Iphoto 08 Technical Query

[eASY aDDICT]

This is a fairly complicated one that I cannot explain and need some help on.

We got a new Macbook at Xmas having had a Mac Mini for the last 3 years. As the mini had the older version of iphoto and my wife being particularly anal about file structures we didn't use it for our photo library but intead had a folder titled Tim and Helens photos and then sub folders of all groups of photos e.g. Tims Birthday etc..

Now I set up the new Macbook and dragged the whole file system from a backup into the iphoto icon. It then proceeded to setup all the "Events" in its own way by time etc.

I was happy with this and had started to name some events etc where they had been split.

My wife was not happy with this and decided to create a heirachy of folders in the left hand iphoto window and move all the photos there.

The photos would then appear in both "Events", "Library" and her folders.

Now this morning I got a call from her saying all the photos had gone!!

Not being there I may need to fill in some gaps later but from the reseach I have done it could be one of a couple of things and I want to avoid having the panic call again.

Firstly it could have been that there was a permissions problem but as I only have one user account set up I am not sure that is it.

Secondly she has set up her own file structure in an incorrect way and it has corrupted things.

We do have a time machine backup but before I needed to do this the photos mysteriously reappeared after her opening and closing iphoto about 10 times.

Can anyone shed any light and what is the best way to set up the library so as not to upset the structure going forward, if indeed this was the problem.

Cheers.

[Fei Fong Wong]

I just let iPhoto manage them. In Preferences > Advanced make sure "Copy items to the iPhoto library" is checked and then import your photos. iPhoto will split them into events by itself based on what it believes are different events and store the actual files in the "iPhoto Library" folder in . It doesn't always get it right but you can edit an event, merge them etc. if not. There's no need to have folders then. Events basically are your folders in iPhoto '08.

The only problem you'll possibly have is if you want access to the same photos in different user accounts. They'll basically only be in one of your "Pictures" folders. If this is the case you can rectify the matter using Access Control Lists.

1. Create or copy/move an "iPhoto Library" folder in /Users/Shared/
2. Enable ACL on your file system by opening Terminal and typing the following: sudo fsaclctl -p / -e
3. Add one ACL rule for each user that must have full access to that Library:
   sudo chmod +a "UserName allow delete,chown,list,search,add_file,add_subdirectory ,delete_child,file_inherit,directory_inherit" /Users/Shared/iPhoto\ Library
4. Repeat for each user. Change UserName with the short username of each user.

[Strolls]

Without going into details: if you use iPhoto, then don't try & organise photos in actual folders.

The whole "philosophy" behind iPhoto is that it takes care of all that for you and you don't have to care which folder you put the files in - you just organise them by album, "event" or category.

The advantage of this is that it allows you to put photos in more than one album (or whatever) and that it makes a backup of the original photo when you crop or edit it, without you having to see the clutter of the extra copies. (You can find the original version by searching the iPhoto library in Finder, but you can also simply revert any edits to a photo by simply right-clicking it in iPhoto and choosing the appropriate option - that just makes the original copy - the one copied off your camera in the first place - into the main version for that photo).

The way iPhoto "messes about" with your folder organisation is a huge pain if you insist on doing things that way, or you can just forget how you used to do things and iPhoto will just do everything for you. Then iPhoto becomes pretty marvellous - consider iPhoto to be the filesystem for your photos. I suggest you try "retraining" yourselves, and see how you get on with it.

Stroller

[Strolls]

In case anyone's wondering why ACLs are necessary in order to share the iPhoto library:

http://ad.hominem.org/log/2005/07/acl.php

[eASY aDDICT]

Thanks for the replies on this..

Left it to do its stuff and then also created "Albums" for some sets of pictures to keep the wife happy!!