iphoto :: get filepath

April 20, 2009 7:08 PM

What's the quickest way to get the complete filepath of an image in iphoto copied into the clipboard? (ie, to fill in a "Browse..." to upload button a webpage)

All the "info" stuff I see just gives me a filename. The only way I see to do it now is "Show File" in iphoto, which open finder window, then right on icon and do "Show Info", but maddeningly the "Where" field is not selectable to copy onto clipboard.

posted by H. Roark to computers & internet (8 answers total)

I just did a quick test posting a craigslist ad, and it seems that drag-n-drop works to get the file paths into the box. I pulled the photo from the iPhoto interface, and dropped it into the box, and it uploaded fine after that.

YMMV?
posted by hippybear at 7:17 PM on April 20, 2009

Oh, yes... not using "browse..." dropping it into the box where you would type the filename.
posted by hippybear at 7:17 PM on April 20, 2009

You know that the filebrowser on 10.5 allows you to access your iPhoto galleries directly, right? It's that pictures entry on the bottom left.
posted by unixrat at 7:39 PM on April 20, 2009

unixrat: on my 10.5 system, when I click the Pictures sort button in the Finder sidebar, it has "iPhoto Library" bundled into a single, impenetrable file.

(well, not impenetrable... right-click, "show package contents"... but if you have any more photos in your iPhoto library than I have, which is to say, more than just a smattering, drilling through the folders is pretty overwhelming.)
posted by hippybear at 7:59 PM on April 20, 2009

hippybear thanks, I did not know I could do that (looks like Safari only). But still there has to be a good way to just get the complete path...

I'm on 10.4.11, so unixrat I don't think I can take advantage of that.

These apps where they try to hide the filesystem drive me nuts.
posted by H. Roark at 8:01 PM on April 20, 2009

H. Roark: I'm always surprised at how well drag-n-drop works in Mac OS. Even for non-intuitive things like a terminal window, you can drag a file out of the Finder and it will drop the pathname there for you so you don't have to worry about remembering to backslash the spaces in folder names, etc.

You might try exactly that, actually. Open the terminal, drag the file from iPhoto into the terminal window, and then copy-paste the resulting path into the browser you are using. I don't know if the formatting they use for things like spaces and such will screw with the upload... or if having all the filepaths originate at /Volume will be a problem... It's worth a try.
posted by hippybear at 8:12 PM on April 20, 2009

unixrat: on my 10.5 system, when I click the Pictures sort button in the Finder sidebar, it has "iPhoto Library" bundled into a single, impenetrable file.

That's a doggone shame because I use that link daily. It's so damn handy. :)
posted by unixrat at 4:34 AM on April 21, 2009

unixrat: Oh, wait, I see why that doesn't work for me as it does for you... I don't keep my photos in the Apple-designated Pictures file on my hard drive. I long ago migrated that folder to an external drive, and never bothered to repoint that sidebar item to the new folder. Largely because, well, I don't have many photos, so I don't really care.

I've done a lot of searching on this topic, as now I'm really curious, but it doesn't seem that Apple has built in any functionality to iPhoto to allow copying file paths to the clipboard. Within the Finder itself, you can use Finder -> Services -> TextEdit -> New Window Containing Selection to open a TextEdit window with the file path of a selected file. However, that has to be done with the file selected in a Finder window, not within iPhoto.

So, either drag-n-drop a photo from iPhoto into a Terminal window and copy-paste the file path that appears there, or else select the photo, "Reveal In Finder" and then use the Services item described above.

I love Apple, but they do seem to make things more difficult than they need to be at times.
posted by hippybear at 7:37 AM on April 21, 2009