File tree view?

just drag the iphoto oraginals into the trash, and then iphoto too

You could do some more digging if you thought you'd have to manually create rolls.

If you drag those directories to the list on the left in iPhoto, you should get a roll for each directory, and each roll will contain the photo contents of the corresponding directory. It will be a flat directory list (no directories within directories) but at least you won't have to manually sort into rolls or name them.

Other than that, if you're looking for a file browser then iPhoto's not it. In iPhoto you can use albums and rolls, which have their (different) uses but if you've already made up your mind I guess there's no point in going into details.

smlg.ca:

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. I suggest you go to Apple's iPhoto site and look at some of the tutorials there on using iPhoto. It will show you how to organize your photos with iPhoto. This shows how you can use folders and albums within the left hand Source page to organize your photos, slideshows, books, calendars, etc.

Picassa is primarily an image browser whereas iPhoto is an image management application. Lots of differences there as far as organizing files by keywords, etc.

Warning: If you decide not to use iPhoto but have imported your photos into iPhoto and then deleted the original files, do not follow Lego Mania Podc..'s advice. That will delete the remaining copies of the full sized files on your HD. (Then are or will be, if you use iPhoto, contained in the folder titled Originals that is inside your Pictures/iPhoto Library folder.) However, do not ever go into the iPhoto LIbrary folder via the Finder and move or edit any folder or image file. All that has to be done from within iPhoto.

I do believe if you give it a try you'll like it. Why not first start by importing maybe 10 of your folders into iPhoto and then experiment with albums, folders (in the Source pane), keywords, etc.

Do you Twango?

They may not be recognized. Can Picassa write those keywords back to the ITPC field in the files? If so, then iPhoto should be able to read them.

One option, albeit more costly, is to try iView MediaPro. It is an very powerful Digital Asset Management (DAM) application. You can download it and try it for 20-30 days as a demo. You leave your folders as they are and can move them, rename files from iVMP and lots more.

You could also try GraphicConverter. It is shareware ($30), a universal binary, and has both file management and enhancement features.

John

Macbook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

It really isn't in the same league as iPhoto or iPLM. It's strictly a browser with some annotation capabilities. But as a image management tool, i.e. create groupings of photos by certain attributes, it's not.

I disagree. GraphicConverter gives you access to all the EXIF and IPTC information, so you can annotate using any IPTC field. You can search on any field and group images this way if you wish.

But for the OP's uses, it's perfect. You don't have to import any images into GC. He can just point the browser to his existing hierarchy and access all of his images. His library can be on any storage device, and is not limited in size.

Adding photos to the library is as simple as putting them into a folder wherever he wishes in the hierarchy. He can then batch annotate them using any of the standard IPTC fields. And since the IPTC info is stored in the picture file, it can be read by any application that can access IPTC (or EXIF) information. It also has some useful batch commands, like 'set file creation date to EXIF date'.

Don't get me wrong, I like iPhoto and use it for other photo uses. It simplifies some photo enhancement, and is a breeze for resizing phots (something that my wife uses for her real estate listing). But I started using GC because I needed something that I could use to organize and annotate photos that I could then share with my PC using family. Although GC is not cross platform, since it stores all the annotations in standard IPTC, it can be accessed by any program that can read those fields.

John

Macbook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Macbook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Actually, Picasa is a better photo organizer - it finds pictures, sorts by date, renames files, makes albums, and more. iPhoto is the photo viewer.