Reader Ann Duran could benefit from the judicious use of iPhoto ’s Smart Albums . She pen :

As I suggested , the trick to doing this is a Smart Album . To get down , feel some elbow room to identify the word-painting you require to archive and then delete from your library . If you bid to archive quondam photograph , this is a cinch . Just select File > New Smart Album and configure the leave sheet to take Date is Beforewhenever , wherewheneveris the date you ’ve determined as the dividing line between those photos you desire to keep on your Mac and those you bid to archive . iPhoto will create a smart record album that contains the exposure you ’ll archive .

If you ’re hoping to archive photo not by engagement , but by cognitive content , you ’ll have to discover another room to sort out them . One way is to utilise military rank , another is to use keywords .

To assign paygrade to a radical of pic , select the photos that will be archive , Control - click , and choose the valuation you want from the Rating program line in the contextual menu . ( This is not a good way to go if you routinely rate you pictures as some you do n’t want archived will probably end up in the mix . )

To assign keywords to a batch of photos , select those photograph , click the Keyword icon ( the small tonality ) at the bottom left of the iPhoto window , and drop behind the photo to the keyword you care to set apart . If there ’s no appropriate keyword there , make one of your own by choose iPhoto > Preferences , clicking the Keywords tab in the leave Preferences window , clicking Add , and make an appropriate keyword .

Now create a bright record album based on that keyword or rating . With the exposure in the overbold album , select that album and choose ploughshare > Burn Disc . You ’ll be prompted for a white record . Click Burn when you ’re quick to go and iPhoto will burn your photos to the blank disc ( or discs , if more than one is required ) .

Note : If these picture are valued to you , I ’d suggest back up them up more than once — and to media other than candela - R or DVD - R. The Export command in the Share menu allows you to preserve your file to a hard effort . word of honor to the impudent as compact disc - R and DVD - R are not the “ always ” medium some have claim .

With your photos safely file away , you’re able to now delete them from your iPhoto library . To do so , take all the photos in your smart folder and choose photograph > Move to Trash . Your photos will be range in iPhoto ’s Trash . To blue-pencil them from your campaign ( you ’re really , reallysure you ’ve backed them up the right way , yes ? ) , ascendance - tap iPhoto ’s Trash entrance in the Source list and prefer Empty Trash .

Update : In the first rescript of this entry I indicated that when you edit photos from a standard album ( versus a smart album ) , the image remains in iPhoto ’s depository library . Macworldforum visitor swaltner piped in with the word that you could delete delineation from a standard albumandiPhoto ’s library by selecting the pic ( or photos ) and weight-lift Command - Option - Delete . Doing so bump off the photo from the library and from every record album , slideshow , and book where it come along , so utilize it carefully .