iPhoto 9.1.2 event listing bug

Since Apple released the iPhoto 9.1.2 update last week, there have been multiple reports (both from iPLM users and from iPhoto users on Apple’s discussion forums) of problems working with iPhoto events in other applications such as iPhoto Library Manager and iTunes. Specifically, some events will show up with multiple entries in the event list, with the event’s photos split up among all the events shown in the list.  This appears to be the result of a bug in iPhoto 9.1.2. iPhoto writes out a file named AlbumData.xml inside its library, and that file contains a listing of all the albums, events, and photos in that library. It’s this file which iPLM reads in when displaying the album/event list in its own window, and is also used by other applications such as iTunes when syncing photos with your iPhone/iPod/iPad. While the affected event will still appear as a single event in iPhoto itself, iPhoto is writing out multiple entries for the event to the AlbumData.xml file, providing iPLM and other programs incorrect information about the event. This mainly appears to affect events which consist of photos that were originally in multiple events, but have since been merged together using the “Merge Events” menu item within iPhoto itself. (not to be confused with iPLM’s “Merge Libraries” command) The result of this bug is that when using iPLM to rebuild a library, or copy photos between libraries with the “Use XML Info Only” option, any events copied will be split up like they are shown in the AlbumData.xml file, and not how they actually appear in iPhoto. Apple is aware of the issue and is hopefully working on a fix for it, but no telling how long it may be before they can release an update to fix the problem. I’ll also be investigating to see if I can come up with a temporary fix for iPLM to try to compensate for the bug and at least be able to copy photos correctly. Update 5/5/11: I’ve just posted a 3.6.6 update to iPhoto Library Manager which works around this iPhoto bug, so events should now be displayed correctly when viewing them in iPLM. Note that this does not fix the underlying iPhoto bug, so you’ll still experience multiple event entries in other applications such as iTunes until Apple can fix the bug in iPhoto. Update 5/12/11: Apple release iPhoto 9.1.3 today, which fixes the event listing bug. Download the update via the “Software Update” menu item in the Apple menu, and you should be able to sync your events with your iOS devices correctly again.