jnlyn5
Level 1 (21 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Can I enter descriptions for Photos in El Capitan?

After I update to El Capitan, will my photos still retain the descriptions I gave them in iPhoto and will I be able to enter and edit descriptions for each photo in the Photo app? I have resisted updating OSX to a version that doesn't use iPhoto because I have descriptions for all of my photos that I don't want to lose. I've seen that going from an OSX below 10.3 directly to El Capitan will let me retain access to iPhoto but any edits will not be stored in iPhoto. I don't want to lose the info in my photo library but realize I can't use OSX 9.5 forever. Or is there a 3rd party photo app/library I should use?

MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Jun 22, 2016 5:20 PM

by LarryHN,Solvedanswer
LarryHN LarryHN
Level 10 (84,217 points)
Photos for Mac
A:

Yes the descriptions are migrated to PHotos

 

see How Photos handles content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture - Apple Support for more info

 

the migration is a singular event - after the migration the iPhoto and Photos libraries are separate and no changes made in one affect the other

 

LN

Posted on Jun 23, 2016 1:22 PM

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jnlyn5

Q: Can I enter descriptions for Photos in El Capitan?

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  • by LarryHN,Solvedanswer

    LarryHN LarryHN Jun 23, 2016 1:22 PM in response to jnlyn5
    Level 10 (84,217 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 23, 2016 1:22 PM in response to jnlyn5

    Yes the descriptions are migrated to PHotos

     

    see How Photos handles content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture - Apple Support for more info

     

    the migration is a singular event - after the migration the iPhoto and Photos libraries are separate and no changes made in one affect the other

     

    LN

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Jun 23, 2016 1:31 PM in response to jnlyn5
    Level 10 (105,806 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 23, 2016 1:31 PM in response to jnlyn5
    After I update to El Capitan, will my photos still retain the descriptions I gave them in iPhoto and will I be able to enter and edit descriptions for each photo in the Photo app?

    Just to be sure - which kind of iPhoto descriptions are you asking about? There are several places in iPhoto where you can describe the the photos.

    • Any text in iPhoto that you entered into the field "Add a description" for a single photo will be migrated to Photos and appear in the description there.
    • Any text in iPhoto that you entered in iPhoto into the title field of a photo will be migrated.

    But there are some kinds of descriptions that will not be transferred or not directly visible. 

    • Photos does not longer show the filenames as the default titles.  If your descriptions are part of the filename, you will not see them in Photos below the thumbnails, only in the Info panel for a photo. While you are still running iPhoto you may want to use "Photos > Batch Change" to write the filenames to the titles for the photos, where you want to see the filenames below the thumbnails as the default title.
    • Photos has currently no way to add a description to an album or an event (moment in Photos).   If your descriptions have been added to albums or events and not to single photos copy the description of the album or event to the description of a photo in the album or event to transfer the descriptions to Photos.

  • by jnlyn5,

    jnlyn5 jnlyn5 Jun 23, 2016 1:27 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (21 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 23, 2016 1:27 PM in response to LarryHN

    you actually solved my question, but my finger slipped and hit 'helpful' . if you know how to change my response, will be glad to do it - thanks!

  • by jnlyn5,

    jnlyn5 jnlyn5 Jun 23, 2016 1:31 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (21 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 23, 2016 1:31 PM in response to léonie

    you actually solved my problem also, but only 'helpful' button is displayed.  appreciate the suggestion to batch change filenames to titles, had put descriptions into filenames throughout my library.  will now take the big step of updating my OS

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 23, 2016 1:58 PM in response to jnlyn5
    Level 10 (105,806 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 23, 2016 1:58 PM in response to jnlyn5

    You're welcome

    Good luck for the upgrade.