How can I export albums from Apple Photos into folders with the same names?
Ok, I have been combing the web for a similar solution as I really find Photos a poor replacement for Aperture.
This is an AppleScript script I put together based on various bits picked from similar questions but which they didn't do exactly what I needed. I can tell you that this one works with OS X El Capitan, Apple Photos and my 70 GB of pics and videos, I added a few error checking steps, it might be done more elegantly so any feedback more than welcomed. The reason it has the logic for picking albums based on the name is that otherwise the routine would go through all the albums, including default ones and export everything. I do use YYYY as start of each album so it is easy to select which ones I want to export. Possibly you can look for how to check for the parent folder or some other logic to ensure the script iterates over the right ones.
--AppleScript to export albums from Apple Photos
--Works with OSX El Capitan, Photos V1.3
--Usage: populate the initial variables with the folder to export to.
--It will create it in the desktop but you can use the alternative way
--to create it anywhere).
--Also populate the list of prefixes to look for.
--The script searches for them followed by a space, I use YYYY as
--prefix of all my albums. You may need to add your own logic there.
set theFolderName to "Exported Photos"
set albumprefixlist to {"2014","2013","2010"} -- Example list
set theDestinationRootFolder to POSIX file (POSIX path of file ((path to desktop as text) & theFolderName & ":")) as text
--Alternative:
--set theDestinationRootFolder to "/Users/[username]/Desktop/Exported Photos" as POSIX file as text -- sets the destination folder (use a valid path)
tell application "Finder"
if not (exists theDestinationRootFolder) then
my makeFolder(theDestinationRootFolder)
log "Created root folder:" & theDestinationRootFolder
else
log "Root Folder already exists:" & theDestinationRootFolder
end if
end tell
tell application "Photos"
repeat with i in albums
set tAlbum to get name of i
set tFolder to (theDestinationRootFolder & tAlbum) as text
try
set nYear to text 1 thru ((offset of " " in tAlbum) - 1) of tAlbum as integer
-- We use try here because in many cases there will be an error converting to integer
end try
set tYear to text 1 thru ((offset of " " in tAlbum) - 1) of tAlbum
if tYear is in albumprefixlist then
-- This checks the list, other tests can be done
-- Alternative:if tAlbum begins with "2010" then
-- Alternative: if nYear < 2010 then
log "Processing " & tAlbum
if (count of media items in i) > 0 then
log "Exporting " & tAlbum & " to: " & tFolder
tell application "Finder" to set fileExists to exists my POSIX file tFolder
if not fileExists then
my makeFolder(tFolder) -- create a folder named (the name of this album) in dest
tell application "Photos"
try
export (get media items of i) to (tFolder as alias) with using originals
on error
log "Error with the export command, check the album's content"
end try
end tell
else
log "Error, folder exists, rather not export there"
end if
else
log "Skipping export as it is an Empty album"
end if
else
log "Skipping album " & tAlbum
end if
end repeat
log "Process completed"
end tell
on makeFolder(tPath)
do shell script "mkdir -p " & quoted form of (POSIX path of tPath)
end makeFolder