This is great! Your videos have really helped me find a system that will work for me and leveraging my Mac and iPhone to organize photos better. I think that the trick for me now will be to use albums to more quickly find photos I want to show someone on my iPhone, rather than always scrolling past hundreds in my library view.
Thank you so much for this video. It's very helpful! I especially like you walking through the interface so beginners like me now know where to start with. I have two questions: 1. Why we need both folders and albums to organize. If I put all photos in the folders on my mac and import them into the app, how does the albums structure help me? 2. I want to create a Photo library for my stock images that are seperate from my family. How can I directly save a stock images, for example, one being downloaded from the website, to the Photo library? An Apple advisor said I could only drag or import it, meaning, that stock image has to be somewhere in the mac before I save it to the photo library. Is it true? I am thinking this would create a lot of work for me, especially when I add some new images to an existing folder in the mac. Should I drag those new images to the Photo app? Or can I just sync the updated folder? Hope you can provide some tips.
Hi Frances - Happy to try to answer your questions. The second is kind of complicated. 1. You can choose what works best for your situation in terms of folders (in Finder) or albums (in the Photos app.) I think this is what you are asking. Because in the Photos App, folders do not hold photos, only albums. 2. It is complicated to have two Photos libraries (one for family and one for stock). I save my family photos in the Photos App and then export my stock/work photos to folders on my computer. Then I delete the stock/work photos from my photos app. It does depend upon how you use your stock photos - if primarily from your computer than exporting to folders makes sense. If you are using your stock photos from your phone, then, you'll want to keep them in the Photos app - perhaps in their own Folder. Unfortunately, those photos will still be visible in your library. Hoping this helps somewhat. Also - I do use FOREVER Permanent Storage for my family photos and that could be another option as well. If you want to chat about this. . . you can schedule an appointment at www.calendly.com/mollieb/pixresearch Cheers! Mollie
@@Pixologie Hi. It’s excited to see your response. 1. Yes, you answered my question. Now I know folders don’t hold photos but albums do. 2. I don’t store stock images on my phone, but on my computer, I am aiming to find them quickly. That is why I am thinking of the photos library as a solution because I am suffering from endless folders and subfolders without finding the right images I was looking for, especially when some images can go to two folders. Take an image where a little girl plays with her dog for instance, do I put it in the “people” or “animal” folder? I want to use the learning machine function as a workaround. I’ll reach out if I need your help. Thank you so much for thinking of these challenges!
Hi there - I don't use keynote or save documents in iCloud. But. . typically, I've seen people have their Documents folder in their iCloud folder in Finder. From there, you should be able to see your keynote. Be careful to note where you save your documents to keep track. If that is indeed where your files are being saved, then, you can also go to iCloud.com you can view the documents there as well. Hope this helps! Cheers! Mollie
Hi there - I am using the latest OS - Sonoma. Unfortunately, 2015 is pretty old. . . is there any possibility of getting a new Mac? Working with photos on an older computer can sure be frustrating. I do think Photosweeper might work for the duplicates. Have you tried that? Hoping you might be able to get a newer Mac! However, I have a couple of clients who do have older ones and seem to do good enough. Good luck! Mollie
HI Mollie, great information thanks. I have my Mac set to store photos on iCloud but I'm running out of space and I don't want to pay for anymore space. Can you please tell me, if I turn the 'iCloud Photos' button off in Settings does that mean that the photos saved on iCloud before I turn it off will still be saved there? And will I lose any photos on my Macbook or do they just stay there? I'm a beginner at this!
Hi there… I believe that if you turn off iCloud Photos off on your phone… The photos that were originally uploaded from your phone to iCloud will disappear from iCloud. It’s really isn’t a good strategy. It would be better to see if there are photos you can delete or export from the Photos app on your Mac and store somewhere else. do you have lots of video? Cheers! Mollie
Why Mac automatically displays all photos in my mac within Photos app? All photos i Airdrop to mac goes to download folder and not showing in photos app.
Hi there - both your Mac and your iPhone Photos App need to have iCloud turned on and they need to be registered to the same Apple ID. Then your photos will be the same on both devices. AirDropping to the Mac always goes to the Downloads folder. Hoping this helps! Cheers! Mollie
@@Pixologie No, it doesn’t. What I meant was, why can’t I view all the photos in my mac (locally stored, not in iCloud) unlike in iPhone where all the airdrop pictures goes to Photos app and you can view directly in it.
The Mac is operating with the Photos App software. The Mac is not designed to display all the photos on your computer in the Photos app. Photos that end up on your computer in other places (Downloads, Desktop, etc.) have to be imported into the Photos app. When I Airdop photos from my iPhone to my Mac, I do get a message to either save them in my downloads folder or to save them in the Photos app. Our iPhones are designed to save photos directly to the Photos App on our iPhone. It's just how it works. Let me know if this helps. Cheers! Mollie
Hi there… unfortunately I don’t know of a way to see file sizes without the get info panel. If you are looking for the largest file sizes, sometimes I have gone into the manage storage settings to view largest file sizes. Thank you for watching! Cheers! Mollie
@@Pixologie Hi, i have another question.. i have 100,000 photos in my external ssd. i have created new library on my external ssd & imported all these photos to my photos app on macbook. now when i try to delete some photos from photos app it doesn't delete these photos from external ssd folder. what i want is that if i delete something from photos app it should automatically be deleted from external ssd folder as well.
Hi again - so sorry to tell you that when you import pictures into your Photos App, you are working completely separately from your SSD. Some people use Time Machine on the Mac which backs up your computer's contents to an external drive - that backup will have the Photos App update the SSD when you delete photos in the Photos App. Hope this helps! Mollie
Very complex. I wonder why Apple cannot simplify the complexity. There is no way to understand the behaviour of libraries, folders, albums, exporting, importing and where actually the picture resides. This after having used the Mac for over 15 years. The editing in Photos is great, but one has to be a tech genius to understand the rest of its organisation.
Hi there - It really is interesting how tied up your photos are in the program. I use it to sync and edit my photos and then I export edited photos to folders in my Finder app. Thank you very much for watching! Cheers! Mollie
Hi Mollie, I just left the Apple Store even more baffled. There is no find duplicates in the menu and the guy told me they are working on that technology. Ugh if you could just share how I get that my library has 10k pics in it I Know there are dups! Help
Your "Not in an Album" smart album was the tool I need but...... "Photo" "is not" "in any" is not an option in Mac Studio. "In any" is not a clickable choice.
My lord. I thought u were gonna explain how to organize that damm photo album of Apple. It’s all about ur pics and ur albums. C’mon. So annoying. Apple sucks at this🤯
Hey there - thanks for attempting to watch my video. I apologize and am not sure how I can best help. With a Mac, your Photos Library is organized chronologically in the All Photos view. You can go to the Albums View and then create folders and albums. I do agree though that Apple could do a better job! Thanks for commenting! Cheers, Mollie
Thank you for you explanation of this very complicated system. I'll have to watch it again, I agree with Mr. Bhanager about the complexity. Windows is far easier. Would you explain how the Library and Photos app interact?
If you are talking about the Library on your iPhone Photos App . . . it is a view of your photos that includes everything you've taken a photo or screenshot of and it is in chronological order. (Same applies for the Library on your Mac). Your Library should be in sync with your iPhone and your Mac if you have iCloud photos turned on both and you are logged into the same Apple account. A common confusing area is when saving a photo from somewhere else (from a text message etc.) to your library. If the date is older, it gets filed chronologically. To view that photo easily, you can go to Albums - Recents to see it. Hoping this helps! Cheers! Mollie
This is great! Your videos have really helped me find a system that will work for me and leveraging my Mac and iPhone to organize photos better. I think that the trick for me now will be to use albums to more quickly find photos I want to show someone on my iPhone, rather than always scrolling past hundreds in my library view.
Great to hear! Thanks so much for watching!!
Thank you. This is exactly what I needed.
So happy to hear this! Thanks for watching.
Cheers!
Mollie
This is very helpful, thank you
Glad it was helpful! Thank you!
Thank you so much for this video. It's very helpful! I especially like you walking through the interface so beginners like me now know where to start with.
I have two questions:
1. Why we need both folders and albums to organize. If I put all photos in the folders on my mac and import them into the app, how does the albums structure help me?
2. I want to create a Photo library for my stock images that are seperate from my family. How can I directly save a stock images, for example, one being downloaded from the website, to the Photo library? An Apple advisor said I could only drag or import it, meaning, that stock image has to be somewhere in the mac before I save it to the photo library. Is it true? I am thinking this would create a lot of work for me, especially when I add some new images to an existing folder in the mac. Should I drag those new images to the Photo app? Or can I just sync the updated folder? Hope you can provide some tips.
Hi Frances - Happy to try to answer your questions. The second is kind of complicated.
1. You can choose what works best for your situation in terms of folders (in Finder) or albums (in the Photos app.) I think this is what you are asking. Because in the Photos App, folders do not hold photos, only albums.
2. It is complicated to have two Photos libraries (one for family and one for stock). I save my family photos in the Photos App and then export my stock/work photos to folders on my computer. Then I delete the stock/work photos from my photos app.
It does depend upon how you use your stock photos - if primarily from your computer than exporting to folders makes sense. If you are using your stock photos from your phone, then, you'll want to keep them in the Photos app - perhaps in their own Folder. Unfortunately, those photos will still be visible in your library.
Hoping this helps somewhat.
Also - I do use FOREVER Permanent Storage for my family photos and that could be another option as well. If you want to chat about this. . . you can schedule an appointment at www.calendly.com/mollieb/pixresearch
Cheers!
Mollie
@@Pixologie Hi. It’s excited to see your response.
1. Yes, you answered my question. Now I know folders don’t hold photos but albums do.
2. I don’t store stock images on my phone, but on my computer, I am aiming to find them quickly. That is why I am thinking of the photos library as a solution because I am suffering from endless folders and subfolders without finding the right images I was looking for, especially when some images can go to two folders. Take an image where a little girl plays with her dog for instance, do I put it in the “people” or “animal” folder? I want to use the learning machine function as a workaround.
I’ll reach out if I need your help. Thank you so much for thinking of these challenges!
You are quite welcome and good luck! : )
very helpful
Hi Jose - Thanks so much!
Cheers!
Mollie
thanks. also looking for data on documents in iCloud, from keynote, especially, when I save a keynote project, where does it go?
Hi there - I don't use keynote or save documents in iCloud. But. . typically, I've seen people have their Documents folder in their iCloud folder in Finder. From there, you should be able to see your keynote. Be careful to note where you save your documents to keep track. If that is indeed where your files are being saved, then, you can also go to iCloud.com you can view the documents there as well.
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
Mollie
Thank you
You are welcome!
Good Info
Hey Marilynn - thank you so much for watching!
Cheers!
Mollie
What operating system do you have, mine is 2015 older. I think this is why I can’t find the duplicates and many other things your discussing
Hi there - I am using the latest OS - Sonoma. Unfortunately, 2015 is pretty old. . . is there any possibility of getting a new Mac? Working with photos on an older computer can sure be frustrating. I do think Photosweeper might work for the duplicates. Have you tried that?
Hoping you might be able to get a newer Mac! However, I have a couple of clients who do have older ones and seem to do good enough.
Good luck!
Mollie
Yes I’ve come to the conclusion it’s time to let my dinosaur go and get a new one. Thank you for your response.
Good luck!
HI Mollie, great information thanks. I have my Mac set to store photos on iCloud but I'm running out of space and I don't want to pay for anymore space. Can you please tell me, if I turn the 'iCloud Photos' button off in Settings does that mean that the photos saved on iCloud before I turn it off will still be saved there? And will I lose any photos on my Macbook or do they just stay there? I'm a beginner at this!
Hi there… I believe that if you turn off iCloud Photos off on your phone… The photos that were originally uploaded from your phone to iCloud will disappear from iCloud. It’s really isn’t a good strategy. It would be better to see if there are photos you can delete or export from the Photos app on your Mac and store somewhere else. do you have lots of video?
Cheers!
Mollie
thanks for an excellent video. ‘the not in album’ info was extremely useful.
So glad this helped! Thanks for watching and posting here!
Cheers!
Mollie
Can you put Smart albums or shared albums in folders?
Hi there - Shared Albums cannot go into Folders but Smart albums can go into Folders! Hope this helps!
Cheers!
Mollie
Why Mac automatically displays all photos in my mac within Photos app? All photos i Airdrop to mac goes to download folder and not showing in photos app.
Hi there - both your Mac and your iPhone Photos App need to have iCloud turned on and they need to be registered to the same Apple ID. Then your photos will be the same on both devices. AirDropping to the Mac always goes to the Downloads folder.
Hoping this helps!
Cheers!
Mollie
@@Pixologie No, it doesn’t. What I meant was, why can’t I view all the photos in my mac (locally stored, not in iCloud) unlike in iPhone where all the airdrop pictures goes to Photos app and you can view directly in it.
The Mac is operating with the Photos App software. The Mac is not designed to display all the photos on your computer in the Photos app. Photos that end up on your computer in other places (Downloads, Desktop, etc.) have to be imported into the Photos app.
When I Airdop photos from my iPhone to my Mac, I do get a message to either save them in my downloads folder or to save them in the Photos app.
Our iPhones are designed to save photos directly to the Photos App on our iPhone. It's just how it works.
Let me know if this helps.
Cheers!
Mollie
how can i see size of photo in photos library without having to go into "get info" is there a way to show size of all photos just like location or tag
Hi there… unfortunately I don’t know of a way to see file sizes without the get info panel. If you are looking for the largest file sizes, sometimes I have gone into the manage storage settings to view largest file sizes.
Thank you for watching!
Cheers!
Mollie
@@Pixologie Hi, i have another question.. i have 100,000 photos in my external ssd. i have created new library on my external ssd & imported all these photos to my photos app on macbook. now when i try to delete some photos from photos app it doesn't delete these photos from external ssd folder. what i want is that if i delete something from photos app it should automatically be deleted from external ssd folder as well.
Hi again - so sorry to tell you that when you import pictures into your Photos App, you are working completely separately from your SSD. Some people use Time Machine on the Mac which backs up your computer's contents to an external drive - that backup will have the Photos App update the SSD when you delete photos in the Photos App.
Hope this helps!
Mollie
Very complex. I wonder why Apple cannot simplify the complexity. There is no way to understand the behaviour of libraries, folders, albums, exporting, importing and where actually the picture resides. This after having used the Mac for over 15 years. The editing in Photos is great, but one has to be a tech genius to understand the rest of its organisation.
Hi there - It really is interesting how tied up your photos are in the program. I use it to sync and edit my photos and then I export edited photos to folders in my Finder app. Thank you very much for watching!
Cheers!
Mollie
Hi Mollie, I just left the Apple Store even more baffled. There is no find duplicates in the menu and the guy told me they are working on that technology. Ugh if you could just share how I get that my library has 10k pics in it I Know there are dups! Help
Hi again - can you download Photosweeper? it is $10 from the App Store and works great to find duplicates. Crossing my fingers for you!
Mollie
@@edcherry07 Powerphotos is a great program to find duplicates and run multiple phot libraries
Thanks for sharing! I'll check this out as well!
Your "Not in an Album" smart album was the tool I need but...... "Photo" "is not" "in any" is not an option in Mac Studio. "In any" is not a clickable choice.
Hi there… Try Album “is not” any. Hoping that works for you!
My lord. I thought u were gonna explain how to organize that damm photo album of Apple. It’s all about ur pics and ur albums. C’mon. So annoying. Apple sucks at this🤯
Hey there - thanks for attempting to watch my video. I apologize and am not sure how I can best help. With a Mac, your Photos Library is organized chronologically in the All Photos view. You can go to the Albums View and then create folders and albums. I do agree though that Apple could do a better job!
Thanks for commenting! Cheers,
Mollie
Thank you for you explanation of this very complicated system. I'll have to watch it again, I agree with Mr. Bhanager about the complexity. Windows is far easier.
Would you explain how the Library and Photos app interact?
If you are talking about the Library on your iPhone Photos App . . . it is a view of your photos that includes everything you've taken a photo or screenshot of and it is in chronological order. (Same applies for the Library on your Mac). Your Library should be in sync with your iPhone and your Mac if you have iCloud photos turned on both and you are logged into the same Apple account.
A common confusing area is when saving a photo from somewhere else (from a text message etc.) to your library. If the date is older, it gets filed chronologically. To view that photo easily, you can go to Albums - Recents to see it.
Hoping this helps!
Cheers!
Mollie
Thank you!!! So great.
You are very welcome Jenna!
Cheers!
Mollie
the phone and computer sync, but can you add a third entitiey, another computer that you use so sync 3 devices........
Yes if it’s an Apple computer!
I like the folder thing! I hate that Library is primary and not Albums.
Hi there - Yeah, I wish we could change that! Thanks for watching!
Cheers!
Mollie