tomturnerporcelain

Q: photo comments missing after photo import from iphoto library

I use iphoto extensively for my business and I recently upgraded my operating system to El Capitan and found that it no longer worked.  There was a note that directed me to download the latest version from the app store and when I did that it said that there was no download available.

 

So I tried to switch to Photos.  I started Photos and it prompted me to import from my iphoto library which is about 70 gigabytes.  The import ran for a long time and all of the pictures now show up in Photos, but there is a problem.

 

Prior to the upgrade, when I downloaded photos into iPhoto, they went to a group and were dated and arranged accordingly. But I would add notes and/or descriptions so that when I entered a search for specific photographs, they would come up and I didn’t need the dates. Apparently when the photos were imported  back into the new program they are only listed by dates and the descriptions are gone. Do you know if they are hiding, or if we can find them? Otherwise I have no clue where early photos are and I will have to visually go through the 22,000 photos.

 

Alternatively, is there a way to switch back to iphoto for El Capitan?

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Feb 11, 2016 6:29 AM

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Q: photo comments missing after photo import from iphoto library

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  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Feb 11, 2016 6:48 AM in response to tomturnerporcelain
    Level 10 (107,891 points)
    iCloud
    Feb 11, 2016 6:48 AM in response to tomturnerporcelain
    There was a note that directed me to download the latest version from the app store and when I did that it said that there was no download available.

    apple is no longer selling iPhoto, so the update tab of the AppStore does no longer work.  You can only update by reinstalling, see Barney's User Tip:  :     Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store)

     

    Apparently when the photos were imported  back into the new program they are only listed by dates and the descriptions are gone.

    Did you enter the descriptions for the events?  If you open the sidebar with the albums, (enter the key combination ⌥⌘S  - option-command-S), you will see a folder iPhoto Events.  It will have an album for each of your events.

    Also see:   How Photos handles content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture - Apple Support

     

    If you entered titles and captions for individual photos, you will see them in the Info panel for each photo. The titles can also be displayed below the thumbnails,  if you enable this in the View menu > Metadata.

  • by tomturnerporcelain,

    tomturnerporcelain tomturnerporcelain Feb 11, 2016 8:24 AM in response to tomturnerporcelain
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 11, 2016 8:24 AM in response to tomturnerporcelain

    Thank you, this helped me get the sidebar back, but not the descriptions on each photo group download.I used to download photos and they would have the date, but then I could add a description to that group for future retrieval. But now it is not allowing me to add to the date. What am I missing? Thank you.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Feb 11, 2016 9:38 AM in response to tomturnerporcelain
    Level 10 (107,891 points)
    iCloud
    Feb 11, 2016 9:38 AM in response to tomturnerporcelain
    But now it is not allowing me to add to the date. What am I missing? Thank you.

    The moments are labeled automatically, and you cannot change it.  You can select all photos at once, that you want to group and enter ⌘N to create a new album. Then put the relevant information into the name of the album.

     

    If you need the information that has been added to your events in iPhoto, you could open your iPhoto Library again in iPhoto and use batch change to appenthe information to the caption of all photos. Then each individual photo in the group will carry this information.  And then migrate the iPhoto Library again. that would require to update your iPhoto version to iPhoto 9.6.1.