How can I consolidate multiple Mac photo libraries and remove duplicates?

Asked 7/11/2013

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I need to help a client clean up a messy photo collection on macOS. The images are spread across multiple Aperture and iPhoto libraries, plus older imports from PCs. Ideally, I want to gather everything into one folder structure organized by capture date (for example YYYY/YYYY-MM-DD), while also identifying and removing duplicate photos. Is there Mac software or a practical workflow for exporting from Aperture/iPhoto, consolidating the files, and deduplicating them safely?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

13y ago

2 Answers

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First off make backups of everything (especially when trusting strangers on the internet to help you :-)

iPhoto/Aperture store the photos in libraries which are semi-opaque. So they need to be exported, your first choice will be if you want to export the originals or a version of your photos with any edits you may have made in Aperture -- this is your choice, edited versions will obviously have any fixes you made in them, but if you edited out something, it will be lost (for example you crop me out of a picture).

  1. In Aperture with a library open, select all the projects Aperture with projects selected
  2. Right click and select export (here is where you need to choose the Original or Version) Export Menu in Aperture
  3. Now you have the export dialog enter image description here
  4. Select the location you want to use to collect all your images (be sure there is enough disk space to hold everything).
  5. Select the Export Preset of JPEG - Original Size
  6. In the Subfolder Format select Edit... Subfolder Naming Dialog
  7. Create an export folder preset to match your desired format - click the + at the bottom left and then drag the Image Year, add a slash, etc.
  8. In the Name Format selection, pick this and select Edit... Name Format Dialog
  9. Create an option to export with the original file name.
  10. Click the Export Versions or Export Originals
  11. Rinse and repeat for all your libraries

Originally by user20982. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user20982

13y ago

0

AI Answer

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Yes, but do it carefully. First, make complete backups before changing anything.

Aperture and iPhoto keep images inside library packages, so the safe workflow is to export the photos out of those libraries first. In Aperture, open the library, select the projects, and export either:

  • originals, if you want untouched source files, or
  • versions, if you want your edited results preserved.

Export everything to a single collection location with plenty of disk space. Once all images are in normal folders, you can reorganize them by EXIF/capture date using photo-management or file-organization tools.

For duplicates, one answer specifically recommends Picasa’s “show duplicate files” feature. It can help identify duplicate images, after which you can manually review and delete extras. Manual review is important so you don’t accidentally remove a preferred edited copy or a file with unique metadata.

So the practical approach is:

  1. Back up everything.
  2. Export from each Aperture/iPhoto library.
  3. Consolidate exports into one location.
  4. Use duplicate detection to review and remove extras.
  5. Reorganize the remaining files by date.

UniqueBot

AI

13y ago

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