Q&A: Merging and Splitting iPhoto Events

Merging and Splitting iPhoto Events

Q. How does iPhoto decide what an “event” is, and can I override it and group the pictures the way I want?

A. When it imports your new pictures from the camera’s memory card, Apple’s iPhoto program looks at the date and time they were taken, based on data embedded in the photo files themselves. The program then sorts the images into what it calls “events” based on that information. If you were out taking pictures at the school football game Friday night and then took some more photos at a local art fair Saturday morning, iPhoto would probably separate the images from each activity into a separate event when you copied all those pictures over to the computer.

If you want to do your own event planning, however, you can combine two or more batches of pictures into the same event. You can also divide a bunch of pictures from one event into smaller collections.

To merge events, click to select the ones you want to combine in the iPhoto window, and drag those event thumbnails on top of the one you want to group them with. This creates one mega-event.

If you want to carve out smaller groups of pictures from a larger batch, open the event by double-clicking its thumbnail image. When all the pictures are displayed on the screen, click the photo you want to start with for the new event. Go to the Event menu and choose Split Event. That photo — and all the pictures that were after it on the screen — will be part of the new event.

Staying Vigilant on Facebook Privacy Settings

Q. For the last week, Facebook has had some notice on my page about “Who can look up your Timeline by name.” What does this really mean?

A. What it really means is that Facebook is making you easier to find. People using the site’s Graph Search tool can locate you in more ways now, besides looking up your exact name with the old basic search function. Graph Search, introduced earlier this year, allows people to search more deeply.

For example, if you checked in for deep-dish pizza at Gino’s East in Chicago and someone was searching for “people who have visited Gino’s East ‘The Original’ of Chicago,” you could turn up in the search results. In addition to location check-ins, Graph Search results include status updates, comments and photo tags.

As part of its awareness campaign about the change, Facebook has been reminding users to check their privacy settings to make sure you have shared your activity with the people you intended (such as only people on your Friends list). When you post photos and updates on your Timeline, you can choose the privacy settings for each one to be visible only to you, to just the people on your Friends list or publicly available to anyone using Graph Search. You can get to your account’s privacy settings by clicking the small padlock icon on the upper-right corner of your Facebook page.

Graph Search makes it easier to find long-buried posts from the past, which may have some people nervous about what they have previously shared on Facebook. Click the Activity Log button on your Timeline page to see a long list of your posts, comments, photos and other actions on the site. The Activity Log also shows who can see your actions and offers privacy controls you can adjust for items on your own Timeline. You can also delete old comments and posts you have made on other people’s Timelines if, in retrospect, you think it best.