HT204478: How Photos handles content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture

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esryce

Q: How do i sort photos

How do I sort my pictures for oldest to newest. 

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jan 8, 2016 2:36 PM

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Q: How do i sort photos

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  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jan 8, 2016 4:43 PM in response to esryce
    Level 10 (140,881 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jan 8, 2016 4:43 PM in response to esryce

    What version of Photos are you using? 

     

    With Photos 1.2 and later you can sort photos within an album or smart album by one of these with the View ➙ Sort menu:  

    Photos001.jpg

     

    In the Moments (Photos) view the photos are sorted by date taken with the oldest first or at the top of the window.  With the All Photos window they are sorted by date added to the library with the oldest photos at the top of the window.

     

    In Photos 1.1 and 1.0 the only sort order available was by date with the oldest first.

    OTsig.png

  • by Lorraine Martinez,

    Lorraine Martinez Lorraine Martinez Jan 10, 2016 8:22 PM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Jan 10, 2016 8:22 PM in response to Old Toad

    I have the same question: I'm using Photos 1.3 on a MBA running El Capitan (10.11.2), and the only choice I am given in the View-->Sort menu is "Keep Sorted By Oldest First" which is checked and dithered, so I can't even uncheck it.

    Screenshot 2016-01-10 22.19.00.png

    The problem I am having is that I recently went through my photo collection and deleted a lot of duplicates and unwanted shots, and edited quite a few. Now it seems that those I edited or manipulated got resorted somehow as though they were taken more recently, so my Library is no longer consistently sorted from oldest to newest, nor can I see any way to change the sort order.

     

    Is there something I need to be doing that I'm not?

  • by Bruce W,

    Bruce W Bruce W Jan 11, 2016 1:44 AM in response to Lorraine Martinez
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Jan 11, 2016 1:44 AM in response to Lorraine Martinez

    I'm facing the same issue. I would like to have my newest photos at the top. Seems strange that there is not an option for this.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jan 11, 2016 1:47 AM in response to Lorraine Martinez
    Level 10 (105,249 points)
    iLife
    Jan 11, 2016 1:47 AM in response to Lorraine Martinez

    It depends on the library items you are viewing, which sorting items are available.  The predefined items, like the "All Photos Album" cannot be arranged differnetly. The "All Photos" album will always be sorted by the date you imported the photos, oldest first.  And the Moments, Collections, Years will always be sorted by the capture date, oldest first.

     

    But you can sort any other album descending by date.  Create your own custom album as as smart album "My All Photos" and sort it descending.

         File > New Smart Album

    and use the rules:

    Screen Shot 2015-12-31 at 19.51.02GM.png

    Then ctrl-click the smart album in the sidebar and sort  it like you want:

    Screen Shot 2015-12-31 at 19.52.56GMT.png

     

    These sorting options are available in Photos on MacOS X 10.11. El Capitan, but not in Yosemite.

     

     

    The problem I am having is that I recently went through my photo collection and deleted a lot of duplicates and unwanted shots, and edited quite a few. Now it seems that those I edited or manipulated got resorted somehow as though they were taken more recently,

    How did you edit the photos? In an external editor? If the editor you used did not preserve the capture date, adjust the dates of the photos in question using he command "Image > Adjust Date and Time".

  • by Lorraine Martinez,Solvedanswer

    Lorraine Martinez Lorraine Martinez Jan 11, 2016 7:14 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Jan 11, 2016 7:14 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks, léonie, that'll work, although it's not ideal--Photos should offer more options for sorting, without having to resort to workarounds.

    As for editing, I used SnapSelect to weed out duplicates and similar photos--which worked very well, BTW--but did all my editing in Photos. I don't think the dates were changed (I did look for that, at least on some of the photos), but I'll go back and check again.

     

    Thanks again for your help!