If I delete a folder in Albums, does it delete all images?

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Level 1

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If I delete a folder in Albums, does it delete all images?

Hello-

I'm new to Photos and have a basic question.

I have a bunch of folders (I brought over from Aperture) in my iPhoto Events folder (under Albums in the left side navigation), and folders within folders.

For example,

> iPhoto Events folder

>> Bob's stuff folder

>>> Sports Pictures folder

I was wondering, if I delete the 'Sports Pictures' folder, does Photos:

- delete just the Sports Pictures folder, but keeps all of the images (and I could still find them within Albums->All Photos)

- delete the Sports Pictures folder and all of the images that are ONLY contained in the Sports Pictures folder

- delete the Sports Pictures folder and all of the images that are contained in any folder (I think the same image can be held in multiple folders, though I'm not sure if in that case the application is making copies of the file, or if they are just pointers?)

Thank you!

Photos-OTHER, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Dec 9, 2015 4:59 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Old Toad

Level 10

207,158 points

Dec 10, 2015 3:34 PM in response to timsj

Deleting Photos from a Photos 1.2 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.

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.

NOTE: deleting a photo from an album, slideshow, book, etc., with only the Delete key only deletes that photo from that item. Deleting a photo from a Moment or Collection deletes ALL occurences of that photo in the library.

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Answer 2

Mar 12, 2017 6:27 AM in response to timsj

I have the same question. You asked directly all the different scenarios but Apple didn't answer your question directly! Did you ever find out the answer?

I want to know if I move photos to folders can I delete the original (kind of the opposite of what you were asking).

Either way Apple just explained how to delete which you obviously knew how to do and had nothing to do with what your asking.

Please respond if you find out the answers. I also have folders to delete and wonder if that deletes all of those photos from your library completely..

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,320 points

Mar 12, 2017 6:56 AM in response to HonestAnna

but Apple didn't answer your question directly! Did you ever find out the answer?

Apple does not answer here HonestAnna. We are all users here like you and trying to answer each others questions.

I want to know if I move photos to folders can I delete the original (kind of the opposite of what you were asking).

I am not quite sure about what you want to achieve. Folders in Photos can only hold albums. You can add photos to album and remove photos from albums, but albums are only grouping the photos in the library, They are referencing the photos in the library, and if you delete a photo from the library, for example from the Moments, the photo will automatically be removed from all albums the photo has been added to. Photos is storing each photo only once, indecent of how many albums you add it to.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

194,320 points

Dec 9, 2015 9:33 PM in response to timsj

If you delete a folder, the albums inside this folder will also be deleted. Trying to delete a folder you will see this warning:

But the photos used in the albums will remain in your Photos library and still be visible in the Moments and the All Photos album.

Like in Aperture, the albums and smart albums are using the photos from the library, but a photo can be used in many albums, and removing it from an album does not delete it from the library.

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Answer 5

timsj Author

Level 1

13 points

Dec 10, 2015 12:21 PM in response to léonie

Thanks as always 😉

So in order to completely delete an image from my Photos (or Aperture) Library, how do I do that?

Can that only be done by deleting the image from within the 'All Photos' Album? Or somewhere else?

I'm assuming that deleting an image from 'All Photos' will in turn delete if from the Folders/Albums in which it is contained?

If it matters, as of right now I am NOT using iCloud Photo Library, but I am trying to get to that point (but won't be for a while).

First I have to split my existing massive library into 2 smaller libraries, and I would use iCloud Photo Library for a smaller one.

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Answer 6

timsj Author

Level 1

13 points

Dec 10, 2015 12:51 PM in response to timsj

Oops...I should have said (it seems I can't edit the above post), that do I delete the image from the 'Photos' folder (I guess it is a folder?) in the left hand navigation? (instead of the All Photos album within the Albums section)

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Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

194,320 points

Dec 11, 2015 5:07 AM in response to timsj

So in order to completely delete an image from my Photos (or Aperture) Library, how do I do that?

Can that only be done by deleting the image from within the 'All Photos' Album? Or somewhere else?

Old Toad explained that beautifully. select a photo anywhere and press ⌘⌫ (command-delete) to delete the photo from the library.

I'm assuming that deleting an image from 'All Photos' will in turn delete if from the Folders/Albums in which it is contained?

If you delete a photo from the library it will be removed from all albums and projects as well. It will be moved to the Recently Deleted album.

First I have to split my existing massive library into 2 smaller libraries, and I would use iCloud Photo Library for a smaller one.

That is a good plan.

Just keep a copy of your library as a backup before you start a massive delete, just in case something goes wrong, like one wrong click.

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Answer 8

timsj Author

Level 1

13 points

Dec 28, 2015 11:39 PM in response to Old Toad

Very helpful.

One I am still stuck on...

So my goal is to split up my current library into 2 smaller libraries.

I have a lot of folders with albums contained within them (the albums contain a mix of photos from different years, locations, etc.).

So...

If I want to delete about half of the albums *AND* the photos that are within them (delete them from the Photos Library) quickly, is there any way to do this?

I think what I need to do is copy my Photo Library (done), and then for each Library, delete about half the photos - so one library has 1/2 the photos, and the other library has the other 1/2.

The only way I can figure out is to drill down into each album one-by-one, select all photos, do a command-delete (as mentioned by Old Toad), and then later delete the photos from the Recently Deleted folder. I can do this, it will just take a really really long time to do this for all pictures in each album.

I was expecting to be able to select either a folder (with a bunch of albums in it) or album(s) and then do a command-delete at that level, which would then delete all the photos contained within them. But that doesn't seem to work. Is that correct?

Thank you!

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Answer 9

léonie

Level 10

194,320 points

Dec 29, 2015 12:29 AM in response to timsj

Why do you want to split the library? Does it no longer fit onto the system drive? In that case it would be better to move the library to an external drive as it is and work from there, preserving the album structure you are having now. If you split a library with albums that are spanning several years you will lose a lot of your work.

And it is really difficult to split the library safely when starting from albums with photos that might be in several albums. when splitting a library,it is safer to start from items, where you can be sure that a photo is contained only in one item.

For example, split the library according to the years - one library with all photos older then 2010 and one library with the newer photos.

Or assign a keyword "Library-1" to all photos from the albums and folders you want in "Library-1". Create two smart albums: One album with "Keyword is Library-1" and one smart album with keyword is not Library-1.

Then duplicate the library. From one library delete the photos in the first smart album, from the other library the photos in the second smart album. This way you can be sure, that every photo will remain in exactly one of your libraries.

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Answer 10

timsj Author

Level 1

13 points

Dec 29, 2015 5:29 PM in response to léonie

As of today, all of my photos are only in 1 album apiece (how I maintained them in Aperture previously).

I am looking to split the library as I am going to start using iCloud to share photos (I have quite a few), but I don't want to upload all of my photos, as I only want to put about 50% in the Cloud where it will be shared with others (the other 50% of the photos I don't use as often, and I don't want to pay the additional $ for the storage - I have other backup solutions I am using). In addition, I would like to have the photos I use most often on my laptop, which is almost out of space. Breaking up the Library into 2 Libraries will allow me to keep my main Library on my laptop where I can always access and edit (and this Library will include a mix of new photos and very old photos), and the rest on an external drive.

By copying the single Library I have today and then editing each separately (what I am thinking I will have to do), I will then maintain the album structure that I have today on each of the 2 libraries.

Then going forward, all new Photos will be put into my main Library that resides on my laptop (and iCloud).

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Answer 11

léonie

Level 10

194,320 points

Dec 30, 2015 2:20 AM in response to timsj

That is a good plan. I did something similar to share my former Aperture Library in iCloud.

But I did not split the library, but copied the main Photos Library to my media drive and tested it there. This Library will be the archive for all photos, and always show all my photos. Then I simply pruned the library on the internal drive by deleting most of the older photos that were not marked as keepers (five stars, a favorite heart, or an important keyword).

I searched with a smart album:

This preserved all my older Aperture albums with my most important photos in them.

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Answer 12

Dec 28, 2016 11:36 AM in response to Old Toad

What is the difference between a Moment or Collection and albums? I don't want to lose my photos from their albums that I created. But some are set to delete in 29 days from Recently Deleted and I don't want them to permanently delete from ALL MY created Smart Albums. Help!

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Answer 13

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Dec 28, 2016 12:17 PM in response to Joanna5404

Moments and collections are two different levels of views under photos

Albums are totally different and are used to add your personal organization to your photos - they are not copies but are just a way to view photos - a photo can be in any number of albums as not take any additional space with there are no copies

Any photos deleted from the photos library will go to recently deleted where is will sit for 30 days and then be totally deleted from the library so it will not be anywhere in Photos - again albums are not a place, they are a view so when the a photos is deleted from the library is is gone everywhere, all albums, all smart albums, Photos, All Photos etc

Although you give very little information it sounds like you are deleting photos from the library that you want from the library - if that is the case then you need to go to the recently deleted album and recover them before they are totally gone

LN

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