Photos app question

[falkedup]

I have three questions about the photos app.

1. If all my photos were moved to the photos app, can I delete the original files from finder?

2. Once all my photos are in the app, can they be restored back to files in finder?

3. Are those photos in finder taking up extra space.

I do not have iCloud photos enabled just so you guys know.

 

[Bending Pixels]

!. Yes, but I wouldn't recommend deleting them unless they're backed up to an external drive.

2. Yes - via export

3. Yes

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"2. Once all my photos are in the app, can they be restored back to files in finder?"

Are you really intending this question to mean something like:
If I currently have all my photos in an ordered "folders and files" arrangement, can I get this arrangement BACK after migrating everything to Photos and then deleting my pics from the finder?

I would think that the correct answer is, "no".
Because although you can export photos "out of" Photos, I don't see any way you could export groups (or large groups) of photos out, and "into" the original folder/file hierarchy from which they came.
In other words, Photos (like iPhoto before it) creates its own "library" of originals, but it does so using its own database arrangement that is nothing like finder's.

I think your better option would be to use a "referenced library".
Under this scheme, Photos will leave your originals "where they are" on your drive (presumably in an orderly folder/file arrangement), and create its own "library" of previews and information (so that it can display the edits you make within it).

There is an option in Photos' preferences to set this.

Personal experience:
I'm hopelessly "old school" in that I prefer to use a structured "folder/file" arrangement for all my photos, music, etc.
I want to be the one determining the order in which folders are structured, and to which folders go the files. I'm not interested in a "database" arrangement as such is created by Photos, iPhoto, iTunes, or whatever, that makes "going back" to a finder-style structure of file placement all-but impossible. But that's just me.
Your needs may be different, and probably are...

 

[falkedup]

OP wrote:
"2. Once all my photos are in the app, can they be restored back to files in finder?"

Are you really intending this question to mean something like:
If I currently have all my photos in an ordered "folders and files" arrangement, can I get this arrangement BACK after migrating everything to Photos and then deleting my pics from the finder?

I would think that the correct answer is, "no".
Because although you can export photos "out of" Photos, I don't see any way you could export groups (or large groups) of photos out, and "into" the original folder/file hierarchy from which they came.
In other words, Photos (like iPhoto before it) creates its own "library" of originals, but it does so using its own database arrangement that is nothing like finder's.

I think your better option would be to use a "referenced library".
Under this scheme, Photos will leave your originals "where they are" on your drive (presumably in an orderly folder/file arrangement), and create its own "library" of previews and information (so that it can display the edits you make within it).

There is an option in Photos' preferences to set this.

More like: Id like to delete the chaos of spread out files everywhere else then if i need to export everything out of photos at one time, say to an external HDD, it will be way more organized than before.(even if it is only because all my photos would be in one folder)

 

[Weaselboy]

I have three questions about the photos app.

1. If all my photos were moved to the photos app, can I delete the original files from finder?

2. Once all my photos are in the app, can they be restored back to files in finder?

3. Are those photos in finder taking up extra space.

I do not have iCloud photos enabled just so you guys know.

1. Only if you have this box checked when you do the import. Otherwise Photos just points to the original photos and does not store its own copy. If you check this box, then import, yes all the photos will be in the Photos library and you can delete the originals.

2. Yes, but they will not be in any folders, they will all just be dumped into one folder with no organization at all.

3. Yes, if you are keeping the originals (with the box checked I mentioned) as well as the Photos library you are using double space.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

More like: Id like to delete the chaos of spread out files everywhere else then if i need to export everything out of photos at one time, say to an external HDD, it will be way more organized than before.(even if it is only because all my photos would be in one folder)

If you haven't been using iPhoto or Aperture (don't have a pre-existing iPhoto/Aperture library) and wish to have your existing images inside the Photos library: Make sure that Photos > Preferences > General: Importing is set to "Copy items to the Photos Library." Then use Photos > File > Import... After importing you'd be able to delete the image files that are "outside" the Photos library.

If you've previously been using iPhoto or Aperture with "referenced" images (images that are "spread out everywhere") you have several approaches:

iPhoto: First, convert the iPhoto library to Photos. Then, in Photos' Photos view, select the images you want to bring "inside" the Photos library and use the Photos > Files > Consolidate... command. After consolidating you can delete the images files that are "outside" the Photos library

Aperture: Consolidate your images before you convert the library from Aperture to Photos: Aperture > File > Consolidate Original... (If you've already converted your Aperture library to Photos, then use the method I described for iPhoto in the previous paragraph.)

Note: If you plan to add/convert an existing Photos library to iCloud Photo Library, be sure to Consolidate first - referenced images are not copied to iCloud.

 

[falkedup]

I haven't used either. They were all just in folders

 

[falkedup]

Thank you everyone btw