iPhoto '11 is driving me insane! (Reorganizing pictures)

[PinkyMacGodess]

I've got a mass of pictures from a vacation I recently took. I combined the pictures from my iPhone and my point-and-shoot and iPhoto '11 is driving me insane!

What it is doing is when I grab a number of photos and try to move them say up, I select them, then attempt to drag and drop them to a point near the top. What happens next is what is killing me. The Photos *ZOOM* to the top, and then the display snaps to the bottom. I try to creep them to the top, and they *SNAP* to the bottom again. It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen, and proving to be most frustration...I have taken to selecting a single picture and moving it from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen, and then scrolling up and doing the same thing. Over and over and over again...

Most frustrating...

My goal is to produce a slide show of the pictures, and then either burn DVD's or stick it up on a web page. Is there another less frustrating program that I could use to get what I want? (Plus iPhoto has taken to sticking many pictures out of any discernible order too, necessitating the reorganization) iPhoto is not making me happy as I have five albums to sort and combine into a final show...

Someone please talk me out of the trees...

Thanks...

 

[palmharbor]

iphoto not intuitive

[SIZE=[B]"4"]I need to take a photo out of iPhoto on to the desktop
but the Geeks who designed it never thought that anyone could possibly
want to take a photo out and drag it to the Desktop. What were they thinking. I got an error message trying to export it and had to call AppleCare
and he gave me a long procedure to make it happen...iPhoto was not designed to be intuitive....not anymore.[/SIZE][/B]

 

[snberk103]

I've got a mass of pictures ...
Someone please talk me out of the trees...

Thanks...

Without seeing what you are doing, it is difficult to suggest a "fix"... there may be something simple, but without being able to see ...

I assume you are working in an Album? Have you zoomed to the smallest size?
There may be a workaround ... I've duplicated what I think you are trying to do, and I can see the issue of the display bouncing to the top or bottom.

So.... assuming you want to move 3 photos (say 3 photos of your dog) near the end of the album to a position near the middle - think in reverse. Select and move the images that are between where you want to move the dog photos to, and the dog photos themselves. Start with the image that will come immediately after the dog photos, and Click it. Then Shift+Click the last image before that the dog photos. This will select everything in between those two clicks. Then Click and hold that last photo and drag the selected pile of photos to a position after the dog photos and release. This will, in effect, move the 3 dog photos to the middle of the Album, or wherever you need them.

I realize that this is a workaround, but if it helps you finish your project then that is a good thing. Please take the time to send the bug report to Apple - in the online Help there appears a mechanism for doing so.

I hope this is clear... easier to do than to explain in words.

 

[Mike in Kansas]

Are you trying to organize these photos in an "event" or an "album/project"? You can only organize photos in an event by using the "View>Sort Photos" command. However, once you create an album or project, you can then drag those photos around any way you want, as well as sort by various attributes.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Start with the image that will come immediately after the dog photos, and Click it. Then Shift+Click the last image before that the dog photos. This will select everything in between those two clicks. Then Click and hold that last photo and drag the selected pile of photos to a position after the dog photos and release. This will, in effect, move the 3 dog photos to the middle of the Album, or wherever you need them.

I hadn't thought of doing that. I didn't know if I had the mouse turned to loose, or tight, but I guess this will work better than nothing. I just may end up moving a whole bunch of pictures to a different part of the timeline. Yes, I am working in an album. I have also started breaking down the pictures into smaller classifications to make the number of images to move less...

It's weird. Sometimes I can make it crawl towards the top, but then it will *SNAP* to the top, and if I pause too long, it will *SNAP* to the bottom... MOST annoying program I've ever tried to use... I was just looking for a 'Yep, happens to me all the time' and perhaps a 'here's how I fought it, and won'. Also, what is the latest version of iPhoto? (Guess I can look at the Apple Store)

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Are you trying to organize these photos in an "event" or an "album/project"? You can only organize photos in an event by using the "View>Sort Photos" command. However, once you create an album or project, you can then drag those photos around any way you want, as well as sort by various attributes.

Sorry, missed your response. OK. Well, what is a 'smart album'? I will try to look it up, but I'm curious what that does... And a 'project'? Is that a reference to 'album'?

Thanks for the response.

I'm current too, 9.4.2... Makes me wonder why it's so bad to use...

 

[James_C]

PinkMacGodess, you might find it useful to work through the iPhoto tutorials on Apples iPhoto support page. It will answer a lot of your questions and I am sure you will get something out of them. They are quite short and cover a lot of the basics.

 

[snberk103]

Sorry, missed your response. OK. Well, what is a 'smart album'? I will try to look it up, but I'm curious what that does... And a 'project'? Is that a reference to 'album'?

Thanks for the response.

I'm current too, 9.4.2... Makes me wonder why it's so bad to use...

I think you have found a legitimate bug. I also found it very frustrating to move a few photos from one of the ends into a middle position. (I don't use iPhoto much anymore, so I'm a bit rusty... but I do keep a copy around for various reasons).

A Smart Album is a very cool feature. One of the features that makes a Digital Asset Manager (like iPhoto) much much more powerful than just nested folders. Check the tutorials.... and if you have more questions. The short version is that it is a permanent search. However, you can not rearrange the order of images inside a Smart Album.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I think you have found a legitimate bug. I also found it very frustrating to move a few photos from one of the ends into a middle position. (I don't use iPhoto much anymore, so I'm a bit rusty... but I do keep a copy around for various reasons).

A Smart Album is a very cool feature. One of the features that makes a Digital Asset Manager (like iPhoto) much much more powerful than just nested folders. Check the tutorials.... and if you have more questions. The short version is that it is a permanent search. However, you can not rearrange the order of images inside a Smart Album.

Thanks! I am beginning to wonder if anyone can rearrange photos in a standard album too... I don't think they are staying where I put them. I wanted to arrange them before I tried to make a slideshow. Seems like a simple, and worthy goal, ehh... I gave up in disgust last night, and will tackle it again later today.

I did see the slideshow tutorial and am not thinking this will be a smooth and easy process... I do realize that I will have to jettison some of the pictures, which I will have to live with I guess...

Damned ornery program...

 

[snberk103]

Thanks! I am beginning to wonder if anyone can rearrange photos in a standard album too... I don't think they are staying where I put them. I wanted to arrange them before I tried to make a slideshow. Seems like a simple, and worthy goal, ehh... I gave up in disgust last night, and will tackle it again later today.

I did see the slideshow tutorial and am not thinking this will be a smooth and easy process... I do realize that I will have to jettison some of the pictures, which I will have to live with I guess...

Damned ornery program...

Rearranging photos in standard Album is straight forward - except for the issue you started the thread with (when you have a large number and want to scroll slowly to the middle).... so, if you are having problems it may not be a 'standard' Album. Events and Smart Albums can not be rearranged... perhaps you are in one of those?

I don't do slideshows, so I have very little experience with those..... sorry.

Keep plugging away... soon something will 'click' and it will all make sense. Hopefully.

 

[Mac Eagle]

Hey Pinky, I just tried this on my machine (iMac 2011 i7 3.4) with iPhoto 9.4.1 (been staying away from 9.4.2 because of some issues i've seen reported about that version) and I am not having any issues like you described.

I am a heavy user of iPhoto (use it practically every day) so I feel I know my way around it pretty good. I assume you are using a Standard album and not working with an Event or a Smart album? Look in the View menu and under Sort Photos make sure that Manually is not grayed out (if it is, then you are probably working with the wrong type of view).

I have tried this in an album with 600+ pictures. I grab about 90 from the bottom of the album and I was able to drag then to any spot in the album that I wanted while the other photos "shifted" around where I was moving them to. I was able to place them at any point (middle, beginning, end, etc). I could then leave the Album and come back to it and the photos were still in their new location.

What type of machine are you using? The jumping may be because it is a little slow and can't keep up.

Anyway, I hope you have some luck with this!