It’s been a long time coming, but today we cover the final installment of the File Management series of Mobile Tutorials: Creating Permanent Albums on your iPhone. In earlier installments, we covered how to transfer image files between devices, how to transfer image files from device to computer, and how to delete all of the files on your device camera roll. The only problem with deleting all the image files from your device? There may be some files you want to keep on there! Like your portfolio or your favorite images of your kids. Let’s cover how to get those back onto your device after you’ve cleared it off.
But first, an excursion through the forest, from my latest series…
Aaahhh… Don’t you feel better? I do, every morning I hike in this beautiful place! OK, back to our tutorial…
Create Folders on Your Computer
The first step to the whole process is to create a place on your computer where you will create your permanent albums. In “My Pictures” Library, I have created folders called “iPhone Sync” and “iPad Sync,” so I can have a different set of albums on each device.
Within each Sync folder, create subfolders. Each subfolder will be an album on my device, so name the folder what you want the album to be named, and copy the photos you want in that album into the subfolder on the computer.
On my iPhone, I have albums I use for teaching classes (the “Example” folders) and albums for my Portfolios (starting with “P*_”). Since the albums will show up alphabetically on my iPhone, I name them alphabetically in the order I want them.
On my iPad, I also have texture and background images acquired from other sources or created in the past. It’s nice that I always have these favorite image files available, and easy to find on my device.
Set up iTunes to Sync with your Folder
The second step is to set up iTunes to sync your chosen folder. Attach your device to your computer, open iTunes and then…
1. Select your device by clicking on the device icon.
2. In the Settings menu on the left menu bar, select Photos.
3. Check the box to Sync Photos.
4. Select your Sync folder.
5. Click the radio button next to All folders, so that all of the subfolders you created will be transferred as albums. You can also click the checkbox if you have videos in these folders, and videos will be included too.
Sync your Device
Sync your device, and voila! You now have permanent albums in your Photos app. Open the Photos app, select Albums at the bottom of the screen, and then scroll down. You will see the albums you created in your sync folder.
You can open these image files as you would any other image file on your Camera Roll, but you can’t save into the album or delete images from the album. If you open and edit an image, you save a new version onto the Camera Roll like normal. That’s nice, because you can’t accidentally delete these images from your device.
When you want to delete individual images or an album, delete them in the Sync folder on your computer, and then sync your device. It’s that easy!
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