You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

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

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

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.

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

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.

Smart Albums Glitch

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