How to Consolidate an Aperture Library

[dmw16]

I am hoping some of the Aperture users here can help me out.

I used to work off of an external hard drive and some of my originals ended up on that drive in exposed folders, other projects ended up in the Aperture Library (single icon style).

I like the theory of exposed folders, but for me the library is just easier. So...

Is there a way to condense everything down into my library so I can move it around more easily?

Thanks.

 

[swordio777]

Assuming the drive your library is on has enough space to hold all your photos, simply select all your photographs, then go to:
File > Consolidate Originals...

A new box will appear asking if you want to move or copy the files. Select move, then hit OK.

This will move all your photographs inside your aperture library. It will mean you know exactly where all your photos are, but depending on the number of images you have, could create a very large library file.

Hope that helps.

 

[dmw16]

Assuming the drive your library is on has enough space to hold all your photos, simply select all your photographs, then go to:
File > Consolidate Originals...

A new box will appear asking if you want to move or copy the files. Select move, then hit OK.

This will move all your photographs inside your aperture library. It will mean you know exactly where all your photos are, but depending on the number of images you have, could create a very large library file.

Hope that helps.

That was a big help, thank you! I did this last night except I selected "copy". My library grew quite a bit so I assume hitting "move" wasn't critical? But hitting move will show me what I might have missed.

 

[swordio777]

That was a big help, thank you! I did this last night except I selected "copy". My library grew quite a bit so I assume hitting "move" wasn't critical? But hitting move will show me what I might have missed.

Yes. If you hit "copy" then your original image will stay where it is, but aperture will create a duplicate inside the aperture library. As you've discovered, this will make your aperture library grow dramatically, but unfortunately won't free up any space elsewhere on your drive as you now have 2 copies of all your photos – one inside the library & one outside.

If you use aperture to manage absolutely ALL your images, then you can just delete all your photographs that reside outside the library - There will be a duplicate copy safe inside the library. HOWEVER, if you don't manage absolutely all your photos through Aperture then be VERY careful before deleting anything. You definitely don't want to delete an original file & then discover that you don’t have a copy inside Aperture as well.

Hope that helps.

 

[dmw16]

Yes. If you hit "copy" then your original image will stay where it is, but aperture will create a duplicate inside the aperture library. As you've discovered, this will make your aperture library grow dramatically, but unfortunately won't free up any space elsewhere on your drive as you now have 2 copies of all your photos – one inside the library & one outside.

If you use aperture to manage absolutely ALL your images, then you can just delete all your photographs that reside outside the library - There will be a duplicate copy safe inside the library. HOWEVER, if you don't manage absolutely all your photos through Aperture then be VERY careful before deleting anything. You definitely don't want to delete an original file & then discover that you don’t have a copy inside Aperture as well.

Hope that helps.

I have a 4TB external drive, so no need to delete, I just wanted to get all my photos onto my internal SSD on my rMBP.

Thanks for the help!