More on iPhoto

First let me say I have read all the post I could find on iPhoto and could not find my answer. I also will point out I realize that Mac and Windows are not the same and that I will have to make changes. I am willing to make changes, but I would like iPhoto to take into consideration all the WORK I have put into organizing things previously and respect that work. I have a system, it is not far apart from what iPhoto does, it is just more detailed and more flexable (ie I have more control).

So here is my issue, on the Windows machine I had the following file structured that I copied over to the Mac.
4 digit Year --> Major category (could be an event like vacation or a group like family photos) --> Sub category (again could be an event like Christmas or a group/individual like a person or pet). This structured could continue on until I was able to organize things to my liking. Also keep in mind an event could span several months, for example in my family Christmas photos can start appearing after Thanksgiving and continue on until the end of January.

So here are some sample structures from my system.
2007 | Family Photos | Christmas (photos can be from 12/01/07-01/31/08)
2008 | Family Photos | Christmas (photos can be from 12/01/08-01/31/09)
2008 | Family Photos | Willi (any photos not associated with an event of Willi)
2008 | Pets (Photos of pets in the year 2008) | Karli (Photos of Karli)

So what I would like iPhoto to do automatically is create albums or folders that match the folder structure that is on the disk. This would make it easier for me to locate pictures based on my criteria. Is there a way to do this or a tool that will do it for me?

P.S. I have turned off the preference so that iPhoto will not copy the photos.

I am in exactly the same situation as you. So far I have found no solution. I keep hearing that I should just give in to the way iPhoto categorizes. I just can't see the logic in iPhoto not using my folder structure. I am a new Mac user and I am enjoying the experience so far. But after three months of being a Mac owner I still don't use iPhoto. Don't think I ever will unless it changes. I come from the Linux world where a major rule is that the software should adapt to the user. Not the other way around. It doesn't always work out that way but it is still the philosophy. I'm still a happy Mac user though. Good luck.

To the OP: Why not just move your photos from your disk to "Pictures" instead of iPhoto? If you don't like the way iPhoto sorts photos, then use Finder's folder structure since it allows you to keep your folder sorting the way it is.

If you want to use the same file structure why waste time importing your photos to iPhoto? You can make the same folder structure in iPhoto as you have, but would be a waste of time and not help you find photos at all. In a few years from now are you going to remember what year aunt Mary was at the Christmas party wearing the Santa hat? Was it 2007 or 2008? You could dig down in your folders and look for it or if you were using Smart Albums and Keywords in iPhoto you could find it with just a few key strokes. How about if you wanted to find all the photos of aunt Mary or just all of aunt Mary's photos taken at all Christmas party's. Importing photos in to Events is just a place to start, you would still have to remember what Event has the photo you want. Smart Albums and keywords let you find any photo easy and fast.

The above replies are correct. I too love the good old windows file tree structure, and became very comfortable with doing my own organizing just like you. So, just use a folder and Finder if that's what you want. It will work and look just like your Windows file tree.

If you would rather get more into the Mac world with your setup, take a look at Aperture. The price has come down, and it offers a more Windows like organizational file structure than iPhoto. You will also like the editing features.

See that is the problem. I can keep all the work I have done and use finder, but not use the nice features in iPhoto or I can use iPhoto and have to redo all the work I put into creating all the folders/albums that I have created before.
Let us say a photo is in pictures/2008/pets/karli on the disk. Why can iPhoto automatically create the following:
That is all I am asking. I am a computer programmer on Unix systems, this should not be brain surgery to do. I am just not familiar with all the intricacies with Apple and do not have the times to learn how to write programs for it.
Also do not tell me that the folders I have created have been lost. Keep in mind I turned off the feature to copy the pictures to the iPhoto structure (why that is the default I do not know).

Hi guys, have a look in my sig, I recorded a guide for iPhoto. It may or may not help you out. I am a newish switcher too.

chrismac said:

Hi guys, have a look in my sig, I recorded a guide for iPhoto. It may or may not help you out. I am a newish switcher too.

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and subscribed

I understand where you're coming from. I am not a huge fan of iphoto myself. Perhaps one day I'll love it but right now now so much. I usually just put my photos in the pictures folder and organize them to my liking. I feel like iphoto almost does too much if that makes sense. I really don't care about some of the features it offers. Funny too because the sales person at Apple was really using this software to sell me on my MBP and I was more interested in what the machine was capable of rather than nifty photo software. I'm still learning to use iphoto so maybe that's part of the problem. We'll see.

VegasGeorge said:

The above replies are correct. I too love the good old windows file tree structure, and became very comfortable with doing my own organizing just like you. So, just use a folder and Finder if that's what you want. It will work and look just like your Windows file tree.

If you would rather get more into the Mac world with your setup, take a look at Aperture. The price has come down, and it offers a more Windows like organizational file structure than iPhoto. You will also like the editing features.

Click to expand...

In the past, when remedies like this were proposed, some posters would warn of losing the photos altogether if the photos were simply copy/pasted or dragged to another folder outside of iPhoto (I cannot remember exactly the concern). Can photos be dragged to a folder on the desktop or into another folder without losing or corrupting them? I've been afraid to try this yet.