"How can I organise the photos in my Mac's Photos library without using Albums?"

Over the weekend just gone, I got a lovely email from someone who had purchased the iTandCoffee guide "The Photos App on the Mac (Catalina Edition)" - a 97 year old gentleman from Inverness in Scotland!

Here's what he wrote:

"The Photos App Catalina Edition” has just been purchased by a 97 year old in Inverness, Sotland. He is seeking to rearrange the pictures in his Photos Library which has 30+ years of accumulated imports from 4 Macs dating back to probably OS 7.0. Your  book only deals with organising by creating albums, not the library content itself. Is there a command to organise the Library mix before creating albums?.The bulk of my collection is historical scans with no camera information.
Regards from otherwise delighted Jim W

Here's the response I gave him - in case any other reader has a similar question about 'arranging' their own Photos library.

"Hello Jim – from the other side of the world, in Melbourne Australia.
 
The Photo Library itself is designed to show your photos based on the metadata held about each photo – by date in the Photos view, by People (faces), by place, by type of photo.
 
The Photos view is particularly good for viewing the timeline of your photos – by year, month, day.
 
For any photos from older cameras that don’t perhaps have a date set correctly, you can adjust the date so they appear in the correct place in the timeline. I find this the best way of making sure I can always find my photos by date. 
 
Refer Page 77 for details of how to change a photo’s date.
 
To organise, group and view them in other ways, you have to create your own Albums and Folders.
 
When you choose photos for your Albums, you are not moving them out of the main Library – you are just creating an index of photos you wish to see grouped together.
 
Under macOS Big Sur and iOS/iPadOS 14, you can also now add captions to photos in your library. This then allows you to set up ‘smart albums’ that are based on these captions.
 
Here is one of the latest tips from our Handy Hint Newsletter – on how to add captions to your photos in the Photos app on Mac and iPad/iPhone
 
If you are interested in learning more, we have the video recording of the 2-part class series that we ran recently. You can purchase access here, then (once you have purchased and set up your access), can watch the videos here.
 
I hope all that helps in some way."

For anyone interested in obtaining a copy of the guide to which Jim from Scotland refers, here are the paperback and digital versions available for purchase from the iTandCoffee online store. (Note. The Big Sur edition of this guide will be available in a couple of weeks. If you are looking for earlier editions of this guide - for High Sierra or Sierra - email us at [email protected].)

On Sale

On Sale

The Photos App on the Mac - Edition 4, Photos 5.0 macOS Catalina (Paperback)

A$27.50 A$17.50

This comprehensive and easy-to-follow 95-page guide will tell you all you need to know about using the Photos app​ on your Mac to manage all those photos and videos. It covers all the latest features offered by mac OS Catalina, released late in 2019.   

Here's the table of contents: ​                                

• A guided tour of Photos
• Viewing your Photo Library as Moments, Collection, Years
• Other options for viewing your Library
• Viewing individual photos/videos 
• Memories - Re-visit your past through photos
• Introducing Albums
• Albums - Media Types
• Selecting Photos
• Deleting photos
• Organising your Photos - Find your People
• Organising your Photos - Creating an Album
• Organising your Photos - Adding Photos/Videos to an Album
• Organising your Photos - Managing Albums
• Grouping Albums into Folders
• Sharing Photos and Videos
• Viewing your photos as a Slideshow
• Getting Photos into your Photos Library
• Where do my photos ‘live’
• The Info option
• Trimming Videos
• Duplicating photos and videos
• Searching for photos 
• Organising your Photos - Smart Albums
• Sorting out all those Duplicates
• Photo Books
• Now let’s talk about Photos in iCloud

        

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The Photos App on the Mac - Edition 4, Photos 5.0 macOS Catalina (PDF Download)

A$16.90

This comprehensive and easy-to-follow 106-page guide will tell you all you need to know about using the Photos app​ on your Mac to manage all those photos and videos. It covers all the latest features offered by macOS Catalina, released in late 2099.

Here's the table of contents:                        

• A guided tour of Photos
• Viewing your Photo Library as Moments, Collection, Years
• Other options for viewing your Library
• Viewing individual photos/videos 
• Memories - Re-visit your past through photos
• Introducing Albums
• Albums - Media Types
• Selecting Photos
• Deleting photos
• Organising your Photos - Find your People
• Organising your Photos - Creating an Album
• Organising your Photos - Adding Photos/Videos to an Album
• Organising your Photos - Managing Albums
• Grouping Albums into Folders
• Sharing Photos and Videos
• Viewing your photos as a Slideshow
• Getting Photos into your Photos Library
• Where do my photos ‘live’
• The Info option
• Trimming Videos
• Duplicating photos and videos
• Searching for photos
• Organising your Photos - Smart Albums
• Sorting out all those Duplicates
• Photo Books
• Now let’s talk about Photos in iCloud

Shop

Classes about Photos

Here are the upcoming classes that iTandCoffee will be running on the topic of Photos - all online classes, so you can attend from anywhere!