Work with photos in list view

Instead of displaying thumbnails, list view displays photos by name and icon with accompanying information such as rating, image dimensions, file size, and date.

Switch to list view

Do one of the following:

  • Choose View > Browser > List (or press Control-L).

  • Click the List View button in the Browser.

    Figure. List View button in the Browser.

Choose what type of information is displayed in list view

  1. Choose View > Metadata Display > Customize (or press Command-J).

  2. In the Browser & Viewer Metadata dialog, choose a list view option from the View pop-up menu.

    Figure. Controls in the Browser & Viewer Metadata dialog.
  3. In the Metadata Fields column, click the disclosure triangles next to the main groups of metadata to reveal the options within them.

  4. Specify the type of metadata that appears in list view by selecting the checkboxes corresponding to each type (and deselecting the checkboxes for metadata items you want to remove).

    Each metadata item selected in the Metadata Fields column in the Browser & Viewer Metadata dialog appears as a column in list view.

  5. If necessary, rearrange the order in which the metadata columns are displayed by dragging the metadata items up or down in the Display Order column.

    The order of metadata selections in the Display Order column from top to bottom corresponds to the order of columns in the Browser in list view from left to right. Moving an item up in the Display Order column moves the metadata column to the left in list view.

    Figure. Dragging metadata fields to new positions in the Display Order column of the Browser & Metadata dialog.
  6. When you’re satisfied with your metadata selections and the order in which they will be displayed in list view, click OK.

Rearrange the metadata columns in list view

You can rearrange the metadata columns to keep the most important information in view.

  • Select the column’s header and drag the column to a new position.

    Figure. Dragging a column in list view to a new position.

Sort photos in list view by a category

One of the main advantages of list view is that you can quickly sort photos based on a category of information. When you click a column heading in list view, Aperture reorders the photos, sorting them by that category. For example, you might sort your photos by date.

  • Click the category column heading in the Browser.

    Figure. Browser in list view showing images sorted by date.

Enlarge the thumbnail icons in list view

When you work in list view, it may sometimes be difficult to determine the content of a photo based on the file information. You can enlarge the thumbnail icons that appear in list view to give you a better look at the photos.

  • Drag the Thumbnail Resize slider to increase or decrease the size of the icons.

Rename a photo version in list view

You can easily rename files after importing them. When you rename a file, you are renaming the photo version, not the original. The filename of the original does not change.

  • Select a photo, then double-click the photo’s version name and enter a new name.