Organizing Referenced File Structure

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Level 1

39 points

Organizing Referenced File Structure

I have a very large 350GB+ Aperture library, and I have been avoiding switching but I think it may be time. Last year I switched from a managed library to a referenced library. However, when I made the switch the folder structure I was using in Aperture did not cary over to Finder. I wasn't bothered by it, but I know realize it could be a big problem when I finally switch.

My Aperture Library is arranged with folders that break the year into Winter, Spring, Fall, Summer of that year, then each folder has Projects, and some Projects have Albums (normally a Best Of album). When I moved from Managed to Referenced it exported all of the Projects, but I lost the Enclosing Folder which indicated the season/year, and I lost any Albums within the Projects.

Is there a way to rebuild a Referenced Library with a different file structure?

Should I switch back to Managed, and then try switching back to Referenced with different settings?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Posted on Aug 5, 2016 1:44 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,699 points

Aug 6, 2016 11:18 AM in response to MacRick

When I moved from Managed to Referenced it exported all of the Projects, but I lost the Enclosing Folder which indicated the season/year, and I lost any Albums within the Projects.

You can move referenced original files to different folders with the command "File > Relocate Originals".

To preserve your folders and projects as cloasely as possible, create the seasonal folders manually: It will be a bit of work, however.

For example, create a folder year 2000, with subfolders Spring, Summer, then select all photos in Aperture in the folder 2000 > Spring in Aperture. Now use "File > Relocate Originals" and use the subfolder format "Project name" and export to the folder 2000 > Spring. This will create a sub folder in this folder for each project.

Proceed to do this for all your yearly folders and seasons.

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