Level 1

18 points

Reverting to iPhoto after Photos migration

Does anyone know if it is ok to delete the new Photos library from the Pictures folder after you've migrated your iPhoto library to Photos? This is the situation I'm in - I migrated my library to Photos but I HATE it. I am very invested in Events and being able to review each new batch of photos before categorizing them into the appropriate events, and with this new app it's like everything is in a giant shoebox, it seems to include all my Photo Stream pictures in my library before I'm ready (I typically delete a lot of dud pictures every time I import, now they are all mixed in automatically and I have to remember how far back I've gone through and culled), and there's no way to tell which pictures haven't been categorized into an event yet. Worst of all, there's no way to hide photos from all views. Not only are hidden albums/events not even a thing anymore, Photos "conveniently" makes a whole new album of all the pictures I didn't want anyone to see. So now instead of me being the only one who would know where to look for hidden photos/Events in my library when they were unhidden, they're all collected in one place at the top level of my albums view. Why anyone would want an automatic, top-level album of all photos in an entire library that were meant not to be see, I don't know. Seems to defeat the entire privacy/security purpose of the Hide feature. Not to mention, anyone can still see all hidden photos when scrolling through the Albums view.

Long story short, I am RUNNING back to iPhoto for as long as Apple allows it to be used. Now, I know that any changes I make to the iPhoto library won't carry over automatically to Photos. I'm fine with that as I don't intend to use Photos until I'm forced to. However, I know that at some point I will be forced to use it, and at that point its library will be (hopefully) several years out of date. Since Photos creates symbolic links to the photo files, I know I could easily have deleted the iPhoto library when I migrated to Photos, but does that work both ways? I guess my question is, can I delete the Photos library I have now, keep working with my iPhoto library until iPhoto is killed completely, and then re-import the entire library back into Photos? Or do my photo files actually now live in the Photos library package instead of the iPhoto library package and deleting the Photos library will delete all my photos?

Any clarification on my options would be appreciated.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Apr 9, 2015 6:29 PM

480 replies

petermac87

Level 5

7,453 points

Aug 9, 2015 7:44 PM in response to Terrible

Terrible wrote:

Oh you bet your britches it did. Went to open last Barry and received sorry this has been converted to photos and no longer works in iPhoto or something to the effect.

Rubbish. 🙂

Pete

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Aug 9, 2015 7:47 PM in response to Pete Kroner

Pete Kroner wrote:

I Noticed at Barnes and noble that there is not a single book or booklet on Photos just two on iPhoto. This tells me I should stick with my iPhotos app and library. Why not?

Amazing logic - a program that has been around for over ten years has more books in a book store than one that has been out about 3 months

You are certainly a genius and know how to make a great decision

Have a great life

Terrible

Level 1

4 points

Aug 9, 2015 7:49 PM in response to Csound1

1-They usually are. 2-Thanks.

petermac87

Level 5

7,453 points

Aug 9, 2015 7:53 PM in response to Terrible

Glad you finally understand.

Happy Computing

Pete

Aug 10, 2015 12:17 AM in response to petermac87

petermac87 wrote:

It would not have converted automatically without you clicking OK. 😉

The Photos app was inserted and made to take over the photo import process from iPhoto without any clear "Ok" when an update happened. One day iPhoto was doing the task. The next Photos had taken it over, without explanation.

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,972 points

Aug 10, 2015 12:31 AM in response to Pete Kroner

I Noticed at Barnes and noble that there is not a single book or booklet on Photos just two on iPhoto. This tells me I should stick with my iPhotos app and library.

I would think that's more a reflection of the fact that iPhoto has been in existence for nearly 15 years and Photos for about 15 weeks. So I wouldn't base any big decisions on that. iPhoto continues to run and from reports I'm seeing online, runs in the beta for 10.11 too. But at some point in the future it's likely that it will not run on some version of the OS or other. That means you will then have a choice of migrating at that point or freezing your system and not updating. The latter idea will in turn be limited by the longevity of your hardware. Bluntly, at some point in the future you will find that migration is necessary.

Aug 10, 2015 12:35 AM in response to Csound1

Csound1 wrote:

The iPhoto library is not changed, or deleted. You can continue to use iPhoto as ever, no 'reversal' required.

After an update performed by the AppStore Photos had replaced iPhoto as the application that started automatically when a camera card was inserted, and become the application to which Mail exported photos. That makes it rather difficult to continue using iPhoto without performing quite a bit of reversal.

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,972 points

Aug 10, 2015 12:47 AM in response to Lazy Leopard

Sure. Quitting one app and launching another is so difficult.

petermac87

Level 5

7,453 points

Aug 10, 2015 1:40 AM in response to Lazy Leopard

Lazy Leopard wrote:

One day iPhoto was doing the task. The next Photos had taken it over, without explanation.

Without explanation? Do you ever read release notes before agreeing to downloading AND installing updates? Or do you just click agree and hope nothing changes. Photos was advertised many many months before being implemented in the latest update. Your failure to read is your own fault.

Cheers

Pete

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Aug 10, 2015 7:11 AM in response to Lazy Leopard

Lazy Leopard wrote:

petermac87 wrote:

It would not have converted automatically without you clicking OK. 😉

The Photos app was inserted and made to take over the photo import process from iPhoto without any clear "Ok" when an update happened. One day iPhoto was doing the task. The next Photos had taken it over, without explanation.

So why don't you switch it back?

And what does that have to do with 'converting' the library (hint: there is no conversion, the library stays the same)

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Aug 10, 2015 7:18 AM in response to Yer_Man

Terence Devlin wrote:

Sure. Quitting one app and launching another is so difficult.

That's what I would have thought, but it seems maybe not. 😮

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Aug 10, 2015 10:17 AM in response to Yer_Man

Terence Devlin wrote:

Sure. Quitting one app and launching another is so difficult.

Unless you are self proclaimed "Lazy" - sound like they made an excellent choice of names

E Sheard

Level 1

4 points

Aug 11, 2015 11:18 AM in response to cat320

You could also import into Photos with the "Delete items after import" check box UNCHECKED. Then after importing into Photos open iPhotos and import. Then when asked "Delete Photo on Your iPhone?" click the appropriate button.

First Import into Photos

Second Import into iPhotos

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,972 points

Aug 11, 2015 12:26 PM in response to E Sheard

What, apart from corrupting the Photos library, would that achieve?

simonj_1

Level 1

0 points

Aug 19, 2015 8:38 AM in response to mystwillow

I just imported my migrated Photos library back into iPhoto.

And now I have my library back in iPhoto.

Does that solve your issue?

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Reverting to iPhoto after Photos migration