Using Smart Albums In Mac Photos

[@loisskiathitis8926]

Very useful video tutorial today! Since I scrapbook as a pastime this will be very useful to me. Thank you, Gary! 👍🏻❤️👏

[@TheOldGeekGuy]

Very helpful. You’re right, I never use this system. I will now!

[@rbrown2895]

Amazing! I’ve been using a Mac for a long time and never took advantage of this great resource!! Great presentation and video. I’ll be using smart albums a lot from now on!

[@grahamf695]

Great video, as always. I often use Smart Albums to search for photos of people on special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, funerals…. Then, I choose the best ones and put them into a normal album for a slideshow.

[@philliphickox4023]

The term "Smart Albums" doesn't really make sense to me, until I realised that they are really a search engine for your computer. You put in the parameters that you want to search for and find and the smart album search function finds them for you.

[@ivanwill]

Now this is interesting! I need to try one of these. Often I take photos and do not add names and such to them. It will be interesting if this smart thing still works. Thanks for sharing...

[@Wave_Drop]

@macmostvideo Can you please suggest a Photo Viewer? What do you use? I can't believe MacOS in 2021 doesn't have one as simple and intuitive as Windows do.

[@argee55]

Thanks for another great video.

[@CarlosRuiz-nx3vm]

Very useful video tutorial, thanks Gary.

[@donmoemu]

how could someone dislike these videos? Thanks Gary!

[@barbclark69]

I know what the answer to my question is. -- why I couldn't import photos directly into the smart album. You didn't answer that specifically, but I figured it out. It's because the owner doesn't PUT photos into the smart album. The smart album collects them from the vast pool of photos depending on criteria set. Thanks for the thinking time.

[@SignorLuigi]

Nice job! I'd like to have a search criteria called "similar to" which would automatically include every picture in my Photos app that is similar to a photo I get to select as the "Master Photo." I think this would be handy when none of the default criteria match the feature you want to use for a smart search. >1000 Patreon subscribers! Wow! Well deserved. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@Soundbroker]

Why does Apple not allow Smart Photos on IOS?

[@desertpatient]

Thank you. It does not seem that smart albums show up on my iPhone? Am I doing something wrong?

[@macmost]

Smart Albums are only on the Mac Photos app.

[@desertpatient]

@@macmost drats...

[@Elfig2011]

@@desertpatient indeed I had the same question …maybe in IOS 15?🤞

[@Jacotte89]

Interesting, thank you. Do the photos in a smart album take additional space or not ? in other words, if I create 10 smart albums, will they add to the space that the photos already occupy in the Library ? Thank you

[@macmost]

The photo is only there once in your library. The Smart Album is just another way to view those same photos. Same with regular albums too. Think of them like "playlists" in the Music app.

[@Jacotte89]

@@macmost Thank you very much !

[@AussieAdventurer]

Thanks as many i didn’t use that feature but will now, thanks to you 👍

[@NOT_NativeEN_Speaker]

Super video 👍 Amazing channel 😍 Thx 🙏 Subscribed.

[@MrSpidey1970]

Will start doing this right now - thankx

[@KurtPapke]

I've been familiar with the mechanics of smart albums for a number of years, but the only use I've ever found for them is an "unorganized photos" album that shows me all the images that are NOT in an album. Looking at that smart album goads me into doing some housekeeping. I'd like to see a video from you that has more ideas for practical uses for smart albums - how do YOU use them?!

[@macmost]

One thing I use them for is to show photos taken with a particular camera during a trip. So date range plus camera.

[@DGaryGrady]

That's a very helpful idea!

[@rogermarcz4370]

Good point Kurt! How do you get unorganised photos into a smart album?

[@macmost]

@@rogermarcz4370 You can create a Smart Album for "Album" "is not" "any."

[@KurtPapke]

@@rogermarcz4370 Album is not Any

[@SoNowWhat]

This is great (as usual)! I notice that you can't create a smart album on an iPad or iPhone. If I create a smart album on my Mac, will that album be available to view on my iPhone and iPad?

[@SoNowWhat]

I read further on in the comments, and noticed that Gary already answered the question - No - smart albums are only displayed on the Mac.

[@janaehackworth3693]

Smart albums are created on the Mac but I do believe they transfer over to your other devices… you just can’t edit smart albums on your phone or iPad

[@Elfig2011]

Very informative video! Thanks! I’m looking to import an old “IPhoto” library in Photos…can anyone help me how todo this? I see so many websites with different approaches… Maybe a good idea to make a video on this channel? Thanks all for your feedback!🤗

[@meyersonfire]

does it take up more storage to create a smart album? I have a clutter issue, lol--thanks for this great video!

[@macmost]

No. Nothing additional is stored. The photos are just still in your library once. This is just another way of viewing them. Same with regular Albums.

[@StephenJordan514]

Hi Gary: I'm hoping there is a solution for what I would like to accomplish with my smart folders in the Photos app: Is there a way to have a Smart Folder EXCLUDE a criteria? For example: I would like to have a Smart Folder with ONLY my wife, son and I; have the pictures that include someone else to not be included in the Smart Folder. Also, for example another Smart Folder that would ONLY INCLUDE my wife and I, and exclude everyone else (in this case exclude our son also). I hope I'm being clear. Love your videos. I have learned a lot.

[@macmost]

There's no way to do that. You can include multiple people, and specific exclude multiple people. But you can't exclude everyone and only include some.

[@StephenJordan514]

@@macmost I was afraid of that... thank you so much for taking the time to reply back.

[@janaehackworth3693]

What iOS system are you running to utilize the smart albums? I currently have Catalina and the elimination option wasn’t working on my smart albums- I read in some comments somewhere that my system needs to be updated. I’m just so scared to do anything on my Mac. Don’t want to make the wrong move 🙃

[@Noyiq]

Great! May i know are those smart folders will be shown in iPhone ?

[@macmost]

No, those are macOS features. But there are other ways to do things across devices, like using tags.

[@KatysCampKitchen]

Fantastic!!!!! Really helpful!!!

[@arangulanathan5825]

Interesting and learned thank you sir

[@HoracioMrJJimenez]

🔥 so good! thank you!

[@JayRowden43]

Gary I get a lot from your tutorials on Mac. I just viewed the Mac Photos Smart Albums and I have an interest in the face recognition feature, but I can't find what what you had described. I am running Monterey 12.6.3. Is it no longer offered or am I not looking in the right place.

[@macmost]

Not sure what you are looking for. Smart Albums and "People" are two different features.

[@JayRowden43]

@@macmost Sorry I'm in my normal state of confusion. This is what happens when you watch KZbins late at night. After I read your response and it became clear that People, what I called face recognition , is set up first in Photos under "People" and then you can setup "Smart Albums". It was one of those forehead smacking moments. I did it and it works great ! I love your Mac videos keep doing them.

[@rapaent]

Thank you Gary! I'm on a MacBook Pro M1 Max O.S. Ventura 13.1 I was with you until 2:00. Upon secondary clicking, there isn't an Edit Smart Album option. There is an Edit Smart Album option under File but, it's grayed out. Yes, I have the duplicate album highlighted. Any idea's on what's going on? Thanks again. Happy Holidays to you and yours!! 😊

[@macmost]

It sounds like you don't have a Smart Album selected in the left sidebar. Maybe you have a regular album selected by mistake?

[@rapaent]

@@macmost You're absolutely right! Dahh! 🤬🤦Thank you Gary. Happy Holidays to you and yours!! 😊

[@rq2872]

Hi Gary, is there a criteria that will enable the smart album to recognize 'foreign language words'? I regularly take photos of grammar tables etc. of foreign languages. Thanks for this very helpful vid.

[@macmost]

I don't think so. Maybe once Monterey comes out with Live Text it will work. But it sounds like what you really want is an OCR app. Though those apps rely heavily on word context in a sentence to figure things out, so tables of words are probably best left to manual entry.

[@kristijanczak375]

Lots of good info. But, how do you move a photo from a smart album to another smart album?

[@macmost]

You don't move anything into or out of a Smart Album. A Smart Album shows you search results. Change what the Smart Album is searching for, or change a property of the photo so it is no longer "found" by the search. If you want to have an album where you pick and choose each photo, that's just a regular album.

[@BethStricklin]

My smart album on my Mac is not automatically updating to include new photos that meet the criteria. My criteria is date captured 6.21.23 - 6.21.24 and includes my person "charles william'. The album should include all the photos I have taken of him in the month of September, but it stops collecting photos after August. Any ideas why my smart album isn't including new photos?

[@macmost]

Sorry, I can't tell from here. You'll have to look at your settings carefully.

[@magnificentGS]

I have been using an external since I bought M1 Mac Book. But something happened after the last update of the Mac Book and now I can not open my photo library on my external even I can not create a new library. Do you have an opinion? İs there a problem with the last macOS?

[@macmost]

No problem with the last macOS. Hard to say without more details like what the error messages are, etc.

[@geralynkamahaocamarillo1818]

AWESOME!! MAHALO SO MUCH!!!

[@leonardkoh652]

I have created many smart albums but it is limited to meeting "All" or "Any" of the conditions. Is there any way to use nested conditions eg. From this particular vacation with either Person A or Person B or Person C in it. It used to have the three dots, but now I could not find it to set my criteria.

[@macmost]

You have to choose any/all at the top. No way to subdivide it further along. I don't think Photos every had that, but Finder and other places do.

[@leonardkoh652]

@@macmost yes I am able to do nested conditions in the Music app. Since they are all Smart Folder settings, why wasn't this function added to Photos App? Also I am not able to put a condition on current smart albums, only on normal albums as a criteria. Hope Apple adds this functionality for nested conditions into the app.

[@macmost]

​@@leonardkoh652 You'd have to ask Apple "why." I can't tell you that.

[@roberthiday3342]

Hi Gary. Very nicely done, (as usual) thanks. I would love to be able to do a smart album by physical location. For example I have a place that I visit regularly and would like to capture all phots in that place. Is there any way to do that?

[@SoNowWhat]

This is a great question, so just for fun, I tried it. I discovered that if you create a smart album and use the criteria "Text is...", and then type the name of the location (which you can get from doing Command I on a photo), it works!

[@roberthiday3342]

@@SoNowWhat thanks so much. awesome. I am going to try it ASAP

[@SamTalbot96]

Can you make a shared smart album?

[@macmost]

No. That would be an interesting feature though.

[@TipsandMore2367]

Very good video. Is there any way to use a wild card in the pattern? I would like to see all July 4ths but I have to put in every year. Would be nice to have a pattern of 7/4/20**

[@macmost]

Just search for July 4 without a year and you get that.

[@TipsandMore2367]

@@macmost Thanks Such a simple solution

[@GolMaalish]

when I try to create a smart album, it allows to create but then when I want to delete the smart albums it says, the items in this smart albums will still be visible in your photo library , my OS is 12.3 on a non M1 2017 macbook

[@macmost]

Yes, that's right. What are you trying to DO?

[@GolMaalish]

@@macmost that means the Smart Album, which I am trying to create or have created are "Start enough Albums", otherwise they would delete the contents of it.

[@macmost]

@@GolMaalish Not sure what you mean. All albums are like playlists in Music, they are lists of photos. The photos themselves are all in your library. Deleting an album will only delete the album, but the photos remain. If your intention is to gather some photos and delete them, then create your Smart t Album, select the photos inside the Smart Album, delete. This will delete the photos from your library.

[@robertgleason2838]

Do smart albums carry over to iPhone and iPad? I created a smart album on the mac but it is not appearing on the other devices, even though the folder "smart folder" was created by iOS.

[@macmost]

No, Smart Albums are only on Mac.

[@robertgleason2838]

@@macmost Thanks for answer and fast response. I thought I was doing something wrong.

[@robertgleason2838]

Follow up. Why are there a folder named “smart folder” on my iPhone and iPad? I did not create them they are just there (and empty).

[@macmost]

@@robertgleason2838 Not sure why.

[@DGaryGrady]

From one Gary to another, thanks for yet another very helpful video. It amazes me that you've been doing this day after day for as long as you have without running out of useful things to say. It's past time for me to support you on Patreon. Shame on me for not doing it sooner. If you'll forgive a random picky quibble, it's one "criterion," two or more "criteria." The same pattern holds for "phenomenon" and "phenomena." In fact, just handful of patterns covers the great majority of classical Latin and Greek plurals used in modern English: Singular -um or -on, plural -a as in bacterium/bacteria Singular -us, plural -i as in alumnus/alumni Singular -a, plural -ae as in vertebra/vertebrae Singular -sis, plural -ses as in crisis/crises

[@macmost]

Thanks. Yes, I know about the

[@sreekanthp5551]

wonder anyway it can sense a photo of document - (where it is not a screenshot). I take pics of various transactions that happen on web application of other documents. Many thanks.

[@macmost]

Not sure what you are asking here.

[@sreekanthp5551]

@@macmost smart folder ability to recognise images which are paper docs. Ideally I should have saved them as files instead of saving in photo album

[@macmost]

@@sreekanthp5551 So just export them all now. It may take some time to find them all (do it in 10-minute sessions or something) but then once they are all out you can get much more organized and your Photos Library can be actual photos not business records.

[@sreekanthp5551]

@@macmost done and now saving new screenshots as files either a name

[@marcusbarnes5929]

If I delete photos from an album does that delete it off the computer pemenently? Also if I delete a whole album does that remove all of the photos from that album from the computer?

[@macmost]

No. Albums are like playlists in Music. Removing (use the word "remove" not "delete") just removes it from the album, it doesn't delete it from your Library. Deleting an album just deletes that album and is the same as removing all of the photos from the album. They are still in your Library.

[@marcusbarnes5929]

@macmostvideo so to remove and delete photos from the macbook photos app should I delete the photos from the library tab? When copying a folder of photos from USB to the photos app where does it actually save the folder? Does deleting from the library remove the photo from the macbook. Or is the photo hidden somewhere else? As you can tell iv just moved from windows to mac and it seems so much more complicated than Windows just to copy a folder across. Clicking and draging folder across to the photos app. Then creating a new album naming it then selecting and dragging the ones I want to keep into certain albums. It's going to take days. I have folder named in years organised on Windows but when bringing it across to mack it only brings across all the photos and I have to create an album. Seems so backwards and alot of work

[@macmost]

@@marcusbarnes5929 Lot son questions... If your goal is to delete the photos from yourLlibrary you can just delete them from the Library, yes. In an album, you can choose Image, Delete 1 Photo and it will delete it from the Library too (or Control+click, or there is a keyboard shortcut). When you import photos into your Library it will do just that: import them INTO your Library. If you still have a copy as a file elsewhere, that is not connected to the imported copy anymore (unless you have custom settings in Photos that say otherwise). So deleting the Library photo doesn't affect the file you left behind. It actually isn't that complex once you understand it is of a Library of content.

[@marcusbarnes5929]

@@macmost After spending a day working with it I have worked it out Thanks. I create a new album in the phots app the same name as the folder i am copying from windows and click and drag into the album created in photos app and it automatically adds to the library too. Yes i have worked out the right click to delete the selected photo permanently. i just didn't want unwanted photos taking up room.

[@harveycostanilla6090]

how to use the smart album to sort the duplicate photos??

[@macmost]

What is your goal? Maybe the Duplicates function is what you want?

[@kylehenderson8569]

Isn’t this almost the same as just doing a search in the library when you need to find a picture based on criteria ?

[@macmost]

It is. But the idea is you don't have to perform the same search over and over again.

[@RobShutt357]

Does a smart album use more memory?

[@macmost]

Not much. Just a little bit to keep the definition of what makes up the Smart Album. You are just looking at the same photos in a different way. The photos are only in your library once.

[@jhill4071]

Finding people in a crowd for a Smart Album via facial recognition is downright spooky.

[@jandone100]

But there does not seem to be an option to create a smart album based on your location

[@macmost]

Use "Text" and "Is" and then something in the location like "Colorado" or "Iceland."

[@JoeSiegler]

My main smart album is one that is called "Pics with No Album". Its filter is.. "Match the Following Condition" Album | is not | Any This shows me all unsorted photos. I have something like 110,000 photos in my collection, all painfully sorted into albums, and sub albums, etc... This way I can treat this smart filter like the now no longer used "Photo Stream". Every few days or so I'll just put all the photos in the "No Album" smart album into some other proper folder, and then everything is back to being "fully sorted" again.

[@janaehackworth3693]

You are my hero!!! 110k pictures?!?! My 18k doesn’t seem so painful anymore. Thanks for the inspiration

[@JoeSiegler]

@@janaehackworth3693 108,701 photos & 2,115 videos as of today. :)

[@janaehackworth3693]

@@JoeSiegler what iOS system are you running on your Mac?

[@JoeSiegler]

@@janaehackworth3693 Pardon? iOS on my Mac? I'm using macOS Monterey 12.1 on my Mac.

[@janaehackworth3693]

@@JoeSiegler ok cool thanks. I just finished updating my Mac from Catalina… I think I will now be able to use the smart albums the right way.

[@mikebelmont5919]

Can I invite people to my smart album?

[@macmost]

No, that's something you do with a Shared Album, not a Smart Album.

[@LeahyPhoto]

ANY gets mANY, ALL gets a smALL number

[@wilgarcia1]

Okay, but how do I REMOVE that CREEPY ASS SHIT!!! Especially the People one. If its not bad enough apple constantly trying to get a 3D scan of my face. It's automatically scanning my photos for my face, and my families faces.

[@macmost]

Apple is not scanning anything. It is your Mac in your possession that is doing it. This is a local action, not a server one.

[@ge0graphaly]

First