New Macbook want Pictures not Photos

Question

New Macbook want Pictures not Photos

Hi - I have a brand new Macbook Pro and I want to import all my travel photos for easy reference.

However in my last laptop I only used Pictures - and had separate folders inside the Pictures section.

I have never used iPhoto and am not keen to try and learn something completely different.

I then used Picasa for editing.

Should I just delete Photos and then import to Pictures instead so I can begin installing them and editing them in my usual way?

What is the best way to go about deleting Photos folder/section so that it doesn't predict that is where your photos should go and allows them to go into the Pictures folders.

Thanks

MacBook Pro

Posted on Apr 1, 2016 10:18 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 1, 2016 10:55 AM in response to Vicki Johnston

iPhoto has been replaced by the Photos application and I would suggest you give it a go as it is very easy to use. This would be a good idea since Google are retiring Picasa, so you will have to change eventually.

You can use the Image capture Application, included with OS X, to import you photos to the location you desire (Pictures folder). It is also possible, from within Image Capture, to set it so the connected device (e.g. SD card slot) does not use Photos (or iPhoto) to import images. It is also possible to set Photos or iPhoto not to import the images to the library.

There is no need to delete iPhoto or Photos.

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Answer 2

Apr 1, 2016 11:13 AM in response to xxMikeBxx

Oh thank you for this advice.

Although yet again a new way to learn things .... sigh - I also have a blog with images in Picasa web albums so wondering what will happen to all my images - I Googled and you are correct, they are retiring Picasa which was news to me - and said if I log in to Google Photos my web albums would be there but they aren't for some reason.

I don't mind learning something new as long as it is an improvement and as I work with hundreds of images I want it to be really streamlined. I have read a lot of negatives about iPhoto so I wanted to stay with something simple.

Will have to do some reading up on this, am not very techy as you can see so any advice from anyone is much appreciated.

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Answer 3

Rysz

Level 8

44,455 points

Apr 1, 2016 3:01 PM in response to Vicki Johnston

The difference between iPhoto and Photos really isn't that great in terms of organization. These are the three main points:

1. Photos changed Events to Albums; Events equivalent in Photos is Moments;

2. For easier orientation in Photos turn Show Sidebar via the View menu ON;

3. Read up about iCloud Photo Library before turning it ON.

Couple of helpful links:

Get started with Photos for OS X: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204655

iMore has a very detailed, well illustrated article on iCloud Photo Library:

http://www.imore.com/how-use-icloud-photo-library-ultimate-guide

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Answer 4

Apr 2, 2016 6:29 AM in response to Rysz

Okay so I feel a bit dumb because I can't seem to get things started.

I have an external hard drive with all my photos on it. I have copied and pasted to Pictures.

Then I opened Photos to import that folder and it said I don't have enough disc space - this is a brand new laptop with nothing else on it! So you can see I am used to working differently whereby all my photos were stored in Pictures and I imported the folders into Picasa for editing and exporting into new folders.

What am I doing wrong? I am happy to use a new option such as Photos but I don't understand how to edit and work with photos which are imported into Pictures. Should I have done it differently?

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Answer 5

Apr 2, 2016 6:49 AM in response to Vicki Johnston

I tested it on my new MacBook 12" and it worked for me.

I had some photos on an external drive, I copied these to a folder in the Pictures directory.

I opened Photos application and used File > Import then selected the folder in the Pictures directory. All the photos were imported.

I had already deselected the option "Copy items to the Photos library" in Photos > Preferences. This may have caused you issue if you had such a big quantity of photos.

To start all over again quit Photos and delete the Photos Library item in the Pictures folder then empty the trash. (Warning all items in the current Photos Library will be lost!)

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Answer 6

Apr 2, 2016 7:43 AM in response to xxMikeBxx

Thank you. It's interesting because I just tried again and it said insufficient disk space.

About 16 GB from a big folder of travel pics but in the past I have imported the entire folder into Pictures and then into Picasa and never had the issue of it declining due to size.

I have tried a lot smaller folders on the new laptop and just dragged them into Photos with no issues (not using the File Import option).

Then tried dragging the huge folder into Photos (rather than importing folder) and it declined because of disk space.

All the images now currently in Photos have been dragged there and do not appear in Pictures folder.

What is the storage limit for Photos? Picasa must have been endless!

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Answer 7

Apr 2, 2016 7:43 AM in response to Vicki Johnston

My Photos library on my iMac is over 50GB so I don't think you have hit any size limit!

At the moment, with the default Photos settings, you are importing all the images into the Photos Library container (think of it as a folder). Therefore, if you have all your photographs already in the Pictures folder they are copied again into the Photos Library folder.

For the way you want to work, keeping all the photographs in the Pictures folder, you need to follow my advice above and start again with Photos.

Once you have set the Preference not to import your photographs into Photos own Library (as in above picture) it should all work faster.

When you perform the import from now on the photos remain where you put then and the Photos Application just makes a note of where they are so you can view and edit them using the Photos App.

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Answer 8

Apr 2, 2016 7:34 AM in response to xxMikeBxx

Thanks - my previous photo folders in Pictures were well over 100 GB and I would then import them for editing in Picasa and exporting from there, never an issue.

So I do understand what you are saying but based on my previous storage I wouldn't have thought one folder of say 30GB even doubled in Photos would be an issue?

Another silly question (you can see how basic it is for me) how do I get to that General information page you have kindly shown me above, I have no idea where to find it - it only asks to import and nothing else.

This is after I have imported to Pictures.

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Answer 9

Apr 2, 2016 7:38 AM in response to Vicki Johnston

Aaaah under settings ... found it

Also why have I got a few random photos from my Ipad appearing in Photos (only a few, not all)

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Answer 10

Apr 2, 2016 7:42 AM in response to Vicki Johnston

Has worked thank you - now importing into Photos. However that is only one folder and I have numerous others, so hope they will fit.

Another simple question - once edited, how to export the image? Usually I would resize for web use but can't seem to find the option for resizing before exporting? Usually that would be the final step in Picasa so that I am not uploading full size images

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Answer 11

Apr 2, 2016 7:42 AM in response to Vicki Johnston

The photos from your iPad is because you have Photo Stream turned on. These make available any photos in your stream available on all your devices for 30 days. In Preferences under iCloud you can stop this automatic importing if you require.

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Answer 12

Apr 2, 2016 8:02 AM in response to xxMikeBxx

Aaah okay - still getting used to new Ipad also and what is Photo Stream compared to Moments compared to Camera Roll etc. Didn't realise I had iCloud turned on/

Also just found link explaining the export size issue ...

In the new Photos resizing the photo before export

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Answer 13

Apr 2, 2016 8:05 AM in response to Vicki Johnston

To export the image select the photo or photos you want to exert then use File > Export. In the dialogue that opens you can select the size you want from quick options of small, medium or large including a custom option so you can set your own size.

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Answer 14

Apr 2, 2016 8:56 AM in response to xxMikeBxx

Thank you all working well now.

Just realised the big mistake I made buying this almost $2,000 laptop in comparison to my previous Macbook Pro.

Couldn't understand the storage issue and when I check this one storage is 120 GB whereas my other laptop was 318 GB.

Already this one only has 5GB of storage left!

How difficult is it to add storage because I use it primarily for art and photography and want to keep many folders on the actual laptop.

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Answer 15

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Apr 2, 2016 9:19 AM in response to Vicki Johnston

easy - take it to the Apple store and they will provides what you want - with more difficulty you can purchase from third party vendors like Other World Computing and install yourself

LN

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