I want to start using Photos to organize my pictures and videos, instead of using Finder folders.
I have that option to not import the original images to the Library, so I will have a Finder folder with all images and videos and Photos will just organize them.
I imported an image called test.jpg, then closed Photos and renamed that image mydog.jpg. Opened Photos and the photo is still there and when I right click and choose “Show Referenced File in Finder” it still points to the original image, even though the name changed completely.
I want to make sure that this is really safe to do and Photos will always know which image is the original, even if I rename it. Can you confirm this?
I even tried to move it to a different folder and it still shows the image inside Photos, even though when I click the show the referenced file, it doesn’t find the original one, but opened the original folder where the image originally was.
So yeah, is this the normal Photos behavior and is it ok to rename images after I import them or will I have issues in the future?
Change where your files are stored in Photos on Mac - Apple Support
When you import photos and videos into Photos, they’re copied to the Photos library in the Pictures folder. To save storage space, you can store photos and videos outside the Photos library (for example, on an external drive) and still view them in Photos. Files stored outside your library are called referenced files.
You wouldn’t want to change the filename of a referenced file when storing images outside your Photos library.
The Apple Photos app itself does not let you change the base filename of an image. You can, however, add a title to an image by right-clicking it and selecting the Get Info context menu item (or pressing CMD+I to get info for the currently selected image.)
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MacOS and APFS are very good at maintains track of files which change name and/or folder.
BUT
I wouldn’t rely on this to be the case. I think that either you let Photos manage you files (I.e. importing them) or once you’ve linked your photos to Photos in their existing locations, you shouldn’t make changes to the existing files.
That seems like a recipe for disaster sooner or later.
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Thanks.
Yeah the title can even be added without right clicking the image. You just have to click the file name underneath the photo:
The reason I wanted to eventually change the file name itself would be just because I like to have everything organized as much as possible. If one day I decide to stop using Photos, then I won’t be going to square one with all those random names.
Maybe I’m just being too picky (which is definitely something I am haha).
I will working with it for a while and see how I feel about it
I’m not a big fan of having the photos “stuck” inside a file that can become corrupted, and having a duplicate of all photos somewhere else just as backup would be a waste of disk space.
Yeah, that’s definitely something that could happen. I was just “amazed” that it actually still opened the file, even with a new name.
But I will for sure work with the app a bit longer and see how I feel about managing all photos/videos and their names inside the app itself.
Thanks for your help!
I do not use the Apple Photos app for the same reasons that seem to make you uneasy. After trying many photo organizers and photo editors, I’ve returned to Adobe photo software and settled on using Adobe Bridge, Adobe Camera Raw, and Adobe Portfolio. (I used to have my photos in Adobe Lightroom Classic.)
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