Section 12.3. Managing Photo Libraries


12.3. Managing Photo Libraries

iPhoto can comfortably manage as many as 25,000 photos in a single collection, give or take a few thousand, depending on your Mac model and how much memory it has.

But for some people, 25,000 pictures isn't a very distant threshold. As your collection of digital photos grows into the tens of thousands (and if you have a digital camera, this will happen sooner than you think), iPhoto eventually starts slowing down as it sifts through more and more data to find and display your pictures. At that point, scrolling the photos in the main Photo Library becomes an exercise in patience that would drive a Zen master crazy.

When your Photo Library becomes too large to manage comfortably, you can always do what people used to do way back in iPhoto 2, when the limit was only 2,000 pictures: Archive some of the photos to CD or DVD using the Burn command described earlier, and then delete the archived photos from your library to shrink it down in size . For example, you might choose to archive older photos, or albums you rarely use.


Note: Remember, archiving photos to CD using the Burn command doesn't automatically remove them from iPhoto; you have to do that part yourself. If you don't, your Photo Library won't get any smaller. Just make sure that the CD you've burned works properly before deleting your original photos from iPhoto.

12.3.1. Multiple iPhoto Libraries

Here's a fantastic way to keep your Photo Library from becoming impossibly bloated without transferring part of it to a CD: Start a new one, right there on your hard drive.

Here's what splitting your photo collection into smaller libraries gains you:

  • iPhoto itself is much faster, especially during scrolling, because there are fewer photos in it.

  • You can keep different types of collections or projects separate. You might want to maintain a Home library for personal use, for example, and a Work library for images that pertain to your business. Or you can start a new library every other year.

12.3.1.1. Creating new libraries

For the first time ever, iPhoto provides a built-in tool for retiring one Photo Library and starting a fresh one. You can use this trick both to create new libraries and, thereafter, to switch back and forth between several of them:

  1. Quit iPhoto .

    You're going to do the next step in the Finder.

  2. While pressing the Option key, open iPhoto again .

    When iPhoto starts up, it senses that you're up to something. It offers you the chance to create a new library, or to choose an existing one (Figure 12-3).

    Figure 12-3. If you hide the iPhoto Library from iPhoto, the program invites you either to find it or to create a new one. If your goal is to begin a fresh library for the new year, for example, click Create Library.


  3. Click Create Library. In the following dialog box, type a name for the new library (like New iPhoto Library ) and click Save .

    You're offered not only the chance to create a new library, but even the opportunity to name it anything you like and choose a location for it that's not your regularly scheduled Pictures folder.

    When iPhoto finishes opening, all remnants of your old Photo Library are gone. You're left with a blank window, ready to import photos.

Using this technique, you can spawn as many new Photo Libraries as you need. You can archive the old libraries on CD or DVD, move them to another Mac, or just keep them somewhere on your hard drive so that you can swap any one of them back in whenever you need it, as shown in Figure 12-4.

As for how you swap them back in you have two options: Apple's way, and an easier way.

12.3.1.2. Swapping libraries (Apple's method)

Once you've built yourself at least two iPhoto Library folders, you can use the same Option-key trick (see step 2 above) to switch among them. When the dialog box in Figure 12-3 appears, click Choose Library, and then find and open the library folder that you want to open.

Figure 12-4. iPhoto Library Manager is a program that lets you switch between as many different iPhoto Library folders as you want. Just select a library folder from the list on the left by turning on the corresponding checkbox, then relaunch iPhoto to view photos from the selected library. Double-click a library name in the list on the left to edit it. The names that you give your libraries within iPhoto Library Manager are independent of names of the corresponding library folders on disk.


When iPhoto finishes reopening, you'll find the new set of photos in place.

12.3.1.3. Swapping libraries (automatic method)

If that Option-key business sounds a little disorienting, you're not alone. Brian Webster, a self-proclaimed computer nerd, thought the same thingbut he decided to do something about it. He wrote iPhoto Library Manager, a free program that streamlines the creation and swapping of iPhoto libraries. Waste no time in downloading it from the "Missing CD" page at www.missingmanuals.com or Brian's own site at http://homepage.mac.com/bwebster.

The beauty of this program is that it offers a tidy list of all your Library folders; you can switch among them with two quick clicks.

Here are a few pointers for using iPhoto Library Manager:

  • The program doesn't just activate existing iPhoto Library folders; it can also create new Library folders for you. Just click the New Library button in the toolbar, choose a location and name for the library, and click OK (see Figure 12-4).

  • You still have to quit and relaunch iPhoto for a change in libraries to take effect. Conveniently, iPhoto Library Manager includes Quit iPhoto and Relaunch iPhoto buttons in its toolbar.


    Tip: You can also switch libraries using the pop-up menu from iPhoto Library Manager's Dock icon.
  • iPhoto Library Manager is fully AppleScriptable. If you're handy with writing Apple-Script scripts, you can write one that swaps your various libraries automatically with a double-click.




iLife 05. The Missing Manual
iLife 05: The Missing Manual
ISBN: 0596100361
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 314
Authors: David Pogue

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