FAQ

Does AE work with MacOS Catalina (Version 10.15.x)

No.  AE requires Aperture to be fully functioning on your machine. And since Aperture no longer works on Catalina, AE cannot perform an export.

Is Aperture Exporter and Exporter for Aperture the same program?

Yes. Due to trademark concerns raised by a Mac App Store reviewer, Aperture Exporter was renamed as Exporter for Aperture solely for the app store.

Why is the Mac App Store version of AE behind what is available from the website?

We can release updates to the website as soon as they are available. However for the App Store the update must be reviewed by Apple which takes time. Furthermore, there will be times where a release is necessary for just the website version or just for the App Store version.

What is the difference between AE and Adobe's Importer plugin? Is their any advantage of using one over the other?

See: Aperture Exporter VS Adobe's Importer Plugin

Does AE work in standalone mode, or do I need to have Aperture installed?

Aperture needs to be installed running in order for AE to do it’s job. Why is this? AE heavily uses Aperture APIs in order to be able to preserve as much metadata as possible while ensuring that adjustments can also be baked into JPEGs and/or TIFFs when those options are selected. It also ensures maximum library compatibility as the Aperture database structure frequently changes with each release of Aperture.

Are the images in the Aperture library converted to being referenced?

AE does not convert your Aperture Library to referenced. It creates a copy of all the images in there to a new directory specified by the user. Thus leaving the original Aperture Library in tact.

Does Aperture Exporter work with Managed/Referenced files?

Aperture Exporter works equally well with referenced and/or managed images. My test cases have a mixture of both.

What about Aperture colour labels and flags?

Aperture colour labels and flags are converted to keywords.

What happens to my Aperture Albums?

Albums are optionally retained. However they are not exported as Lightroom collections. A folder is created for each album with copies of the images that are in the album within the folder. If you choose not to create folders for albums AE will tag images with keywords that reflect the albums they were in.

What happens to my Aperture Slide Shows?

Lightroom has a slide show module, however it is not compatible with Aperture’s slide shows. Both are proprietary formats. AE does save out images, or adds keywords to images, in an Aperture slide show. In fact, in AE the Aperture slide shows are treated the same as albums. You can use the applied keywords to recreate the slide show in Lightroom if you like.

Will my GPS/Location data be preserved?

GPS data is retained, even if the location was added directly within Aperture.

How does saving raw files' versions as JPEGs work?

The JPEG versions of RAWs have a filename that appends “WithAdjustments”. For example filenameA.CRW is converted as “filenameA WithAdjustments.jpg"

Why did AE create JPEGs and/or TIFFs of Aperture image versions that have no adjustments?

AE has no legitimate way of telling whether or not an Aperture image version has adjustments applied or not. However, AE does detect if an image version has the "No Adjustments" keyword applied. In which case a TIFF or JPEG will not be generated. It's a good idea to create an Aperture smart album that searches for all images without adjustments applied. To the images in that smart album, add the "No Adjustments" keyword. AE can then be used to export and JPEGs/TIFFs will not be created for those images.

What happens with my Aperture Faces Data?

AE has Faces support. It works by tagging images with identified faces with keywords in the format of "Face - [facename]".

How long will it take to export my library?

You may be affected by a known Aperture bug. See the trouble shooting article Aperture's Fast Library Switching Bug.

Why is the number of exported images different from AE's estimated number of images and the image count in Aperture? 

For the purpose of illustration let's say Aperture reports having 24280 images in your library.

The 24280 count you are seeing is the count of image *versions*.  For Aperture versions have a many to one relationship with the originals.  That is, you can have 100 versions that are all based on a single original file.

So, 24280 does not always equal 24280 original images.  Now this is why things are complicated on export…. AE will export only a single original even in the case where there are 100 versions based on it in a project.  (There is an advanced option in AE to force the generation of a original for each version so that the version:original relationship is one to one.)

To make counting even more complicated, consider that if you have either/or the “Create JPEGs” or “Create TIFFs” options selected in AE you will get additional copies of images on export.  Meaning that some people experience a case where there are 24280 images in Aperture and on export they will have a number >24280.

AE exports are blocked by a message stating IPTC metadata could not be included or file was not created

These messages are generated by Aperture. See our troubleshooting pages for more details.

Why are the dates on exported image files different than the capture date of the original?

It is never a good idea to think that a file's creation/modification timestamps have anything to do with the capture/modification time of an image.  This almost never is the case.  For example, lets say you took pictures in January and finally copied the images off of the memory card onto your hard drive in October.  The filesystem timestamp on the memory card will indicate January as expected, but the copy on your hard drive will be October.

This also occurs with AE.  AE is creating copies of your images and therefore the filesystem timestamp for the image will be the time/date at which the file was created.

What you should really be concerned with are the metadata timestamps contained in the image file (or sidecar) itself.  If you are concerned check the date in the metadata for the image.  For Aperture, Lightroom, Photos.app, CC!, IDimage, Picassa and so on, this is the only image date that matters.  

That being said you can use a custom naming profile that includes the image timestamp such that the exported files will have the timestamp right in the filename. 

Capture timestamps differ between original and "withAdjustments" versions

During import to Aperture you may have indicated that the camera timezone was different than the actual timezone. Alternatively, you may have adjusted the timestamp directly using Aperture’s Adjust Date and Time… functionality. In either case the result is the same. The originals are exported with the timestamp written by the camera. The "withAdjustment" images will have the adjusted timestamp. This is done to conform with Aperture's export behaviour when exporting originals vs. versions. I don't claim it to be the right decision on behalf of Apple, but it is what it is.

You may wish to use Aperture's "Write IPTC to Originals" function before export (this will actually write the changed time into the file, but of course, it does mangle the RAW and you might not be comfortable about this either).

Does AE work with Capture One Pro?

Yes!  I've had multiple reports now from Capture One users who have been very satisfied with the results.  That being said, I don’t have a license for Capture One Pro, but I have used the trial version.  AE works by creating a full folder structure for importing.

If you do have Capture One Pro and try AE out I’d still be interested to hear how things work out. On the other hand, I'm not against testing with Capture One Pro. So if someone wants to purchase a license for me I'd be grateful.

Why doesn't AE do XYZ?

Probably because we haven't thought of it. Please contact us with your request.

Does Aperture Exporter work with iPhoto? Is an iPhoto version of AE coming?

Short answer: No and No.

Longer answer: You can load your iPhoto library in Aperture and use AE that way. It will work as expected.

Even Longer answer: Those users who have been using iPhoto and never took the step up to Aperture are probably the least likely to want to or should make the step up directly to Lightroom. For sure there are exceptions to that, but the market would be too small to make a iPhoto version of AE viable. Furthermore iPhoto users are the most likely to be satisfied with the upcoming photos.app which is slated to arrive in 2015. In the meantime iPhoto continues to run just fine.

Can I contribute/donate to AE? The best way to contribute or donate to Aperture Exporter is to purchase a AE license file. It will help make AE even better.

If AE saved you a lot of time and hassle and you feel you want to contribute further, you can always buy a second license or purchase one of our other products.