iPhoto 5. The Missing Manual

B.3. Edit Menu

As you would expect, the commands in the Edit menu let you edit various parts of your photo library, such as keywords, photo titles, and the sort order. The standard Cut, Copy, and Paste commands operate on selected text and photos as normal.

B.3.1. Undo

Where would this world be without Undo? In iPhoto, you even have a multiple Undo; using this command (and its keyboard equivalent, -Z), you can reverse your last series of actions in iPhoto, backing out of your bad decisions with no harm done (Figure B-2). How nice to know that if you go too heavy on the contrast, delete an important photo, or crop out your grandmother's earlobe, there's a quick and easy way out.

Note that the Undo command tracks your changes in each window independently. For example, suppose you're in the main iPhoto window. You enter Edit mode, where you crop a photo and rotate it. Now you double-click the photo so that it opens in its own window. Here, you fix some red-eye and adjust the contrast.

As long as you remain in the new window, you can undo the contrast and red-eye adjustmentsbut if you return to the main window, you'll find that the Undo command will take back only your original actionsthe cropping and rotating.

So while iPhoto can handle multiple levels of undo, keep in mind that each window maintains its own private stash of Undos.

B.3.2. Redo

Redo (Shift- -Z) lets you undo what you just undid. In other words, it reapplies the action you just reversed using the Undo command.

B.3.3. Cut, Copy, Paste

These commands work exactly the way they do in your word processor when you're editing photo titles, comments, keywords, or any other text fields. In addition, they have a few special functions when they're used in certain parts of iPhoto.

• In a photo album (not the main Photo Library), you can select photos and use Cut to remove them from the album. (This doesn't delete them from the Photo Library, only from that particular album.) To move the photos to a different album, click the album's name , or click one of its photos, and then choose Paste.

• You can assign photos from the main Photo Library to a specific album using the Copy and Paste commands. Select a file, choose Copy, click the destination photo album, and finally choose Paste.

• Cut, Copy, and Paste are all inactive when you're in Editing mode (Chapter 6).

B.3.4. Select All

This command ( -A) behaves in three different ways, depending on when you use it in iPhoto.

• It selects all thumbnails visible in the viewing areaeither those in the selected album or the whole Photo Library.

• In Edit mode, with a photo opened in the main iPhoto window, the Select All command extends the cropping rectangle to the very edges of the photo.

• When you're editing photo titles, comments, keywords, or any other text fields, the Select All command selects all of the text in the field you're editing.

B.3.5. Select None

As you would expect, this command (called Deselect All in iPhoto 4) is the opposite of Select All. The only practical way to use this command is to employ its handy keyboard shortcut, Shift- -A, to quickly deselect a group of photos without having to click the mouse.

B.3.6. Font

Opens the standard Mac OS X Font Panel, which is of little use except when using iPhoto's book-designing feature (Chapter 10). You can't change the font used to display titles, comments, or keywords.

If you are formatting a Photo Book, choose Edit Fonts Show Fonts (or press -T) to open the panel and make your selections.

B.3.7. Spelling

Use the Spelling commands to check for misspelled words within iPhoto. It's primarily useful when you're typing in the captions and photo names for Photo Books that you plan to order, as described in Chapter 10. Even then, you may find this feature a bit cumbersome (page 274).