MacOS File Structure!!!

Midpack

Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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We absolutely love our iMac & MacBook, and there's no way we'd go back to Windows. It wasn't hard to learn, but there's one aspect that still bugs me - the lack of user friendly file structure, at least for pictures. I exported a well developed file structure from Windows to my iMac, but any pictures I add now are 'unfindable' as files. What am I missing?

It does occur to me I have all sorts of 'files' on my iPad and iPhone and can't see any file structure there, so maybe I am overthinking this...
 
You have a Pictures file folder. Open up any Finder window to see the structure.
 
The photos app hides them away from you. That is the annoying part to me too.
 
I have my dslr photos processed in Lightroom, saved by name on an external drive to my Mac. File structure about the same as Windows.

And I have a lot of iPhone photos on the Mac's photo app. No need for a file structure there. Search by date, person's name, physical characteristics in a photo ie "bridge", text in the photo, or location, etc in the app. Mac photos app is far better than a file structure based system.

If OP now uses an iPhone for pics, I would import all old pics into the Mac photos app, and use it for all photos applications. I'm going to do that at some point so that I have everything on one system. Drag them from the file folder to the Photos app icon. My problem ( and perhaps OP's) is that my DSLR shots don't have a lat/long location, so they won't show up in the places function. But that's ok, at least for me initially. I'll add lat/long later.

The tough part is separating one's self from "File structure". There is no need for file structure.
 
This aspect of it is what keeps me from trying Macs. I was just reading frustrated posts from new astrophotography enthusiasts struggling to figure out how to manage files for image processing on the Macs. Everyone tells them the apps work the same as on Windows, but they don't know where the files are or go. I like my iPhone and iPad except for this aspect. For example, if I have an ePub book I want to read I have to email it so I can open the attachment with iBooks. I can find no means to just side load the book to the proper directory. In fact, I have no idea whatsoever where the books in my iBooks library are stored.
 
You have a Pictures file folder. Open up any Finder window to see the structure.
All I see there is the subfolders (albums) and pictures I originally forced there when I migrated from a PC. Every picture I’ve added since is somewhere else! I can drag photos into the desired album on Photos but they aren’t in the Pictures file folder. I have almost 3000 photos, it would be nice to go straight to the files to name them like I always did. Now the new picture file names are all jibberish. I can live with it, just seems counterintuitive.

When I create a new spreadsheet, word doc, presentation or the like, I can name them and see them in finder. Pics seem to go in a black hole for no reason I can figure.
 
Search by date, person's name, physical characteristics in a photo ie "bridge", text in the photo, or location, etc in the app. Mac photos app is far better than a file structure based system.
If I’m looking for a photo among almost 3000 I’ve taken over decades, I’ll almost never know the date. Since most of them were taken pre-Mac there’s no name, characteristic, text, or location associated - and there’s no way Photos always knows those elements even with pictures taken since we switched to Apple. It’s a lot easier to name a photo HomeBreakerPanel.jpeg than guess at an association - I’ve taken tons of photos at home.
 
I don't store my photos in Photos. Instead I set up folders and name it depending on what it is. Similar to how I did it years ago in Windows.
 
The reason why I never use the Apple Photos app is its database. I sometimes need to move photos to a larger disk and I never could figure out to to rebuild the database correctly. Also actually deleting photos from disk is convoluted using Photos. I have similar issues with their Music app and they didn’t do themselves any favors when they transitioned from itunes to Music and changed their database structure.

I use the Apple program Image Capture to transfer my iphone photos. I use a third party image tool if I want to edit any photos.
 
Apple’s Photos program is the way to store photo’s on a Mac. You should read the help files to learn how it works. Apple has been continuously improving this program for some 20 years. It’s a complicated program to store, view and manage photo’s. It can detect damage to the photo’s database and fix it - let it fix itself. I suggest you learn about the program and change your old Windows habits.

On your iPad, run the Files program to see and interact with the files
 
My SIL sent me a photo via text message from her new iPhone 16. It showed up on my iPhone 14 as as IMG_0662.heic file. No way could I open it. Crazy!
 
If I’m looking for a photo among almost 3000 I’ve taken over decades, I’ll almost never know the date. Since most of them were taken pre-Mac there’s no name, characteristic, text, or location associated - and there’s no way Photos always knows those elements even with pictures taken since we switched to Apple. It’s a lot easier to name a photo HomeBreakerPanel.jpeg than guess at an association - I’ve taken tons of photos at home.
I did a search in my Apple photos for "breaker" and the search found my breaker panel. Probably because the door was open and the word breaker was in the text on the panel.

I have a pic of BIL's panel and the search did not find it. (It is an android phone pic)

I searched on "bison" and "eagle" and it found all bison and eagle pics I took with my dslr in addition to the iPhone pics.

I took a cell phone pic of hand written weight workout with "weights" handprinted on it. It found it.

But it's not foolproof finding something taken pre-mac as you say.
 
In order to have an understandable folder-based hierarchy of photographic images with file names that you control (without duplication), you need to not use the Apple Photos app for managing your photos. You'll need to invest in another software product from someone else. This will essentially mean you are also giving up the seamless integration to your photos from an iPhone and iPad, at least using Apple software.
 
Apple’s Photos program is the way to store photo’s on a Mac. You should read the help files to learn how it works. Apple has been continuously improving this program for some 20 years. It’s a complicated program to store, view and manage photo’s. It can detect damage to the photo’s database and fix it - let it fix itself. I suggest you learn about the program and change your old Windows habits.

On your iPad, run the Files program to see and interact with the files
I’ve read several…still don’t get it.
 
No need for a file structure there.
...
This aspect of it is what keeps me from trying Macs.
Exactly. Files and directories (folders, in Windows) make perfect sense. I organize things the way I want them, and can find them. Any OS or app which tries to hide that organization from me is a non-starter.

I'm getting close to the point where I can finally ditch Windows, but no Apple OS is an option for me, primarily for this reason. I'll probably settle for some Unix derivative for my next machine.
 
...

Exactly. Files and directories (folders, in Windows) make perfect sense. I organize things the way I want them, and can find them. Any OS or app which tries to hide that organization from me is a non-starter.

I'm getting close to the point where I can finally ditch Windows, but no Apple OS is an option for me, primarily for this reason. I'll probably settle for some Unix derivative for my next machine.
While I agree Windows files and directories is way more user friendly, the only frustrating file structure issue for me is Photos/Pictures. Spreadsheets, word docs, presentations and most other applications use a very similar file naming and file structure like Windows once you create subfolders. The only other app that doesn't is your Music library, but that's so well indexed by artist, song, album, genre, etc. that it's really not an issue IMO.

Overall DW and I have zero regrets in dropping Windows even after more than 30 years on PCs, picture file structure is the only nit for me. I doubt we've ever go back. FWIW

And I watched several YT videos on how to use Photos "file structure" and while it might be good for users who've taken all their pictures using Apple devices, those who brought hundreds or thousand of pictures into the Apple eco system after the fact are SOL. I did a bunch of searches using names, places, topics, descriptions on my picture library, and it wasn't even close to capturing everything. Using ALBUMS in Photos certainly helps, but otherwise pictures go into a black hole unless maybe you used Apple devices start to finish.
 
As a long-time Windows user (I still have a Windows computer that I occasionally use) and a many-year Mac user, I really don't see much of a difference any more with file management other than what Midpack describes above. Yes, if you wish to use Apple's Photos or Music apps, you will be needing to adjust your thinking a little. But once you master those apps, you don't really have to worry about the file storage of the photos or music any more.

Outside of Photos and Music files, I have thousands of files in a hierarchical folder/file structure, just like I did in Windows -- spreadsheets, PDFs, Word Docs, scanned documents, etc. Easy to name and rename and move around as needed. Just like Windows. I choose to store these on my local computer and also store them in the cloud (which automatically synchronizes changes). I like the ability to access these files from any of my devices at any time.

Inside the photos app, I currently have 56,458 photos (and some videos). I never have to look at these pictures outside of the app, really. Inside the app, I have created a multi-level folder and album structure (using names that I choose) to house them that equates to a file system outside of the app. I can find any pictures that I want quite quickly. I can export them out of the app if I want to for some reason.

It works for me, but of course, we all have our preferences.
 

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I don’t use Apple Photos to store images on my MacBook. It’s fine for my iOS devices, but on a Mac I want something more serious like Lightroom where already have images from several SLR cameras and many generations of iPhones.
 
FWIW, you can go into the file structure of the Photos library. But you must open a terminal window and know some Unix. The Library looks like a giant file in the Finder window, but it is really just a directory with lots of subdirectories. However, doing so doesn't help much because the names of the folders and files are not that helpful.
 
Lightroom or some other photo content mgt system is the way to go
for those that take a lot of pictures using a dslr/scanned slides, etc…
 
MacOS is a derivative of Unix and its file structure is very similar. The Photos app adds a database to the picture and the photo file structure is a convenience for the database not a human. If you go the Photos app to manage your photos you need to give up worrying about the directory structure and use the Photos app to interact with your pictures. Note if you ever notice the a program call mediaserver running in the background, it is the program that creates Memories and the ability to search your photos.
 
FWIW, you can go into the file structure of the Photos library. But you must open a terminal window and know some Unix. The Library looks like a giant file in the Finder window, but it is really just a directory with lots of subdirectories. However, doing so doesn't help much because the names of the folders and files are not that helpful.
I recall needing to go into a terminal on a Mac to view hidden files, but this shows a key shortcut for it. This might help OP.

I was also frustrated with how much the Apple OS tries to "help" me, but that "help" often meant - don't worry your little head about this, I'll take care of it for you. Yeah, great, until it doesn't, and then you're stuck because it's a locked, black box. I've been much more happy with Linux.


I'll add, the photo program I use in Linux is all run by a database, but it's still easy to find the photos in the folders, there's a human recognizable structure to it all. No reason there can't be both.
 
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