Arrange photos in iPhoto

Why is it if I import photos into iPhoto and rearrange them when I export them it renumbers them, which is fine by me? But, if I then reimport them to iPhoto they will not stay in the order that I rearranged them in, even when they were renumbered when I exported them. They go back to the order that they were originally imported in, and the numbers are out or order. I would like to store them on a disk and reimport them when I would like to look at them as a slide show, but they are all out of order. Where can I renumber the photos so that they will stay in the order that I have placed them?

have you discovered the View, Sort by, option in iPhoto?

Let's step back for a minute and think about something that I think may be key to what's confusing you.

iPhoto, like any other photo-management program, keeps its *own* database of information about your pictures. For example, when you rename a photo in iPhoto, the actual photo file itself is NOT renamed. You've just changed the name iPhoto *displays* the photo as being -- the actual file has not really been touched.

So renaming files in iPhoto is only useful *in iPhoto* and has no bearing on what the files will be called when you export them.

I hope that helps answer your question.

chas_m said:

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So renaming files in iPhoto is only useful *in iPhoto* and has no bearing on what the files will be called when you export them....

Click to expand...

Just to clarify on that one, you can export them and select "Title" in the drop down box when you export and they'll be exported using the title you have given them in iPhoto.

Am pretty sure the initial order that photos will be shown in iPhoto/Aperture/Lightroom/etc. upon import is based upon the timestamp. Changing the name/title of the pics, exporting them, deleting the original from iPhoto and re-importing does not affect this.

You can try it, but I don't think it will work... changing the timestamp info that iPhoto displays and exporting them. But, I believe you'll find that upon re-import, they will have their original timestamp.