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User profile for user: HDP11
HDP11 Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Photo sequence in a shared album not the same as in the original album

 I have a Photos album (under "My Albums") with 300 photos and want to create a shared album that maintains the same photo sequence. When I create the shared album, it does show the 300 photos, but many of the photos are out of sequence ... they are not in the same sequence as the original album. It will take me quite a bit of time to rearrange the photos in the shared album to the original sequence. It seems the photos in the shared album revert to the sequence of the date / time they were taken.  Is there a process by which I can create a shared album, with the 300 photos, that maintains the sequence of the original album?

Thanks,

HDP


Info: My Mac OS is Big Sur 11.6

Photos is version 6.0

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 17, 2021 5:08 AM

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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
210,255 points

Posted on Oct 17, 2021 9:55 AM

Photos in shared albums are sorted/displayed in the order they are added to the album. If you select a group of photos and add the all at once they do not necessarily get added in the order they were in the album.


So, if you want to maintain a strict ordering of photos in a shared album add them one at a time to the shared album - groan.


What I've done is put the photos in a slideshow which is easier to do and keep the order you want, save the slideshow as a video file and add that to the shared album. It's a workaround.


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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
210,255 points

Oct 17, 2021 9:55 AM in response to HDP11

Photos in shared albums are sorted/displayed in the order they are added to the album. If you select a group of photos and add the all at once they do not necessarily get added in the order they were in the album.


So, if you want to maintain a strict ordering of photos in a shared album add them one at a time to the shared album - groan.


What I've done is put the photos in a slideshow which is easier to do and keep the order you want, save the slideshow as a video file and add that to the shared album. It's a workaround.


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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
210,255 points

Oct 17, 2021 4:02 PM in response to HDP11

You can share the slideshow via email with Apple's Mail Drop: Mail Drop limits


You don't need to purchase any additional iCloud space. Just be signed into your iCloud account via System/Apple ID preference pane.



But I used the Shared Album feature in Photos. While in the slideshow mode click on this button and setup a public shared album.



Copy the URL and send it to those you want to see the slideshow. It will take the movie file. My shared video was 406 MB.

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User profile for user: HDP11
HDP11 Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Oct 17, 2021 1:55 PM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad,

Thank you again for the suggested work-around by creating a slideshow. I created the slide show in Photos (from my original album with the 300 photos) and all photos in the slideshow are sequenced exactly as in the album. so far, so good. Now I am uncertain as to how to create the video file from the slideshow, and then where this video file resides. Also, not sure how to share the video file slideshow with a relative (the video file I created was about 800 mb, much too large to send via email). will you please outline the specific steps to:

  • create the video file from the slideshow
  • where to store the videofile
  • how to share it with another person (I can't get it into the "shared Albums" sidebar in Photos)

Thank you

HDP

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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
210,255 points

Oct 17, 2021 2:28 PM in response to HDP11

In the slideshow mode there should be an export button in the upper right hand corner of the window:



Click on it and select the quality of the slideshow, 780p, 1040p, etc., and where you want to save it. Be sure to have plenty of free space on the hard drive as a 300 picture slideshow will make a large file. Also close all other apps before saving as you'll need all the CPU power available to shorten the time needed to save.

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User profile for user: HDP11
HDP11 Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Oct 17, 2021 2:50 PM in response to Old Toad

Thank you again, for your reply. Because I just recently subscribed to the Apple iCloud services, I thought I could share a photo album (maintaining the proper sequence of photos - as discussed above). You suggested creating a slideshow (in video file format - to maintain photo sequence of original album), and I thought that would be a good way to share the photos with friends. Turns out the slideshow is way too large (300 mb) to share via email, and it seems I can't share it via "Shared Albums" either. I thought all this would be possible via my subscription to iCloud and using the share function. Pardon my ignorance, but it seems the best way for me to share the photos in this photo album (in the sequence I desire) is to put them on a thumb drive and mail them via the post office. Correct?

Thanks,

HDP

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User profile for user: HDP11
HDP11 Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Oct 17, 2021 7:49 PM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad,

Your process makes sense ... but the "people" icon only appears for those albums that are already in the Shared Album list on the sidebar. The people icon does not appear when I open the album slideshow, located under My Projects on the sideboard. My issue is I do not understand how to get the slideshow I created under My Projects up to the Shared Albums category. If I can achieve this, I believe the share process will work. Again, sorry for my ignorance.

Thanks,

HDP

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User profile for user: HDP11
HDP11 Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Oct 19, 2021 5:13 PM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad,

Your efforts have been invaluable in helping me understand options and work-arounds related to Shared Albums in Photos. My inability to create a slideshow video (with the goal of maintaining photo sequence per the original album) and importing it to Shared Albums was finally understood after speaking with an Apple Tech. Because my slideshow is 42 minutes in length (300 photos and 18 videos totaling 2.3 GB size with 5 seconds for each photo transition), the slideshow could not be accepted as a Shared Album. This is because Shared Albums will only accept slideshows with a max 15 minute duration. There is no limit on GB size. Options I will investigate include Mail Drop and Google Drive, but it will take me some time to understand what can and can not be done with each. Another option is to put the album and slideshow on a thumb drive and for $1.00 mail it to my relative. Thank you for all your help.

HDP

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Photo sequence in a shared album not the same as in the original album

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