Rank Beginner... Opening files?

[GenesaJim]

Rank beginner here. 

When I go to OPEN a file, The Mac Photos album is there but greyed out.

Affinity Photo can't access my Mac Photos?

Would love some help here,
Jim

 

[DWright]

Hi GenesaJim,

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

To see all of your Mac Photos use the Media Browser from under the View menu and this will show all of your Mac Photos and double clicking on a image will load into Affinity Photo, you can also drag and drop the photo this is also a quick way to make a photo montage.

 

Regards,

Darren

[GenesaJim]

Thanks for your help Darren,

  So File/open is not the way to get to my Mac Photos. (I'm revealing my PC past)

Then if I open a photo, work on it and then save it, does it go back into Mac Photos?

 

Best to you , Jim

[MEB]

Hi GenesaJim,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

You can also access you Photos library from the File ▸ Open dialog dialog: scroll down a little to the Media section (on the list on the left), click on Photos and you should be able to access Apple Photos library (and iPhoto/Aperture libraries if you also have them installed on your Mac).

 

Regarding your second question, yes it should be saved back to Photos library. Just make sure you select File ▸ Save then Save Flattened from the dialog that will appear.

NOTE however that if your library photos are in JPG format only, there's a risk they may be overwritten with the edited versions (i'm still checking what's going on here) without a way to revert back to the originals in Apple Photos.

[R C-R]

Regarding your second question, yes it should be saved back to Photos library. Just make sure you select File ▸ Save then Save Flattened from the dialog that will appear.

NOTE however that if your library photos are in JPG format only, there's a risk they may be overwritten with the edited versions (i'm still checking what's going on here) without a way to revert back to the originals in Apple Photos.

 

At least on my Mac, for any photo I open that is in the Apple Photos library using either the AP Media browser or File > Open dialog, the AP Save option is greyed out . (Photos will actually be in that library only if the Apple Photos preferences > General "Importing: Copy to the Photos library" is checked.)

 

I believe this is a safety feature intended to prevent overwriting the original library photo (regardless of its format), since Apple intends for its Photos app to provide only non-destructive edits, always keeping the original library file unaltered so users can revert to it at any time via the Edit > "Revert to Original" button provided in that app.

 

Also, according to at least one Apple Photos support document & several different topics on the Apple Discussions > Using Photos web site, altering any photo file in the Photos library directly (by opening it from a Finder window or with an app that is not Media browser aware like AP is) is dangerous & should be avoided because that can corrupt the database & other Photos library support files that keep track of the edited & original versions stored in the library.

 

This is one reason why the Apple Photos app has only a "Show referenced file in Finder" option on its file menu & why it is greyed out for photos stored in the library -- referenced files are those not stored in the library when Photos preferences > General "Importing: Copy to the Photos library" is not checked.

 

More about Apple Photos & referenced vs. in library files can be found at https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/?lang=en#/pht1ed9b966d& related Apple support documents.