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User profile for user: thanlon11
thanlon11 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Smart Albums Glitch

I recently watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E0EDIqREqg and it suggested a way to organize my photos (I have over 10,000 in my app) and I went ahead and deleted the folders and albums I had and went about putting together the smart album structure the video suggested. However my photos are responding as if they are still in albums, and not being organized into the smart folders like the video says they will.


I was on hold with tech support for 40 mins and they hung up on me, so I'm asking you fine people, what do I do?


Thanks!

-Tim

iMac 27", macOS 10.15

Posted on May 6, 2020 4:11 PM

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User profile for user: markwmsn
markwmsn
User level: Level 6
15,605 points

Posted on May 6, 2020 7:11 PM

Assuming you are running Catalina (as shown in your profile), you may have run into a known bug triggered by deleting albums while they still contain photos. The photos somehow continue to act as if they were still in albums, so the Album-if-not-any Smart Album trick cannot find them. Does that match what you are seeing?


Unfortunately, while users here have deduced the existence of this bug, nobody has come up with a way to repair the damage after the fact. If you have a backup copy of your library before you deleted the albums, you should be able to restore the whole library and start the reorganization over again, this time removing all photos and videos from each album before you delete the album.

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User profile for user: markwmsn
markwmsn
User level: Level 6
15,605 points

May 6, 2020 7:11 PM in response to thanlon11

Assuming you are running Catalina (as shown in your profile), you may have run into a known bug triggered by deleting albums while they still contain photos. The photos somehow continue to act as if they were still in albums, so the Album-if-not-any Smart Album trick cannot find them. Does that match what you are seeing?


Unfortunately, while users here have deduced the existence of this bug, nobody has come up with a way to repair the damage after the fact. If you have a backup copy of your library before you deleted the albums, you should be able to restore the whole library and start the reorganization over again, this time removing all photos and videos from each album before you delete the album.

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Smart Albums Glitch

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