camd
Level 1 (4 points)
Photos for Mac

Q: How do I figure out what albums my photos are in?

I have photos in my Photos library that are located in the incorrect album. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to find out which album they are actually in.

 

For example, if I set up a Smart Album for photos created in 2016, I can see the photos. If I set up a Smart Album to show all files that are not in an album, they do not show up. Therefore, I know that a) the files are in the Photos library and b) they are located in an album. The problem is that I don't know how to figure out which album they are in. They are definitely in the wrong album, but I don't know how to identify the album and delete the photos from it.


Does anyone know how to figure out which album(s) that a photo is in?

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Jul 5, 2016 5:57 PM

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camd

Q: How do I figure out what albums my photos are in?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jul 5, 2016 6:03 PM in response to camd
    Level 10 (84,217 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 5, 2016 6:03 PM in response to camd

    that is not a feature of Photos - there is a user supplied script to do it - How to find out the albums a photo is in: Jacques Rioux's script and Old Toad has provided access to it as an application http://www.oldtoadstutorials.net/No.P01.html

     

    LN

  • by camd,

    camd camd Jul 5, 2016 7:26 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 5, 2016 7:26 PM in response to LarryHN

    Interesting. Unfortunately, I don't know how to use scripts, and the information on the Old Toad site must be out-of-date, because the application doesn't work.

     

    This seems like a major flaw in Photos.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jul 5, 2016 9:26 PM in response to camd
    Level 10 (84,217 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 5, 2016 9:26 PM in response to camd

    Tell Apple what you think - we are users just like you - http://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

     

    And of course no Apple photos software has ever had the capability to tell you what albums a photos was in so it have been, in your opinion, a major flaw for 16 years

     

    LN

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 6, 2016 9:06 AM in response to camd
    Level 10 (105,806 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 6, 2016 9:06 AM in response to camd
    They are definitely in the wrong album, but I don't know how to identify the album and delete the photos from it.

    Photos can be in many albums, and there ts no need to remove photos individually from older photos that you no longer need. It might be easier to go through you older albums and delete all albums, that are no longer needed, rather than trying to find an album a photo is in.

     

    If you migrated an iPhoto Library or Aperture library, all older photos will be at least in one album, because the migration created an album for each event or project.

     

     

    If you always want to be able to see immediately which album a photo is in, use solely smart albums based on keywords. Define a keyword for each album you want to have and add the keyword to each photo you want to have in the smart album. To remove the photo from the album remove the keyword from the photo. The Info panel will show you all keywords a photo has.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jul 6, 2016 1:49 PM in response to camd
    Level 10 (140,918 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 6, 2016 1:49 PM in response to camd

    TH.pngThe script does work but it's a bit clumsy. The way it's written you first need to create an album titled PhotoDropBox.  Next put the photo you want to test in it.  Now run the script.  The scripts first window

    UnknownApp001.jpg

    opens behind the library's window so you'll have to click on the icon in the dock to get to it:

    Photos001.jpg

    After clicking on OK you'll get this window after the search which will also be behind other open windows so bring it to the front by clicking on the icon in the Dock:

    Untitled001.jpg

    The comments in side the script tell how to run it, i.e. create an album with the name PhotoDropBox and put the photo in it.  Also the Photos library window must be the topmost window for the script to work.

     

    OTsig.png

  • by camd,

    camd camd Jul 7, 2016 5:46 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 7, 2016 5:46 PM in response to léonie

    Thanks for the response, but this solution doesn't help me. I don't want to delete any of my albums, but even if I did, deleting hundreds of albums and starting over with categorizing 25,000 photos isn't really practical. I simply need to know what albums my photos are currently in, since I cannot find them.

  • by camd,

    camd camd Jul 7, 2016 5:53 PM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 7, 2016 5:53 PM in response to Old Toad

    Hi Old Toad,

    Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work for me. I may simply need a less techy solution.

     

    camd