Where are photo file names?

Thank you, LN, I do appreciate it. It seems to me that we are in agreement about the features I need and don't have, but it may not seem to be so.

I just want to manage and view my own photos on my own computer.

Ok - that is what iPhoto does - actually quiet well

AL - Yes, except that iPhoto is no longer supported, and obviously has a limited lifetime. I need a photo editor for the rest of my life that is maintained. Apple has chose Photos, not iPhoto.

I can't sort,

You can sort - you just have extremely limited sort options

AL: That is exactly the problem. I have 22,000+ scanned images, all dated with the scan date, not the photo date. The actual photo date (year, month) is in the filename. I need to sort by filename. as I can't, I copied the filename into the title successfully (thanks to this discussion), but that does not solve the sort problem either.

I can't organize my images

Sure you can - you have an automatic organization with Moments and you can organize with as much detail as you want using Keywords, albums and folders

AL: I don't have any keywords at all. I have the iPhoto events (folders) that contain one year's images. I can sort the folders, but cannot sort the images inside the folders by filename, as I could in iPhoto.

I can't find help on anything

Photos has a decent Help section - have you used it? What is missing form it that you need?

AL: I looked for help on "albums", and wrote that into the search box. It returns a picture of the location of the "albums" menu item, but contains no information about albums, specifically on sorting them. I also found that if I create a smart album, which gives me more than what I want (the search parameters do not allow for boolean searches, only "one of, or all". If I delete an image from an iPhoto album, it also deletes the image in the library. Help provides no insight to this problem.

but how to share my images

Click on the Share icon - the rectangle with an up arrow in it - lots of share options there - if wha you want is not there check in the system references under extensions and enable the ones you want

AL: I don't want to share with any on-line service, I just want to edit images on my own computer. Many of the help items are about sharing on-line.

point me to the menu item with the same name

No idea what you want there

AL: see my note two items ago

Can I get iPhoto back?

No need - it is not gone - it is in your Applications folder - use it (you need version 9.6.1 - if you were not up to date see Get iPhoto 9.6.1 if you didn't update before OS X 10.10.3

AL: see my first note. Yes, I can, but it's not supported anymore, according to Apple, I just checked it: check out a MacWorld article: http://www.macworld.com/article/2375212/apple-retires-aperture-and-iphoto-to-be- replaced-with-photos-for-os-x.html . A search for the answer to this question produced no results on the Apple website. I believe Apple also announces that on first use of Photos, maybe when it asks if iPhoto should be imported. And yes, iPhoto is up to date.

As to an alternative - nothing else comes close in overall capability for the price - LightRoom is a much more powerful system at a much higher price - Media View is another people have posted

AL: I did use LightRoom several years ago, that is a good suggestion. However, if I can fix the Apple problem, that's better.

Most of your complaints are incorrect so Basically you need to calm down, learn Photos and ask specific questions giving details or you need to find and use a different package - and no one can do that for you - you have to do it

AL: Please note that each my issues is an Apple documented feature. The problem is not "calm down", the problem is that the way that I have been photo editing for many years (by filename) is a feature that was removed from Photos. I have learned Photos, went through all the lessons, and exercised every one of them. Only after I do my homework, do I go to any form for help and trouble other people. I really do appreciate your attention and trouble in answering, but I do see that extracting a few words out of sentences can yield out of context interpretation.

If you read the documentation on Photos, it is strongly focused on sorting "the way you take pictures, by the date and time of taking the picture" (paraphrased). The stated assumption is that all images have a time and location stamp on them. That does not apply to any film images taken from the 1800's to about the 2000's. Trying to invent a time and location for each of the 22,000+ images, so that Photos can sort them is not reasonable.

Summary: I believe that the only answer with Apple software is to adopt Photos, and either wait for, or write my own code to sort the information the way I need to in Photos.

Much appreciated.

AL

@alazo

OK

basically you have two choices - use iPhoto for a while and see if Photos comes around or change to different software

Photos is better than iPhoto in many areas and not as good in others - El Captainwill resolve some of these shortcomings and over time maybe all will be - maybe not

If iPhoto work for you now then use it and see what the future holds - it neither iphoto nor Photos works for you now then pick different software

All we can do i tell you what Photos is - we can not change it

and ov course it is important for you to tell Apple what you want - https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html - as the more requests they get the more likely they are to include the change you need

LN

Since Apple can do this for printing why can't they do this for viewing pictures in PHOTOS?

They can and do. They just left out the writing of the file name into the Title field during import. That can be recitified by using this Applescript to do it manually: Photos for Mac: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename

Then keep telling Apple what missing features you'd like restored or new features added in Photos via Apple-Photos Feedback.

The feedback is working as can be seen from the following paragraph in this Apple webpage: Apple OS X El Capitan.

Photos has been fine-tuned to make it even easier to manage your library. Now you can add a location to a single image or to an entire Moment. Naming your favorite people in Faces is faster with a streamlined workflow. You can also sort your albums — and the contents inside them — by date, title, and more.

telling the other users here accomplishes nothing as does threatening us

if you want tot tell Apple https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

And if you are using LightRoom then Photos has nothing for you - it is not a professional App like LR - it is a consumer app

LN

Tell Apple your needs - https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

Maybe they will upgrade Photos enough or even come out with a professional product like Aperture with enough feedback

For now the choices are to use Aperture as it is with no planed future updates or use Photos as it is (with many short comings compared to Aperture - but improvements coming) - http://www.apple.com/osx/elcapitan-preview/?cid=wwa-us-kwg-mac-com

LN

Is the service set to "receive no input" in "Photos.app"? In the title bar of the service? And have you selected the photos?

If the service does not appear,you can always launch it directly from Automator.

Or use one of the script versions published on the Photos for Mac User Tips page.

For example: Script: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename w/Extension

This user tip has a second version to be run as Apple Script. It is useful, if the Photos library s syncing with iCloud.

feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about the difference between filenames and titles.

Titles are not just limited to Apple's products. There's a whole set of IPTC metadata that are used with image files that are standard throughout the photography industry. It was developer for pro photographers to catalog their files. This webpage describes the IPTC standard: IPTC Standard - IPTC

Photos and iPhoto only uses a few of these fields, Title, Description and Keyword but many DAM (digital asset management) apps can use all of them.

Using the Applescripts in the Photos for Mac User Tips you can add the full file name, file name without extension or any customized title to that field.

Can I revert back to iPhoto on my mac? I am a new user to Mac so any help is appreciated! Thank you.

It depends on the iPhoto version you have installed. If you have iPhoto 9.6.1 installed, drag the iPhoto icon from the Applications folder back to the Dock. Double-click it to open your iPhoto Library in iPhoto.

But if you did not not update to iPhoto 9.6.1 before the migration it may be too late, because Apple stopped selling iPhoto.

See Barney's User Tip:

Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store

Try repairing the library according to the instructions in this Apple document, Repair Your Library, and try the search again.

Warning: If you use iCloud Photo Library with Photos, this action will cause Photos to upload all your pictures again (from Fix missing or incorrect thumbnails in Photos - Apple Support).

I have recently spoken with an Apple Support person and they confirmed that displaying the Image file name was a feature present in iPhoto, but was lost in the updated Photo. Their suggestion was to send feedback to Apple at http://www.apple.com/feedback. He said this is the most effective way to get results, and the more of us that do this the better the chance we have of seeing this feature back in a future Photo update. This was my feedback to Apple:

"Thank you for the last Photo update... I appreciate some of the improved features that have been made to it. I would however like to note that the absence of the file names appearing underneath the image is sorely missed. I find this information very useful as I receive photos from other sources and it helps me to identify the ownership of the photos. I'm kind of lost without it now.

While the screen may look tidier and friendlier to some, it would be nice to know that this feature could be made available as an option to View (Display Image File Name).

Could I make this as a suggestion for your next update?"

Leonie,

Is there an easy way to take this script to have just the filename exported to TextEdit/Excel for selected images or Album? Im in search of a scripted way to do this: AppleScript Photos App copy filename to textedit or Numbers

This is strictly a user to user forum and Apple is not here - telling us accomplishes NOTHING

YOu can tell Apple - http://www.apple.com/feedback/

My guess is that it is a studied decision and that your choice is to accept it or change applications - but tell them what you think anyway

and remember with the user scripts referenced many times in this thread it is easy to do yourself and since you NEVER directly access the photos within the database knowing the file name is of very limited usefulness in most cases anyway

Script: Changing the Title to the Filename without Extension

Script: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename w/Extension

These scripts are also available from Old Toad's web site complied into applications - http://www.oldtoadstutorials.net/No.P01.html

LN

JML54 wrote:

I've been trying to run it as a Service within Photos, and it fails in that context.

See the follow up I posted regarding automation and scripting additions here: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Where are photo file names?.

tt2

Sorry - didn't read the thread all the way to the bottom. Thanks OLD Toad for the script - I will give it a go.

OldToad,

thanks for this link and post... Great Stuff !!!!

God Bless !