How to Organize Your Photos On A Mac

The ULTIMATE guide to Organizing Your Photos On A Mac. The best part about this work-flow is if you use the iCloud Library feature on your Mac and iOS devices, all of the organization and structure we are about to create on your Mac, will sync to your iPhone and iPad.
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Want to Skip Ahead? Click the TIme Code Below to Jump to Different Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:32 Let's Talk About Albums
02:24 Delete All Your Existing Albums
03:10 Creating A "Wrong Date" Album
03:31 A Folder For Every Year
04:14 Creating A Smart Album with Custom Rules
06:28 From Smart Album to Actual Album & Marking Favorites
07:26 Cleaning "Not-So-Favorites" from the Smart Album
08:39 Dupliating Smart Albums to Save Time
10:23 Organize Your Home Movies
10:58 Remove Duplicate Photos from Mac
11:34 Regarding Known issues with "Album is not Any"
You probably have a lot of photos. Everyone does these days. Now, what the heck do you do with them? How do you find... well... anything? The answer is if you watch and follow along, it's gonna look like this:
Follow these directions and when you're done you will have a folder for every year (or group of years) in your Photo Library. All of the events that took place in that year, will be broken down and organized into Albums. This process DOES require you to use a Mac because we are going to utilize the amazingly brilliant feature known as SMART ALBUMS.
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[@sydneyknutsen2492]

Thank u David! What a valuable and TIME SAVING tutorial. Also your advice is spot on: Watch it once, watch it twice BEFORE u take action. There’s much to absorb.

[@ak49mitchell]

Superb class! Thanks for simplifying words: library, album, smart album, folder, etc. And what is deleted and what is not. Always appreciate your talent in doing this. "Pretty eyes" always helps too. Keep it up; you do a good public service.

[@notredox2]

I have spent months studying Mac speed ups and found an awesome website at Mels Speed Method (google it if you're interested)

[@LisaMillenbah]

Your explanation/tutorial is OUTSTANDING!!! So easy to follow and understand (and you covered a LOT of information in just 13 minutes). After organizing, reorganizing and starting over multiple times, with your directions, I finally had ALL 30,000 of our photos smartly organized in warp speed!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

[@davidrohr3884]

Do my albums and shared albums go away? Can they be recreated under the correct year?

[@javtimestwo]

This is exactly what project I need to tackle on my Mac. Soon as I opened photos I realized my sidebar was, "missing". Took me a few minutes to figure out to drag the window to make it larger and BAM-There is the sidebar. I'm a photo newbie and so unorganized I am going to follow everything you say in this video 👏🏼

[@LiahAfshar]

This is probably the best KZbin video ever and it has changed my life.

[@michael_harren]

Welp... I watched this video early yesterday morning and commenced to obsessively organizing my photos from the 60's through today. I love this process and my weird ability to hyper focus on tasks like this, but I am feeling a little bleary eyed and stiff from sitting at the computer so so long though! Thanks for this! It's so nice to have some organization with what was once a black hole of images!

[@raykleiner3151]

This is a superb master class. I completely messed up my album structures on my mac, so have to completely restructure it all over again! For that this video has been invaluable advice. David you are a great teacher!

[@chirperg4765]

Thanks David. I have about 10'000 photos, most of which have not been sorted. This video will save me a ton of time.

[@AffinityJack]

Thank you David, with your tutorials, I organized (and still further organizing) over 20.000 photos over the months. From several devices to one library. Deleting, importing, meta-data, keywords, places, folder, albums ... Great tipps! Soooo useful. The next big step for me will be the scanning of old photos ... Ciao Jack

[@shellmyers4872]

Thank you David! Your classes are the BEST! I am scared because there is so much to do but watching your videos gives me confidence to take one step at a time. I have 20 years of photo chaos!! One step at a time, remove duplicates, merge files, organize files - I don't know if this is the correct order but I am going to try the first one and continue to watch and rewatch your videos! Thank you!!! 💝

[@jozigirl4186]

Thank you David. As a windows user for 30(!) years, I would not have been able to use my Mac without your tutorials.

[@jturcany]

I have been trying to tame first my iPhotos, and now my iCloud Photos libraries for many years, This particular KZbin video finally laid out a path for me to achieve my goal with humor and clarity that go way beyond other tutorials. You have no idea how many hours you have saved for me, which I will now be able to spend with my family instead of sorting through photos of them, bleary-eyed, hunched over a laptop. Thank you so much, David!

[@554058118]

Same!!!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!

[@dom.andreacchio]

This method of organising my photos is not entirely for me. There are however elements of your technique that I can definitely adopt. The one thing that is for certain however is that I really appreciate all your content across your entire channel over the years and your contribution to the community. You’re an absolute legend mate, I wish you a tonne more subscribers and success. Please keep it up🙏 🇦🇺

[@colm5527]

This is by far the best How to Video I have seen on getting my Photo Organized. Thanks David your video are the Best in class!

[@Ostsee89]

This man is a genius. Just what I've been looking for! Thank you for the easy to follow and clear instructions. Very much appreciated.

[@ebelen1]

What a great video! I spent the whole day following your technique on organizing my photos. One, worked great. Two, gives me some organization that I would not have without you. Three, got me playing with my new Mac and listening to my new Airpods so bonus. The one thing that I found from another video after doing this work is creating a smart album to find all pictures that have not been put into albums. I think if you add this to your video, you would have covered 99% of what's needed by most. This happened to me as I had many duplicates and ended up trying to delete most of them with a few that didn't quite make it.

[@Slph435]

I’m so grateful to have run across your photo organization videos! I’ve spent years playing around with different techniques that just didn’t work well. This is a true game changer. Thank you!

[@TechTalkAmerica]

You are so welcome! Please subscribe 👍

[@SJM_Media]

Thank you so much. I've been waiting anxiously for your update for this since you mentioned it a while ago. This will occupy me for a few days now. Your videos are excellent and very well presented. Keep up the good work. Scott (UK) 🇬🇧

[@TechTalkAmerica]

Thanks so much, Scott!

[@kevinmorrisone]

Incredible...started me on a 25 year memory journey and just an excellent tutorial. On my way to amazing organization but also BEING ABLE TO SEE AND ENJOY those memories! Thank you so much!

[@garfield290]

Great class, finally an adequate way to clearly and logically sort my photos. For the video smart album, I added a 3rd rule identical with the photos smart album, i.e. album is not any. Your classes have turned my scepsis into enthusiasm, for which I thank you.

[@JRoChi]

This is the most helpful guide to organizing photos I’ve ever come across over the two decades since I started organizing digital photos. Thank you so much for sharing all of this info!

[@marshiahawkins1]

I've struggled for years with how to organize my large library of photos--this is truly a time AND life-saving lesson. Thank you ever-so-much!

[@Lanardandassociates]

This video, like all of David A Cox's videos, was incredibly helpful. I went from 41,720 photos to 23,224! I bought PowerPhoto and it got rid of the duplicates. However, I did have issues with it crashing quite often. It eventually accomplished what I needed. Thanks David!

[@heathermcfeather3617]

Great class! You have been so helpful. I refer to your tutorials often, and I am never disappointed. I’m especially happy with the ability to create a smart folder that lets me know what photos have not been sorted into an album…..that absolutely saved me! Thanks again!

[@karenroeper5057]

Thanks for a great lesson. I also appreciated the definitions and examples you provided. Very helpful!

[@TrishT1Kitchen]

Such an effective organizing tool-thank you!! I had a couple issues, the second rule, but tips helped!! many thanks!

[@ninapearman]

This tutorial is so generous of your time, to compose and share, it’s totally appreciated. Thank you, you’re the best💗.

[@dineshkukreja4964]

Extremely helpful video! It's concise and full of insights

[@philipaparker]

Wow, this is such a great video. I just organized photos going back to 1998 through 2023. Not a lot of work, discovered tons of old photos and videos. Absolutely great video.

[@andreholmesholmes8303]

I've come to your videos again and again over the years. You put out great content! They are helpful, quick (without feeling rushed) and thorough.

[@nanamurf9430]

Just switched over to a Mac Pro because using a windows based computer just wasn’t working for me. I’m only 2 days in and I’m so happy I switched! And so glad I found your channel and subscribed. Looking forward to watching more of your videos

[@SuperEAKids]

I'm in the process of organising my photos on mac. Glad that I found your useful video and great channel. Thanks!

[@DonB8700]

Terrific video!!! Easy to understand and everything David explains actually works!

[@mavisbrauer]

This video is so useful and easy to understand, that I refer to it every time I want to organize another large group of photos to make sure I get all of the steps right. Much appreciated!

[@daveleonard8294]

David, you are absolutely Brilliant! Also a great presenter!

[@danielkumburis8944]

This works so well. Thank you. I organized 40,000 photos spread over 20 years in a day. So good.

[@chrisf9330]

Thank you so much. Just switch to MacBook after a lifetime user of PC, and it was very confusing. Your video was so informative and clear, with no stupid background music. Thanks a million again!

[@CandiceWA]

You are absolutely genius, David! Thank you so much!

[@zorikn]

Masterful tutorial. Thanks!!!

[@Heyminzllc]

I really needed this guidance. My photo albums have become a dumpster fire of over 50,000 photos and I had no idea where to begin. Thanks for taking the time to make this content!!!

[@LillianKZ123]

WOW! This (you) are amazing. Thank you. My goal this fall is to organize every digital photo we have taken as well as paper photographs. You have given me that way. I happened upon your channel yesterday and am watching again today to take notes.

[@yvonnecamperriovista225]

Well I finally got a Mac, and I immediately checked out your videos. I’ve been following you for several years, thanks for sharing all your knowledge.

[@MoonstruckAcres]

David this was amazing. I can't thank you enough. I can't wait to watch your other videos.

[@nainaiqbal]

Love this tutorial! So helpful and simple!

[@avrumgolub2735]

Thank you, David, especially for the time stamps.

[@TechTalkAmerica]

You're welcome :)

[@lindsaycarey1182]

I have watched this so many times and I thank you so much!!!! It drove me nuts that my phots were not organized the way I wanted them, but now I have them just were I want them!!

[@mario373a]

You're an excellent teacher. This channel should have 1-million + subscribers IMO! Your teaching has motivated me to finally tackle my Apple Photos library. Thank you! :)

[@richardstephenson4575]

Always Great info David Thanks

[@Sythetico]

Excellent...thank you for your time and expertise!

[@jaydabryan8136]

I never leave comments on videos, but this is hands down the best advice I've ever seen. THANK YOU!

[@Our3Bs]

LOVE LOVE The video! I have a question if you could take the time to answer that would be awesome! Lets say I want to store my photos/videos on an external hard drive to save space on my mack. Can these albums be transferred to an external hard drive and be organized as if they were on a MAC? Thanks!

[@victory-loriebarnett1877]

That is a good question. Would be nice if we had an answer

[@davidpatton7706]

Great advice. Thank you for sharing this information.

[@judithlacks7508]

I couldn't really "dig in" til I found this vid. a million thanks and recommending it to anyone/everyone. I'm not finished yet, but a quick suggestion--when you have us make the "wrong date" album, you might add more albums that aren't categorized by year. example: I hand knit christmas stockings each year as gifts, and would like them in one album right next to "wrong dates" don't want a new album every year that says "christmas stockings" cuz I just want them all in one place.. Maybe 2.0 addresses this issue. Again, you have NO IDEA how unbelievably helpful this is. I spent an entire afternoon cleaning up "events" that were rolled over from a previous mac, only to find all the photos were still in the library. ARGGH! Next up iTunes/music. will look for a video. You have a gift for communicating.

[@appleyum42]

Thanks for the explanation. Still feels relevant today.

[@openrelationships]

This is the best organization video on Apple Photos I've seen and I've been looking around !

[@timc8913]

Wow. Great presentation. Very well done. Thanks for sharing. 👍🏼

[@rebeccak6290]

Thank you for bringing Mac back there for just a split second I thought I was slipping into technology Applegate-tondom ... Namaste my dear brother from another mother I say that endearingly.

[@rebecaplantier7131]

Life changing - thank you!

[@s.s.365]

Wow! You packed so much HELPFUL info into this video! Thank you! Life-changing!!!

[@Serenitees]

Go ‘Noles :)

[@kerstinbeach4459]

Thank you so much for this video!! It is amazing and exactly what I needed!!

[@bquattrog]

Thank you for this very helpful video. I've been trying to figure out how to organize my photos for years and this has shown me the light. I'm about to get started... wish me luck!

[@CarignanDavid]

Mind blowing! Thanks buddy!

[@karine.4152]

Thank you so much! I organized 15000 photos over 5 decades with this tutorial.

[@Cassie776]

I have so many photos saved I was terrified to take on what felt like the Goliath of a task of organizing them. You made this so simple and easy. THANK YOU!

[@eberlyntay]

This is really helpful. Thank you so much!

[@philippeaylwin456]

Very well explained, thanks

[@techguy9023]

Been in IT for 33 years. Never heard anyone say secondary click instead of right click. Lots of good info.

[@aussiefi98]

Tbh that’s mainly what Apple calls it.

[@janicebaranowski8868]

I just found this video after searching how to best organize my mac photos so I can scan and share old family photos. OMG-I wish I had found this years ago when I started to help me keep my photos organized so I can find things! THANKS!!!!

[@jchrisbotz6035]

thanks, again, for sharing your knowledge and expertise!

[@SJsHandle]

Outstanding. Thank you.

[@kpsocal7369]

Very helpful--thank you!

[@simonemartins7728]

Great! David you're marvelous! I learned lots things with you! Tks

[@supercoolfumanchu720]

Thanks so much, really helpful, was dreading sorting my photos out, it only took a few hours! 👍🏻

[@julianomartins2043]

great tips, really appreciate your time and effort to put it together and share it!😀

[@HelloGorgeousbyJenn]

This is SO AMAZING! Thank you so much!

[@SharonMarie.HeartandSoul]

great class... so easy to understand

[@saulllanes5131]

Thanks! This video helped out a lot!

[@sallyreynolds3963]

A revelation! Thank you so much for this!!

[@sebastianmichalski5318]

Finaly I can makeu use of photos app on my mac. Thank you so much for your fantastic work and great videos!

[@carole2562]

I’ve always been technical minded. The first thing I wanted to do when I got my first PC was to take it apart and see what the inside looked like. I pursued a career in computer forensics because I loved all things data, and especially FIGURING it all out in an investigative process. However…I have never been as stumped and frustrated with anything as much as my @$!% photo library! THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO. I’m subscribed, will use your code to buy Power Photos, and coffee is on the way.

[@larry3811]

First time on a class like this. Exactly what I needed after collecting a couple thousand pix of grandkids. thanks

[@tonibarnett3953]

excellent class .. easy to follow step by step. My photos are organised for the firsts time EVER!!!!! subscribed and onto the next class :)

[@bartosztobiasz]

I am extremely grateful for this video. Thank you ❤

[@spydermaaaan]

Very well done video and great information. Thank you!

[@cindysparks9344]

Wow!!!! Thank you again!

[@mannab2975]

Hi David, as always, good stuff!! Love your tutorials and videos. Been a fan since 2015!

[@roocrew86]

this is a really smart way to organise, thanks

[@fortyrunner]

Very useful. Thanks.

[@ginnys3girl]

Mind blowing!! Thank you. I feel like I can conquer my thousands of photos!!

[@MsSmaldo]

I dreaded knowing that I needed to review and combine the photos and videos on my Macbook, Phone, and tablet. I was deleting duplicates through each of my devices. It was only 2 days of torture. Thank God I found this video before I wasted weeks.

[@behnamrahmdel]

Thanks David. This tutorial helped me understand the Photos Mac Application and I could organized thousands of photos since 1983. Still having challenges with the duplication and several wrong photo dates and places but it's not a big deal any more. Thanks again.

[@ESCTom]

This was sooooooooooooooooooooo helpful, thank you so much for saving me and my chaotic photos albums

[@kiranvegini4937]

Very useful! Thank you!

[@paulinetoner4626]

Thanks David, get info. Now I can fix all my photos. Great video!!!!

[@johnkopelciw5371]

Excellent - Saved me hours of frustration and with over 80000 photo to index . Easy when you know how !

[@chloechiu7035]

Just find out this video. It’s helpful. Thanks for sharing it. My photos are pretty organized now.

[@golfnut1982]

Wow, thank you David!

[@shimostories493]

Very pleased to find this class. And now I have my Saturday schedule decided for me. Looking forward to putting my photos in order. Thank you!

[@judithlacks7508]

I started an hour a day. I find if I do it tooo fast, I start making sloppy decisions. A bit tough getting started, but 2/3 of the way done and I'm sailing through it. Good luck on Saturday.

[@onegreenev]

Thank you. A much needed revamping of my photos and the use of the software. I knew it was powerful but just never used it. Ive been a Mac person from back in the Mac 512 days.

[@TechTalkAmerica]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mukychip]

this has been so helpful. A+ thank you