Chris Turtle
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: How to delete photos from Photos?

I am having difficulty deleting photos from the app 'Photos' (bad name by the way).  I need to permanently delete some of my photos in order to free up space on my hard drive.  Here's what I have done so far.

 

  • I have selected and deleted the photos
  • I have gone to the 'Recently Deleted' folder and selected all and clicked 'Delete All'
  • The folder is now empty and the photos are nowhere to be seen the Photos app
  • I have emptied the trash on my desktop, even though the photos weren't in there
  • I have closed the Photos app and restarted my computer
  • I have already, previously, deleted my old iPhotos library (so the photos can't be hiding there

 

Problem is that I still have not freed any space up.  My hard drive is almost completely full and I just deleted over 2,000 photos!  Where do I look for them?  What do I try next?  I really need the disk space and this is getting sort of ridiculous.

 

Thanks for any help with this matter.

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), Photos app

Posted on Sep 7, 2015 3:25 PM

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Chris Turtle

Q: How to delete photos from Photos?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Chris Turtle,

    Chris Turtle Chris Turtle Sep 7, 2015 3:32 PM in response to Chris Turtle
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 7, 2015 3:32 PM in response to Chris Turtle

    The photos were deleted from the 'All Photos' album in the Photos app

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 7, 2015 7:17 PM in response to Chris Turtle
    Level 10 (85,673 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 7, 2015 7:17 PM in response to Chris Turtle

    Using the finder how much free space do you have (select your HD and get info)

     

    LN

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Sep 8, 2015 9:55 AM in response to Chris Turtle
    Level 10 (141,679 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 8, 2015 9:55 AM in response to Chris Turtle

    Try reindexing the drive: Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes - Apple Support

    OTsig.png

  • by sherri from yuba city,

    sherri from yuba city sherri from yuba city Mar 27, 2016 2:39 PM in response to Chris Turtle
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iLife
    Mar 27, 2016 2:39 PM in response to Chris Turtle

    Chris, I have the same issue and am banging my head against the wall. Two questions:

     

    1. When you deleted your photos from Photos (yes, a bad name), did you delete albums or delete from the Photos tab? I've been deleting albums for the past two years thinking I was getting rid of my pics permanently only to find they are still there today. ;-(

    2. Did you ever find a solution? I have all my pics backed up on external drives and need them off my computer.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Mar 27, 2016 3:10 PM in response to sherri from yuba city
    Level 10 (85,673 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Mar 27, 2016 3:10 PM in response to sherri from yuba city

    1 - Read the post

     

    The photos were deleted from the 'All Photos' album in the Photos app

    selecting a photo in a user album and pressing the delete key simply removes the photo from the album exactly the same as it does in iPhoto - nothing has changed since the very first version of iPhoto

     

    To delete photos while in an album hold down  the command key and press the delete key

     

     

    2 - If you are planning on having a single copy on an external drive then you have no backup and sooner or later you will lose those photos - a backup is a second copy on a different drive

     

    LN

  • by sherri from yuba city,

    sherri from yuba city sherri from yuba city Mar 27, 2016 3:42 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iLife
    Mar 27, 2016 3:42 PM in response to LarryHN

    I actually have them backed up on two separate external hard drives.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Mar 29, 2016 8:21 AM in response to sherri from yuba city
    Level 10 (141,679 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Mar 29, 2016 8:21 AM in response to sherri from yuba city

    Deleting Photos from a Photos 1.5 Library

     

    1 - regardless of where you are in the library, i.e. Moments, Collections, albums, smart albums or projects, select the photo(s) you want to delete and use the key combination of Command+Delete to move the photos to the Recently Deleted smart album.

     

    2 - click on the Recently Deleted smart albums in the sidebar.

     

    Photos001.jpg

    NOTE 1:  If you're using Photos 1.2 or earlier use the File ➙ Show Recently Deleted menu option.

     

    3 - in the Recently Deleted album you can opt to let the photo automatically delete after the 30 day waiting period is up, delete them immediately or restore them to the library.

     

    Photos002.jpg

     

    NOTE 2: deleting a photo from an album, slideshow, book, etc., with the Delete key only deletes the photo from that item.  There is no key combination that will delete a photo from a project and move it directly to the Recently Deleted smart album.

     

    NOTE 3: Deleting a photo from a Moment or Collection (the Photos window) or the All Photos window deletes ALL occurences of that photo in the library.