Manage photos on Mac

In early 2015, Apple introduced the Photos application as a replacement for long-time iPhoto. The program offers the possibility to import, manage and edit photos. Read in the article ‘Import photos to Mac’ how to put photos in the program.

Open the Photos program:

• click on finder > apps.
• Double click on photos.

On the left side of the Photos window is a menu that gives access to the photos:

• Photos or Library
  Here are all the photos in the library. The photos are automatically sorted by date.
• Looking back
  With ‘Looking back’ you can relive special moments. The Photos program automatically creates short films of photos and videos that have been added in the past period.
• People
  The Photos program recognizes people in photos and creates folders with photos that contain the same person. More on that further on.
• Places
  Under ‘Places’ is a map with photos grouped by place where they were taken.
• Favorites
  You can mark photos as favorites. All photos with this mark are in this folder.
• Recent
  The latest photos can be found here.
• Imported
  Photos that have been imported, for example from a photo camera, will be placed under this heading.
• Recently deleted
  Deleted photos will remain in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days. After that, the photos are permanently deleted.
• Albums
  Under ‘Albums’ there are three folders. Under ‘Media types’ there are standard folders in which the images are divided by type. For example, there is a folder for videos and there is a folder for selfies. Under ‘Shared’ or ‘Shared albums’ you can create albums yourself and share them with others. Under the folder ‘My albums’ are albums that you have created yourself.

As we mentioned in the previous section, under ‘Photos’ are all the photos stored in the program. You will see all thumbnails of these photos. Adjust with the scroll bar At the top left of the window, select the size of the thumbnails.

In addition, there are different views: Years, Months, Days and All Photos. At Years there are blocks with the year and a photo from the year. Double click on such a block to switch to the Months view. You can click through to the Days view again. Both views show a few thumbnails of photos from that period. Do you want to see all the photos? Then choose the ‘All photos’ option.

View a photo by double clicking on it. The photo has all kinds of extra information:

• At the top right of the window, click the icon with the letter i .
• An overview with information about the photo opens, such as with which camera the photo was taken, the resolution and possibly where and when the photo was taken.
• To make the photos easier to search, add keywords or a description/caption to the photo. Click on the Add a description/caption or Add a keyword and type the information.
• Click on the circle with a cross to close the window.

The Photos program also has a search function. Search the photos by place, date or name, for example. Even more convenient, you can also search by keywords and descriptions that you have given to photos. But the search function has even more possibilities. It is even possible to search for objects, such as dog. The program will then filter all photos that contain a dog.

The search bar is at the top right of the window. click on Search, type your search term and press the Enter key.

In the ‘Persons’ album, photos are organized based on facial recognition. This way you have an overview of all photos that feature a specific person.

• Click in the left menu under ‘Photos’ on People.
• This album contains photos of the people the program has recognized most often.
• Add the person’s name to the album. To do this, move the mouse over the photo and click + Name.
• Type the name and press the Enter key.
• If requested, attach additional photos and click Ready.
• Double click on the person to view all photos. Use the arrow at the top left of the window to return to the overview.
• Is the same person twice in this overview?
  • Click on the first photo, hold down the Cmd key and click on the second photo.
  • Right click on the second photo again.
  • click on Add 2 people together.
  • click on Yes or merge.

Users can also create their own albums. Think of an album from the holiday or family day.

• Move the mouse pointer over ‘My albums’ in the left menu.
• A plus sign appears. Click on the plus sign.
• click on Album.
• Press the Backspace key on the keyboard. Type the name for your new album and click the Enter key.
• Click on the map in the left menu Library or photos.
• Right-click on a photo you want to add.
• click on add to and then the name of the new folder.

The album has been created and the photos have been added. In this way you can create all kinds of folders to give an overview to your photos.