How to fix an old iPhoto problem with location names

iPhoto’s time in the sun came and went a long time ago, and macOS 10.15 Catalina put the nails in its coffin. (See my column from last October on your options for migration or continuing to use iPhoto.)

However, there’s a reason to dredge up the past and that is to, uh, not dredge up the past. iPhoto let you create custom names for places on the map. Those are then attached to those places and show up both in iPhoto and when you share images from it directly.

That’s stirring up old memories for one reader, whose name I will omit for obvious reasons, because the old location has the name of their ex-partner in it. This can be fixed, though it may require a bit of effort.

You could have such an item named, say, “Beauregard’s Place” and want to replace it with someone neutral, like “Our Home.” Here’s how:

1. Launch iPhoto.

2. Choose Window > Manage My Places.

3. Select the place name in the list at left. You can either click the minus button to its right to delete it or click the title, which makes it editable, and enter a new name. You can also adjust the region it covers in the map at right.

4. Click Done.

IDG

You may seem some vestigial remains of the previous place name, particular in the Places view’s Home menu, which appears to retain previous place names that you selected by name after the name has changed. But this should go aways towards mitigating the unwanted memories.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by a Macworld reader.

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