Photo management

[Pierre535]

For many years, I saved my photos in folders, for example, Christmas 2002, Christmas 2005 Etc. I also had sub folders like Christmas USA etc. is there any way to import these to my Photos album and retain the folders?

 

[firedept]

I wish. I do the same. Have never found a way to do it.

 

[Slartibart]

Well, that’s an easy one:

1. Drag the Folder (the one with all the subfolders of images) onto the Photos App icon in the Dock.
   • Doesn’t matter if the Photos App is already open or not.
   • If you drag it into the Photos App window, Photos will behave differently and will import the images without any organization.
2. Click the checkbox next to the words “Keep Folder Organization” on the top right.
   • The Screen should say “Import” in bold.
3. Click the blue button, “Import All New Items”
   • Imported photos will show up under “Imports” in the sidebar.
4. Enjoy the wonderful organization added to the sidebar on the left-hand side of the window.
   • Each imported folder will have an album within it.
   • In Photos, Folders hold Albums and Albums hold images. Keep this in mind.

And here is the movie ?

 

[Deanna Z]

Slartibart's answer is spot on. I'll just suggest that, as the first step, open the Photos library, click Photos > Preferences, and in the General tab, see whether "Importing: Copy items to the Photos library" is checked or not:

- If checked, the photos will be imported, and will take twice as much space (X GB in folders, X GB in the Photos library).

- If unchecked, Photos app will only create references (pointers) to the photos in your folders and not actually import them into the library. This won't take much extra space but you shouldn't move the folders or the photos within them, otherwise you'll have broken links.