DELETING RAW FILES IN PHOTOS OS X

Thank you for your response. But I am looking for an answer as to how to deal with RAW + JPEG in the PHOTOS APP. I know I can download both photos to a hard drive and then just import the JPEG ones to PHOTOS, but I have a lot of RAW images in PHOTOS NOW (that were migrated over from iPhotos) that I can't delete without deleting BOTH images. This is where my problem is. I would like to get the RAW photos OUT of the PHOTOS APP without deleting the JPEG image as well. If you know how to do that, I would really appreciate it.

And there is no way

As has been posted in this thread a few times you can export the photos RAW photos with their JPEG match, delete them in Photos, use the finder to separate them and import the JPEGs back - this loses history

There is no way to delete the RAWs from Photos

The Photos Library file is a package, and it's possible to right-click and Open Package and peek inside. Inside the Masters folder you will see a date-stamped folder tree, and if you navigate down you'll find your RAW and JPEG files sitting there.

HOWEVER, I wouldn't recommend messing with it.

I tried deleting a RAW file (in my case, .ARW from a Sony camera) using the Finder, while leaving the JPG file in place.

Although Photos kept working normally, it never realized the RAW file was gone.

I even tried re-building the library (launch Photos.app while holding Command + Option keys) and it still didn't realize the RAW file was missing.

In a few cases I was able to crash Photos (for example, File / Export Unmodified... will crash the app if you manually deleted the RAW file).

That is correct - there is a very simple and very firm rule - Never make any change to the structure or content of the Photos library using the finder or any other outside program - it is an SQLite database and changes can only be made the the database application (PHotos)

LN

I did a variation on the rule which avoids messing with any photos that I've edited - it will keep the RAW photos if they've been edited. All non-edited RAWs are deleted. This made sense for me, since if I've manually edited a photo, I probably want the highest quality RAW source to remain.

How to clean up the ginormous RAW files from Photos.app by exporting, deleting, then re-importing.

Notes:

1. This example made use of the fact that only one of my cameras was shooting RAW. You may need a different rule-set!

2. I've never shot in RAW only mode - if you have, these rules won't work for you.

Do a Time Machine backup first.

Yeah, crusader14...that's a bug in Photos...one of dozens I've reported since this half-baked product was prematurely born. Some I've reported have been fixed, this one has not yet been addressed.

When you create a smart album to show "Photo -> Is -> RAW" (as was wisely suggested), the ONLY photos that will show up in the Smart Album are RAW photos for which you have gone into Edit mode and selected "Use RAW as Original," which of course makes it pretty useless.

Try it yourself...create the Smart Album, look at what's in it (and note how many photos show up), then go into Edit for a single RAW+JPEG photo, swap the "Use RAW/JPEG as Original" and check your Smart Album again. Exactly that one photo will have changed in the SA.

I know this doesn't answer the question of "how to delete only the RAW [or JPEG] version" of a photo (for which I have found no answer, but had previously submitted to apple.com/feedback as a bug), but at least now you know why all your RAW photos don't show up in the Smart Album.

Craig

Has anyone found a solution to deleting RAW IMAGES that are ALREADY in PHOTOS?

They are coupled with the .jpeg photos so when you separate the RAW from the .jpeg (through creating a new smart album) and then try to just delete RAW, both versions get deleted (i.e the entire photo is deleted).

Photos can now read sidecar files with metadata (on Sierra). My method to delete the RAW files from the pair is to

• export both the RAW and the JPEG with File > Export > Export unmodified original and make sure that the option "Write IPTC as XMP" is checked. This will write three files, the RAW, The JPEG, and the sidecar file with the metadata (locations, titles, keywords, descriptions).
• If the JPEG version has adjustment, I lift the adjustment from the JPEG in Edit mode with ⇧⌘C.
• Then I delete the photo from Photos and empty "recently deleted". The image has to vanish from Photos and iCloud completely before reimporting.
• Now I move the exported RAW file to a backup folder, just in case I want them later.
• Then import the JPEG with the sidecar file with File > Import. The sidecar file will not highlight in the Import panel, but photos will read it, if it is in the same folder with the same filename as the JPEG.
• Then I paste the adjustments onto the JPEG in Edit Mode with ⇧⌘V.

The JPEg will be the nearly same as before - the same metadata, all adjustments that have been applied before.

If you do not need to save adjustments as well, you can use the export and reimport method for many photos at once.

Nice workaround, leonie, to save the metadata when doing the export/re-import. It's obviously not ideal, but I'm afraid it's the best option we have until Apple fixes this significant oversight.

Thanks for sharing!

Craig

Thanks for coming up with this. Not ideal but workable!!!

You're welcome 🙂

Hi gvocca,

Unfortunately, the way Smart Albums work is that it (stupidly) only counts a photo as RAW if "Use RAW as original" has been set for the photo, which is done by going into edit mode and selecting that option under the "Image" menu. This status is indicated by the little square box in the upper right of the thumbnail photo having an "R" instead of a "J".

If it's set as a "J" (ie. "Use JPEG as original") then the Smart Album stupidly won't show the RAW version in its results, despite a RAW version existing. To prove it to yourself, just create a "show all my RAW photos" Smart Album, then go to one of your RAW+JPEG photos and toggle it back and forth using the "Use XXX as Original", and you'll see it appear and disappear from the Smart Album.

I reported this as a bug to Apple over 6 months ago, and as of today it still has not been fixed, as with many other bugs and shortcomings I've reported about Photos.

I strongly encourage other people to go to apple.com/feedback and report this and any other Photos bugs you find (such as the fact that there's no way to delete *only* the RAW or JPEG version of a photo). If enough people complain, perhaps we can finally get some action on them.

Thanks,

Craig

I strongly encourage other people to go to apple.com/feedback and report this and any other Photos bugs you find (such as the fact that there's no way to delete *only* the RAW or JPEG version of a photo). If enough people complain, perhaps we can finally get some action on them.

It has been this way even in Apple's professional application Aperture. 😠 And none of the many feedbacks sent by Aperture users made Apple reconsider and provide better tools to manage RAW&JPEG pairs. There is no way to split a RAW&JPEG pair. Either import only the JPEGs, and keep the RAWS stored separately outside the library on a separate drive, until they are needed, or keep both in the library. I duplicate my RAW&JPEG pairs, so I can set copy to the RAW as the original and one copy to the JPEG. This way they will be found in searches.

I never respond... brilliant and simple. I should have thought of this but sometimes you just don't go back to the basics. Got it the first time I used it and have tried a number of ways to search for RAW files.

I wasn't sure if I had a JPEG version so I exported a copy before I deleted the RAW file.

I wish all answers were so on point.