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Batch change in Photos?

Seems like Apple has gotten rid of the "batch change" feature from iPhoto when moving to Photos. I liked using the "batch change" feature to change the "description" for several photos at once. Does anyone know how this can be accomplished in the new Photos app (which doesn't include pasting a sentence 200 times)...


Thanks for your response!

Posted on Apr 12, 2015 4:37 PM

Reply
90 replies

Oct 2, 2015 11:42 AM in response to whitesalmon133

Howdy (again) whitesalmon


keyword = 'definitely'


definitely send feedback - assertive, civil & clearly written feedback is the only way that the Photos development team can make a prioritized "punch list" of things to be fixed & added to what is really "New software" - Photos is not a version upgrade from iPhoto


Certainly have at it as often as you see fit. It will do more good providing feedback than posting here - doesn't feel as good though, does it?


buenos tardes

ÇÇÇ


PS: at least it is not a mystery like your Mail window tint 🙂

Nov 6, 2015 2:14 PM in response to Old Toad

Hello, and I apologize up front if I'm going about this post incorrectly. Today I sent Apple feedback re Photos and what I think is a common user issue. What I am dealing with is this:


After a trip I often have photos from my Nikon, Canon, my and my wife's iPhone 6s, etc. Once downloaded on to my iMac (OS 10.10.5) I create groups of photos in folders, e.g. a moment called Istanbul or Zagreb, etc. In iPhoto I used to be able to place the pictures in the desired order and then by changing date and time and finally rename/renumbering them --- they stayed in the new order. With the batch change feature gone I can't do that anymore.


Anyway, perhaps you can point me in the right direction to accomplish the following:


1 - import pictures from more than one camera/device

2 - create a moment and fill with related pictures

3 - order those pictures so they tell a story (typically one or more of the cameras are set to the wrong time zone so the metadata does not match to sort by date and time)

4 - keep the new order so that when the group is moved to a thumb drive to share with friends it can be presented properly


Thanks!

Nov 7, 2015 11:28 AM in response to Jeff92677

1 - import pictures from more than one camera/device

Connect each device to the Mac via its USB cable and import into Photos.

2 - create a moment and fill with related pictures

You can't. Moments are based on date taken. However, you can create an album with selected photos.

Moments in Photos are the new Events, i.e. groupings of photos sorted by date taken.


When the iPhoto Library was first migrated to Photos there is a folder created in the sidebar titled iPhoto Events and all migrated iPhoto Events (which are now Moments) are represented by an album in that folder. To open the sidebar if it's not already open use the Option+Command+S key combination.


NOTE: It's been reported by several users that if the Event albums are moved out of the iPhoto Library folder in the sidebar they may disappear. It's not widespread but several users have reported that issue. Therefore, if you want to assure that you keep those Event albums don't move them outside the iPhoto Events folder.


There's a way to simulate events in Photos.

When new photos are imported into the Photos library go to the Last Import smart album, select all the photos and use the File New Album menu option or use the key combination Command+N. Name it as desired. It will appear just above the iPhoto Events folder where you can drag it into the iPhoto Events folder


When you click on the iPhoto Events folder you'll get a simulated iPhoto Events window.

Albums and smart albums can be sorted by Title, by Date with oldest first and by Date with newest first.


3 - order those pictures so they tell a story (typically one or more of the cameras are set to the wrong time zone so the metadata does not match to sort by date and time)

In an album you can sort them manually to fit the order you need. You could try resetting the time zone for the photos to the zone you want so all would be the same via the Image ➙ Adjust Date & Time menu option:

User uploaded file


User uploaded file

4 - keep the new order so that when the group is moved to a thumb drive to share with friends it can be presented properly

The Finder only sorts them by file name so what you can do is: 1 - give the album a short name to identify the images like Vacation-2015; 2 - export the photos to a folder on the Desktop the the option File Name is Album with Number:

User uploaded file

This will give you files names Vacation-2015-001, Vacation-2015-002, etc. These files will remain in that order on the thumb drive.

Nov 10, 2015 9:49 AM in response to jwshack

Found this post because I was upset I couldn't find the batch change option as well. And I'm not running a script to do it. But I think I just figured something out, but it seems kind of obvious so maybe it's not what everyone else is talking about. If you select a bunch of photos and right click and go to Get Info you can add a title and descriptions there. Seems to work for what I need.

Nov 10, 2015 10:27 AM in response to tepperleen

tepperleen wrote:


Found this post because I was upset I couldn't find the batch change option as well. And I'm not running a script to do it. But I think I just figured something out, but it seems kind of obvious so maybe it's not what everyone else is talking about. If you select a bunch of photos and right click and go to Get Info you can add a title and descriptions there. Seems to work for what I need.

You are right, batch changing is now possible. This discussion started in April, and the first version of Photos in Yosemite did not support batch changing at all, so we had to resort to desperate measures and write Apple Scripts. But now, in Photos in El Capitan, we can replace the titles and descriptions of multiple selected photos in the Info panel, finally.

It is still not possible to append a running number to the changed title or replace the title by the filename. Batch changing has a long way to go.

Dec 19, 2015 12:18 AM in response to Oriol LLena

You can copy and paste adjustments between photo, but only in Edit modes.

  • Select all photos you want to adjust in the same way in an album.
  • Adjust the first photo in the album as you like it, and while still in Edit mode copy the adjustment to the paste board by pressing ⇧⌘C for "Image > Copy Adjustment",
  • Stay in Edit mode and use the arrow keys to step to the next phoot in the album. Paste the adjustments o he next photo with ⇧⌘V-


By stepping the photos in Edit mode with the arrow keys you can paste the adjustment quickly, but it is not possible to select more than one photo at once, because we have to be in edit mode.

Jan 4, 2016 8:43 AM in response to léonie

Thanks a lot, I just discovered the original script and am grateful. I'm still in Yosemite and not ready to switch this week.

I tried to add a feature to your original workaround AppleScript but don't know enough syntax or commands to succeed:

How could one express this in AppleScript language:

insert newDescription after the existing text in the description?


I imagine the adjustment would go in this part of the script, but I don't know the syntax (copy? get?).


tell im

set the description to newDescription

end tell

Jan 27, 2016 6:42 AM in response to léonie

I had the problem, that I needed to APPEND and NOT REPLACE the description of the photos. This is possible with a slight modification of the AppleScript:


on run {input, parameters}

-- batch change, append the description to the input

tell application "Photos"

activate

set imageSel to (get selection)

if imageSel is {} then

error "Please select some images."

else

repeat with im in imageSel

set desc to the description of im

tell im

if not (exists (desc)) then

set the description to input

else

set the description to the description & " " & input

end if

end tell

end repeat

end if

end tell

end run

Hope this helps everyone missing the iPhoto Batch Append functionality for changing/appending to the description.

Batch change in Photos?

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