Photos: can't "Show Referenced File in Finder"

Maybe not extremely cumbersome. But still a pain for the way I use the computer which is not "expert" as I mentioned. I used to be able to drag the photo directly to certain photo upload sites and now I can't. What can I say? Spotlight works (until someone takes it away) to find the original file when finder doesn't. On the other hand so does Media Browser, which I had not tried. That is why folks like me come to ask the questions. I didn't think I was not being polite, but there are lots of folks here who are not very. It is annoying to be told that you will destroy something just by copying a file. But then my experience with some "computer" people has been negative so I may be prejudiced. Sorry for mentioning a fix for the original question that does not pass your quality control.

Ellen D. wrote:

It is annoying to be told that you will destroy something just by copying a file.

That isn't quite what has been claimed. Copying a file to some other location should be fine. But it just takes a minor "oops" to move the file out of the library instead of copying it when using Finder windows, & that certainly can mess up the databases & other support files that Photos (& iPhoto before it) depend on to work properly.

I moved from a laptop to an iMac with el capitan installed. This automatically put me into Photos. I use Lightroom and had my iPhoto library linked in Lightroom with no problems on my prior setup. Of course, I discovered that the link is now broken. I read this entire thread in hopes of fixing the problem--assuming everyone here is right, that is not possible. It is clear that Photos is too restrictive for my purposes.

I want to retrieve my entire library. Like others who have posted, I used iPhoto for easy organization only. I'm willing to give this up all together. However, my library is currently hijacked.

If I attempt to uninstall Photos--or whatever equivalent--will it delete all my photos?

(Ideally I would install an older iPhoto version, but if that is not possible, it is more worth it to me to keep my Adobe programs than Photo)

thanks to anyone who can advise.

There is no way to link iPhoto and Lightroom, so you need to explain what you're referring to.

What version of iPhoto do you have?

Deleting Photos app is not possible (or at least not easily) as it is part of the OS. But that does not mean you must use it. For instance, I use Lightroom exclusively.

Importing into Lightroom you can choose to leave a file in its original location. Lightroom will create a thumbnail in the program. However all edits that you make to any picture are just a list of instructions. The original file is not adjusted. When you want to access a file with those edits--for printing/use outside of Lightroom, you 'export' the file which creates a copy to a new folder as assigned.

Not every time you open the program, but every few times, Lightroom will prompt you to test the integrity of Lightroom's library structure. So, for instance, if you use an external drive for some of the library, you would not want to test the integrity without that drive plugged into your computer or it will mark these files as missing. In the photo below you can see my Lightroom library. As you can see here, Lightroom is trying to access my iPhoto Library. It is not able to do so now that Photo has restricted the library, so it shows a "?" to alert to missing files. You can also see here my external drive, shaded to denote it is not currently available.

Generally speaking, my Canon 70D photos are never imported into iPhoto, but kept on my external drive. However, my older library resides in iPhoto/Photo and by default I have imported iPhone pictures into iPhoto/Photo then 'updated' the Lightroom library, which searches for all new additions and adds a link to them here as described above.

thanks

Hello. I am still hoping for a solution for exporting my entire iPhoto/Photo library. (for all the reasons mentioned in previous posts.)

Any help is appreciated.

Again, there is no way to link iPhoto or Photos to Lightroom. What you describe is not linking anything. Neither app is aware of the other and neither app can work with the processed images without them being first exported to the finder and then imported to the other app. What you're doing there is simply using the same file storage for the two applications. They both attempt to manage the same set of files. Given Lightroom's ability to make changes in the Finder you run a very high risk of corrupting the other library.

You can recover images from the iPhoto (and indeed the Photos Library too) simply by exporting them

File -> Export

This User Tip

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921

has details of the options in the Export dialogue. That's the story with iPhoto. Photos is abut 99% the same.

However, as you are referencing the masters from LR, there's no need to. Just remove the Masters using LR. It will trash both of the other Libraries, but you don't want them any more, do you?

I apologize that the vocabulary I use is not what you agree with.

Let's ignore Lightroom altogether.

Thank you very much for pointing to that resource, though I do understand how to export a single photo.

I would like to export the entire 6,000 item library. Can you give any recommendations for that? Or can you point me to another source that understands the features of Photo that might be able to direct me?

I would have duplicated my photo library before upgrading to a new computer had I been aware that Photo would lock my library, but as I cannot go back in time, I'm stuck searching for any other options!

As always, your assistance is greatly appreciated! It is great to talk to someone who really appreciates photography.

I would like to export the entire 6,000 item library. Can you give any recommendations for that?

See my post above, including the link explaining how to export, which applies equally to six thousand photos as it does to one. But also, as you're leaving both iPhoto and Photos for Lightroom, simply migrating the master files with Lightroom is also a possibility, as I also said above. How to do that? Search the LR Help for 'Moving Folders'.

I would like to take a video now in Photos and edit it, in fact using Quicktime 7, another unauthorized Apple program that gave users too much power. Of all the ways Photos lets me "share" that file, I don't see one that will let me edit that file. Sending it to flickr requires me to trim it smaller. Icloud lowers its quality. Why can't I get at it, or even duplicate it (so as not to offend Photos delicate sensibilities) and do what I want with it?

Why can't I get at it, or even duplicate it

Use "File > Export > Export unmodified original ...." , save your video to the Desktop, then edit it.

in fact using Quicktime 7

And Apple is still providing QuickTime 7 on the supports > download page, aft all these years!

I am also glad it is still working.

This is really lame of apple not to allow a way to get to the direct file, what if you want to upload the file to a web site? What if you want to share a video on Youtube? Right now you have to export the file to the desktop then upload from there, very lame!

Perhaps if you learned how to use the app, particularly the Share functions, then you wouldn’t need to export to the desktop. There is no need to export in Photos, nor in iPhoto or Aperture.

That is BS.

There are a many examples where the share function falls just short. Here I'll name some of them:

- Posting to Facebook from inside Photos is pathetic. You have no control over many things. The only way to do this with all the functionality is to share from a browser and for that you need direct access to the files. It was very easy before with iPhoto and with Photos you have to export them.

- Integration with other software is sometimes only possible by having direct access to the pic files. You cannot for example transfer a file from Photos directly to Evernote. You need the files and for that in Photos you need to use the export menu (one step more than in iPhoto where you just showed the original files with 2 clicks).

You need the files and for that in Photos you need to use the export menu (one step more than in iPhoto where you just showed the original files with 2 clicks).

You need the photo to use it in other applications, not the original image file. When you used "Show in in Finder" in iPhoto to pass the file to other applications, you passed the original image file on, not your edited photo with all its adjustments and metadata. Exporting the photo or using the Share menu, or using the Media Browser, are the ways to render a version of the edited photo. In iPhoto, Aperture, Photos the edited photo does not even exist, unless you use one of these ways to request that it will be rendered. It is a "just in time" production of the photos when they are needed.