User profile for user: ianhost
ianhost Author
User level: Level 1
21 points

Exporting items from Photos

I needed to export photos and videos from the Photos app to save my iCloud storage. I started from the beginning of All Photos, selecting the items I wanted to export. I was selecting almost everything, and leaving the ones that I liked and wanted to view more often. Sometime during the export, the 2,017 items that I had selected became unselected (it was an accident) and now I don't know which photos I decided to leave in my photos library and which were exported. I just wanted to free up my iCloud, and it seems like there should be an "Exports" folder in some sidebar somewhere, the same way that there is an "Imports" folder, which has every non-deleted photo that was exported, marked with the export date. Please help me as I am not spending two hours double checking every photo from the external disk to the library. That is a waste.

I am dissatisfied with the Photos app in general on my MacBook. It uses a lot of the RAM, is finicky, and is just generally annoying, and it is because of these seemingly small things.


TLDR: Is there a log of every photo or video that has been exported, with dates? I would like to delete the photos that I have already exported to my external hard drive.


Thank you to anyone who can help me.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Feb 25, 2023 12:41 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Yer_Man
Yer_Man
User level: Level 10
165,870 points

Posted on Feb 25, 2023 2:45 PM

No, there is no such log. You can make a feature request here: Feedback - Photos - Apple


Perhaps the flaw here is selecting more than 2k items and hoping there wouldn't be a problem. Make an album from them, and export that. Also, rather than comparing, just make your selection again - make an album from them - and export to the same folder. Files with the same name will have a -1 appended to them. Sorting on file name will then allow you to find the duplicates.


As I regularly comment on here: if Photos does not meet your needs, or if you do not enjoy using it, you can use any of 20 or other apps in this area. Using Photos is not compulsory in any fashion. If there is an app that suits you better you should use it.

View in context

Similar questions

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Yer_Man
Yer_Man
User level: Level 10
165,870 points

Feb 25, 2023 2:45 PM in response to ianhost

No, there is no such log. You can make a feature request here: Feedback - Photos - Apple


Perhaps the flaw here is selecting more than 2k items and hoping there wouldn't be a problem. Make an album from them, and export that. Also, rather than comparing, just make your selection again - make an album from them - and export to the same folder. Files with the same name will have a -1 appended to them. Sorting on file name will then allow you to find the duplicates.


As I regularly comment on here: if Photos does not meet your needs, or if you do not enjoy using it, you can use any of 20 or other apps in this area. Using Photos is not compulsory in any fashion. If there is an app that suits you better you should use it.

Reply

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Exporting items from Photos

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up