iPhoto: Deleting photos from iPhone?

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Hello,

I purchased my first Mac (15" MBP) on Monday and am experiencing some teething issues with it so far.

I attempted to sync my iPhone for the first time last night, but that failed with error 13019 (great!).

I then attempted to import all of my photos from the phone into iPhoto. Simple right? Well actually yes it was, it just took a long time. After plugging the phone in and launching iPhoto, the coloured spinning wheel (Apple's version of the egg timer?) appeared for around 9 minutes and I couldn't do anything with iPhoto. Is that normal? Surely something built for graphic design etc. shouldn't struggle with importing pictures from an iPhone?

Anyway, once all of the pics were imported I was presented with the option of deleting all of the pics from the phone. I chose no here as I didn't want to delete them all. Once I was happy with the import I plugged the phone back in, launched iPhoto selected the pics I wanted to get rid of and hit delete. Nothing happened. I then clicked Photos>Move to Trash, but this is greyed out.

So the question is how do I delete a large selection of pictures from my iPhone by using iPhoto? Please don't tell me I need to delete 3,534 photos manually on my phone

cheers in advance for your help,
Matt
 

bobtomay

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Complaining about a 9 minute import via USB of 3500 pictures - come on...

There is no option in iPhoto to "manage" the photos on an iPhone. Nor on any other picture management software I've used except during the import process.

The easiest way I know of since you didn't delete them when it asked would be to use Image Capture (you already have) or Picasa (it's free). Create a new folder in your Pictures folder - maybe call it 'Delete this' - in Image Capture select all the ones you want to delete - import and select the delete imported pictures option. Once done - go delete the 'Delete this' folder.
 
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Massive thanks for that. I'll give it a whirl when I get in.

p.s. what does masked language mean?
 

bobtomay

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That was just a heads up. We keep the forum G rated for the kiddies.

You know - using asterisks in place of certain words. ;D

See the Community Guidelines.
 
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Use Image Capture

Image Capture is the program you want to use to manage the photos on your phone. Plug the phone in and then you can delete whatever you want. Note that the delete button is not obvious and is at the very bottom of your screen. As to why Apple doesn't want to let you manage your photos in iPhoto I can't really imagine. It seems intuitive and usually Apple is pretty good at doing things intuitively.
 
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The only time you get the option to delete photos from your iPhone(or indeed any other camera), is when you've just imported them. iPhoto then gives that option, but only then.
 
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Sorry, I was talking about iPhoto giving the option to delete.
 

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