Create or change a standard photo album

You can create standard photo albums to better organize your photo library, group the photos you want to burn to CD or DVD, or choose pictures for a webpage.

There are several ways to create a photo album. If you know what photos you want, you can use them to start an album. You can also create an empty album and place photos in it later.

To create an album containing selected photos:

  1. Select the photos you want to include in the album.

  2. Click the Add To button, choose Album from the pop-up menu, and then click New Album.

    Note:  You can also choose File > New > Album.

    The new album appears in the Source list or, if you’re in full-screen view, in the main viewing window.

  3. Type a name for your new album in the Source list.

    If you’re in full-screen view, click the Info button in the toolbar to open the Information pane, and then type a new name for your album.

    Your new album appears in your Source list. In full-screen view, click the Albums button in the toolbar to see the new album. If you don’t see the Albums button, click the button in the top-left corner of the window one or more times, until you see the toolbar change to the right one. Learn more about using the toolbar in full-screen view.

To create an album from an entire Event or from a folder of photos outside iPhoto:

Do one of the following:

  • Click to select an Event and drag it to an empty part of the Source list. iPhoto creates an album with the same name as the Event. To rename the album, select it, click the name, and then type a new name. In the album, you can drag the photos into any order you want, add more photos, or remove photos, all without affecting the photos in the Event.

  • Drag a folder of photos from the Finder to an empty part of the iPhoto Source list. iPhoto creates an album with the folder’s name and imports all photos contained in the folder. An Event with the same photos and name also appears in your iPhoto library.

To create an empty album:

  1. Choose File > New, and then press the Shift key and choose Empty Album from the submenu.

    Image of Create button in standard view

  2. Your new album appears in your Source list. Click the placeholder title and type a name.

To add, remove, or rearrange photos:

Do any of the following:

  • To add photos to an album, do one of the following:

    • Drag them to the album’s icon in the Source list.

    • Select the photos, click the Add To button, choose Albums from the pop-up menu, and then click the album you want to add them to.

    You can add:

    • Entire Events, or photos within one or more Events

    • Photos from other albums

    • Photos on a CD or DVD, or in another location on your hard disk (when you add a photo from outside iPhoto, it’s automatically imported into your photo library)

  • To rearrange photos in an album, drag the photos into the order you want. You can also sort them by date, keyword, title, or rating by choosing View > Sort Photos and choosing a sort option from the menu.

  • To remove photos from an album, select them and press the Delete key, or drag them to the Trash icon in the Source list. You can also move your pointer over the photo to make the down arrow appear, and then click the arrow and choose Remove From Album from the shortcut menu that appears.

    The photos are removed only from this album, not from other albums or Events in your photo library.

    If you accidentally remove a photo from an album, choose Edit > Undo to restore it.

You can always see the Event a photo belongs to. Move your pointer over the photo to make the down arrow appear, and then click the arrow and choose Show Event from the shortcut menu that appears. The Event opens in the main viewing window.