Mac then you get a warning, explaining what is going to happen. Same with iPhoto. I'm really not sure where your confusion lies.

Image Capture is free and existing on your Mac and can be sued to delete images - all or some - from your Phone or iPad. I've no idea why you're complaining about deleting images with that but are prepared to pay for another app.

If your query is about the iPhone, I suggest you take it to that forum.

Hi Terence,

Thanks again for the detailed reply.

The original question for me still is;- No "delete photos after import" option in new iPhoto? How do you delete photos after import?

new iPhoto is Photos, and that is now clear for me.

My two concerns are to safely get photos onto my hard disc and then free up the iphone.

If you turn off the iCloud Library then

(And this you can do at the MacBook end from the Photos application, Photos->Preferences->iCloud tab->tickbox)

1. Importing via USB to the Mac is exactly the same whether with iPhoto, Photos or anything else. There is always a local copy on the HD of the Mac. End of.

(True)

2. If you use iCloud Library and do the same, then there is always a copy on the HD of the Mac.

(Please realise I absolutely don't want to use iCloud Library, but I do use My Photo Stream, so True also)

3. If you delete a picture from Photos on the Mac then you get a warning, explaining what is going to happen. Same with iPhoto. I'm really not sure where your confusion lies.

(Ah apologies, well because I also want to use My Photo Stream to offload from my iPhone to my MacBook, I then create and use albums as the main place to view photos. I then am confused when I try to delete a photo in All Photos, rather than remove it from an album, and get the notification that it will be deleted and removed from My Photo Stream. It could be that it is only resident there and not on my MacBook, although I can see it in Photos and All Photos. Can I safely assume that if a photo reaches my MacBook using Photo Stream, then it is downloaded onto the hard disc? There is the little cloud icon with the label "Activity" under the Shared heading in the Sidebar, can I guess that that represents My Photo Stream? So is that where I can check that a deleted photo is gone, but still in Photos? To go with that, if I see a photo in the Activity folder and click on it and am shown the options to Import or Delete from Shared Album, does that tell me that it hasn't yet reached my hard drive? What adds to this is that I have over 10,000 photos and if I use Get Info and then search using the search bar for the filename, I am shown a different photo with the same file name, so again, I don't yet know where the file is.)

Image Capture is free and existing on your Mac and can be sued to delete images - all or some - from your Phone or iPad. I've no idea why you're complaining about deleting images with that but are prepared to pay for another app.

(Other help posts have said that if all else fails, try deleting using Image Capture, but Photos should be my one-stop-shop, and not app-hopping. The 3rd party app is free. I didn't manage yet to delete files on the iPhone using Image Capture, files from it yes, but not on it.)

Another problem is that if you have previously imported images without deleting them on your iPhone, but then subsequently would like to access them and delete them, the option is not offered in Photos.

Also, Photos, using the USB connection, will sometimes not even register that there are photos in the iPhone. iPhone, cable and MacBook are all functioning well, there are no hardware issues.

If your query is about the iPhone, I suggest you take it to that forum.

(No the query is about Photos functionality, especially using USB but also My Photo Stream, to access and delete photos on the iPhone.)

I would like to thank for your time, patience and detailed answers so far. They have helped me a lot with Photos, because you have made me question what I am trying to do and check it out more thoroughly.

Best advice, post on the Photos forum as all your queries relate to it.