Viewing and Organizing Photos In the New Photos App

Learn how to view your photos by Years, Collections and Moments in the new Photos app. Find out how to organize your photos into your own albums. You can create albums, add to them, remove photos from them and arrange the order of the photos in an album.

Comments: 73 Responses to “Viewing and Organizing Photos In the New Photos App”

    Andrew Phair
    9 years ago

    Such a helpful video. We need lots on the new photos app please!

      Pat s
      9 years ago

      Photo...made a slideshow....how can I post it to the web or you tube?

        9 years ago

        Select the slideshow from the Projects list, then choose File, Export, and export it as a video. Then upload to YouTube through the YouTube web interface. You could also share the video elsewhere on the web through whatever mechanism you usually use to share videos.

    Linda DesGroseilliers
    9 years ago

    Great video! You always keep things clear and as simple as possible. Now if I could just figure out how to use iCloud so that my iPhone would sync with my Mac!

    Phil
    9 years ago

    I saw your helpful Video today but do you have an idea to edit the geo tag data?

      9 years ago

      I don't believe there is any way to do that in Photos currently. You'll have to do it with another app before bringing it into Photos. Request that as a new feature to Apple.

    Tom
    9 years ago

    Gary, good info in this video, But ... what is the difference between Album and Smart Album? Why would I need a smart album? (recent Mac convert)

      9 years ago

      I'll be covering Smart Albums in the near future. This video was already running too long. Smart Albums are the same as Smart Playlists in iTunes or Smart Folders in the Finder -- they are the results of a search and update automatically.

    J Tierney
    9 years ago

    I really enjoyed this tutorial. I watched it several times and it will be a great reference tool

    Cyrus Dubash
    9 years ago

    Thanks Gary for this.

    I have under Albums "iPhoto Events." I believe events no longer exist here in the new photos app. I dragged a few photos from.an event into a a new album. On deleting the photos from.the event, they were deleted from the album too.

    What is the event equivalent in this new photos app. Suppose I import photos in this new app, where and how are they saved if not in an event like it used to in iPhoto?

    Thank you!

      9 years ago

      When you converted to using Photos, an album was automatically created for each event you had in iPhoto just in case you wanted to keep your old arrangement of pictures.
      Photos doesn't use events. It uses just albums. There is no equivalent to Events in Photos. You just view your entire collection in Years/Collections/Moments view, like I show. Or, you create albums. Or, any combination of both that you wish.

        Cyrus Dubash
        9 years ago

        Thank U I understand that but when I delete a photo from that event which is now an album under the folder iPhoto events; it gets deleted from other albums that have that photo.

          9 years ago

          Are you actually choosing "Delete?" If so, you are deleting that photo from your library. It even gives you a warning that it will be deleted from all of your devices. Choose "Remove from Album" instead.

            Cyrus Dubash
            9 years ago

            There's no warning. If deleted from a previous iPhoto event, it deleltes from the other albums as well.

              9 years ago

              I'm not seeing the same behavior. If I take a photo that is in an album inside my iPhoto Events album folder, add that photo to a new album, and then delete the photo from the album in the iPhoto Events folder, I still see it in the new album.

    Phyllis Steele
    9 years ago

    Is there any way to have the labels I put on photos show beneath the photo like they did in iPhoto? I can find them in the Info section, but I miss having them directly viewable.

      9 years ago

      View, Metadata, Titles.

        Phyllis Steele
        9 years ago

        Thanks, Gary.

    Russ Winkler
    9 years ago

    I still have iPhoto on my 2014 MacBook Pro. The library is on a removable drive. I imported the library into Photos. Can I uninstall iPhoto? I also have Aperture. Can I uninstall that as well?

    Jon Norris
    9 years ago

    Will I be able to see smart albums on iOS? It is taking a week to upload only a few hundred photos, so difficult for me to test!

      9 years ago

      I don't think so. Smart albums are like "saved searches" and I don't think iOS Photos has the same level of search capability. Maybe you can "sync" those via iTunes, but I haven't tested.

      9 years ago

      I don't think so. Smart albums are like "saved searches" and I don't think iOS Photos has the same level of search capability. Maybe you can "sync" those via iTunes, but I haven't tested.

    Philip Lewis
    9 years ago

    Hi Gary. Great video as usual. Love Photos but Is there any way photo titles can appear on IOS apps?

      9 years ago

      I don't think so. Request that as a feature if you want it.

    Matthew Famolare
    9 years ago

    Great video, as always, I would love it if you could go a bit deeper into the new Photo App, I'm sure there are some features that are amazing, but not readily known. Thank you again for all you videos

      9 years ago

      I will be doing more tutorials on Photos in the coming weeks, yes.

    Bob Rondeau
    9 years ago

    It seems that "Photos" uploads all your photos to Icloud. Is this avoidable? It will put a lot of people over their "Free" limit.

      9 years ago

      It CAN do that, yes. That is its most powerful feature. But you don't need to do that. You can just not use that iCloud feature and have all of your photos stored locally, just like iPhoto would do.

        Bob Rondeau
        9 years ago

        I have lots of photos and not much memory on my divices - will this feature cut into my storage memory on my Phone/pad?

          9 years ago

          It will use your storage space intelligently. For instance, it will not store full-res versions of the photos on your iOS devices. And it may not store some of them at all, instead only getting them as you need.

      Jim Goddard
      9 years ago

      This may be helpful
      In system preferences go to iCloud
      Open the Photos section
      Check only my photo stream and ICloud photo sharing.
      Do not click on ICloud photo library. This will prevent you from uploading your entire Mac Photo library to iCloud.
      This will allow you to synchronize your iPad and iPhone with your Mac.
      Hope this is helpful.

        Linda DesGroseilliers
        9 years ago

        Thans, Jim. I'll try this because I definitely do not want my library uploaded -------waaaaay too big!

          9 years ago

          You'll be asked when you convert the library. You'll see.

    Jim Goddard
    9 years ago

    Thanks so much – and very helpful!

    Maureen
    9 years ago

    I loved this tutorial. Thank you for making using my Mac even easier with your tutorials. I was so frustrated when the change to Photos instead of iPhoto began as I had already set up albums in iPhoto in preparation of the DVD's I make for my grandchildren each year. I thought I had lost my previous work but now I can see I have not lost a thing. Thank you!

    Ron
    9 years ago

    Gary, this video was both helpful and beautifully done. Thank you!
    1. As I ponder this transition from iPhoto w/35,000 photos, on each one of them I have changed the title to year.month.date.# (15.04.16.01 etc) and all camera movies to year.month.date.mov# (15.04.16.mov01 etc). Will this no longer be necessary as Photos will simply place them in chron. order anyway? 2. What will we do with scans of old photos - taken in 1974, say, but digitized today? How can they find 1974? TY

      9 years ago

      It wasn't necessary in iPhoto either, since the events view put them in chronological order. With old photos that don't have metadata, you can set the date manually in Photos.

    Roger
    9 years ago

    Photos in the video looks much different than the Photos on my iPad Air2.
    The features on the iPad must be very limited compared to what is possible on a computer, is that correct?

    Carol
    9 years ago

    Great video, glad to have the sidebar back--thought it was gone! I have always had albums, but now that they are transferred, the photos in them seem to be out of chronological order, or maybe I have fiddled with them. Is there an easy fix for that?

      Carol
      9 years ago

      Oops, never mind. I fixed it.

    Alex
    9 years ago

    Gary, is there a way to sort photos (ascending/descending)? For example, I would like to select "Photos" or "All Photos" in the Albums area and be able to have the most recent photos at the top. I currently have to scroll through 8,000 photos to see my most recent at the bottom. That can't be right.

      9 years ago

      I don't know of a way to reverse the order. But you don't have to "scroll through" anything to get to the bottom. Just use the scroll bar, or the "end" key (fn+Command+right arrow is "end" if you don't have an extended keyboard).

    Lenny Gemski
    9 years ago

    I have 26,000 photos collected over 15 years, titled and assigned to folders and albums. What will happen to these folders and albums if I migrate to Photos? I am thinking that Photos is not going to work for me. I can't loose this organization as it is essential to the work that I do. 26K is far too many to start from scratch. Is Lightroom a better choice for me?

      9 years ago

      The albums will remain intact. Why not just try it and see. It doesn't delete your iPhoto library, it just copies it.
      Lightroom is a good choice if you are a professional photographer, I'd imagine.
      Photos lets you create albums and folders just like iPhoto did, so if that worked for you in iPhoto why would Photos not work for you?

        Lenny Gemski
        9 years ago

        If I download the new Photo program, will both Photo and IPhoto remain on my computer? I thought that Photo would replace IPhoto. Not so??

          9 years ago

          It won't replace iPhoto. You'll end up with both apps, and an old (iPhoto) and new (Photos) library. The old iPhoto app could come in handy for some people who have created old iPhoto libraries as archives and need to access them later on.

    Gary Schultz
    9 years ago

    how can I delete delete a folder ?

      9 years ago

      Do you want to delete an album or a folder of albums? Either way, just select it and press the delete key on the keyboard.

    Troy Muller
    9 years ago

    Excellent video. The sidebar is the takeaway for me and will help no end to help easily remove some of the unwanted albums migrated from iPhotos. Cheers!

    Bluehowler
    9 years ago

    Thanks so much, now Photos is helpful.
    However, how do I transfer my iPhoto albums to Photos?

      9 years ago

      When you first run Photos, it asks. If you have additional iPhoto libraries, you can use the Import command.

    John Stires
    9 years ago

    I'm a Photoshop & Adobe Bridge user and never got into iPhoto; it was more of a nuisance trying to use both. I have a few thousand shots on my MBP. Should I consider Photos? Thanks G

      9 years ago

      You can try it. But if you are already using Adobe, then why not try Lightroom too?

        John Stires
        9 years ago

        I have Lightroom, will give it a try. I assume I can back out of Photos if it's too burdensome? Where do the photos live; will I 'fill up' my phone's memory? I'm still a little confused about IOS, OSX storage, iCloud Drive, iCloud and how they share. Thanks again.

          9 years ago

          Photos creates a library in your Pictures folder just like iPhoto did. I've got a video coming up this week that talks about iCloud and how it works with Photos.
          Not sure what you mean by back out -- back out to Adobe Bridge? You can just try Photos and see if you like it. Try Lightroom too. Then decide.

    Rob Mayer
    9 years ago

    Unless I am missing something, there is one disappointing inconsistency between Photos on all devices, and Photos on iCloud.com: the folder structure that you can create on the Mac, and that you see on your iPhones/iPads is unsupported when you view through the website. It's as if someone took all of your albums out of all of your folders and just scattered them in one big pile. I find the Folder option to be very powerful. Please tell me this is an oversight and not a permanent "feature"!

      9 years ago

      If you want that feature on iCloud.com, why not suggest it to Apple?

        Rob Mayer
        9 years ago

        Already did..thanks!

    Betty K
    9 years ago

    Is the 'batch' function gone? I like to change the titles on my photos.

      9 years ago

      There's no batch title change function in Photos. Titles are much more for descriptions now and for use in projects. You can't sort by them, so they don't matter as much. Unless you have a use for them I haven't thought of.

    Jeffrey Wilson
    9 years ago

    Great video. I'm new to a Mac but have had IOS devices a long time. My questions are: If I edit in Photo's, does it change the original file in Finder? I didn't really use iPhoto, so do I need to keep the iPhoto library and the Photo library?

      9 years ago

      When you edit, you can always revert to the original, even after you are "Done" editing. Photos are stored in the Photos library, not in the Finder. But you can get to them if you really want. Better to export from Photos instead if you need a file for some reason. You can get rid of the old iPhoto library after you are all settled in and using Photos. I'd back it up/archive it though.

    Paul Thompson
    9 years ago

    Very good tutorial; I have one problem: all my pix in Photos View are labelled with General Margia Zapeto, Zacatecas Mexico. How do I change this?
    These are pix I've transferred from my iPhoto library.
    Thanks
    Paul

      9 years ago

      Were they set that way in iPhoto? Since you can't yet edit GPS data in Photos, maybe consider fixing it in iPhoto and starting fresh with a new Photos import.

    Lee Gavel
    9 years ago

    How do I move a photo from one of the new Photo albums to another album. In iPhoto it was just drag and drop, but that doesn't seem to work in Photo

      9 years ago

      You can definitely drag and drop photos in an album. Remember photos are not "in" an album. They are in your Photos library. Albums are just links to photos, like playlists in iTunes. So all pictures are in Photos. But each photo can be in one or more albums, or none. But I just tried dragging a photo from one album to another and as expected the photo is now in both albums.

      Lee Gavel
      9 years ago

      Oops reviewed your video and can now see how to move a photo.

    Ruth Rosensky
    9 years ago

    My albums are now grouped in something called iphoto events. how do i get them listed as separate albums?

      9 years ago

      They are separate albums. iPhoto Events isn't an album, it is a folder of albums. Go inside it to see the individual albums.

        Ruth Rosensky
        9 years ago

        OK. Thanks I see that now.

    Judith
    9 years ago

    A brilliant video - you shone a light in a dark tunnel! Thanks so much.

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