iPhoto Library Manager 3.5 public beta
Work on iPhoto Library Manager 3.5 has been progressing well, and things are now to the point where the major new features are up and running. However, given the relative complexity of the new features (especially transferring faces data between libraries), I've decided to do a (hopefully brief) public beta of iPLM 3.5, so I can get it tested out on a wide variety of setups and make sure to get all the kinks worked out.The main additions are, of course, the ability to copy Places and Faces data from one library to another when copying photos under iPhoto '09. This includes both copying individual albums/events and merging libraries. There are also several other changes and bug fixes included in the release (full release notes are at the bottom of this post).This is pre-release software - I've tested things as thoroughly as possible, and there are no known bugs in the beta, but there is still the possibility of issues popping up, especially when dealing with library setups I haven't been able to test myself. I strongly recommend backing up your iPhoto libraries before doing any major photo copying.So, if you have iPhoto '09 and want to try out copying photos between your libraries while keeping your Places and Faces intact, you can download the public beta here. Note that I haven't yet done my full suite of tests on earlier versions of iPhoto, and there isn't really much in the way of new features for those earlier versions, so if you haven't upgraded to iPhoto '09, there's probably not much point in downloading the beta. The system requirements are the same as 3.4.5, and you still need a registered copy in order to perform advanced features such as photo copying and merging. I will be posting updates as bugs get reported and things get fixed - you can use the "Check For Updates" menu item from within the program to check for and install any new updates. If any issues arise, please contact support@fatcatsoftware.com.Update 4/3/09: Things have been progressing well, and iPLM 3.5 is getting close to completion. There are still a couple issues that need working out, but nothing major at the moment. I've just posted a new beta, 3.5b5, that is now available for download. Due to a mistake in 3.5b4, the "Check For Updates" menu item will not detect this new version if you have 3.5b4 currently installed, so you will have to download it manually instead from the link above.Changes in iPhoto Library Manager 3.5 public betaWhen the user clicks the Cancel button, we now present a dialog to verify that they do in fact want to cancel the operationRemoved the preference for relaunching iPhoto during a merge. This pref was for working around a bug in iPhoto 6, so we now just relaunch automatically when merging with iPhoto 6.Removed the preference setting for double clicking a library - double click now always opens the library in iPhoto, and a single click renames the libraryiPhoto Library Manager now creates its own log file and logs progress and error information as it copies photos (accessible from the Window menu)Photos that were published to a MobileMe gallery are now always included in the main library during a merge, and not just in the gallery itselfFixed a problem where movies and original versions of photos would not be copied for some usersTagged faces are now transferred along with photos that are copied/merged between libraries in iPhoto '09Places data is now copied along with photos when performing a copy or a merge in iPhoto '09Added a "selection" property to the Applescript dictionary so scripters can access the currently selected library