Access your iPhoto collection in an application’s Place or Open dialog box

When Leopard was released, a little-hyped feature was the ability to access your iPhoto, iMovie and iTunes assets from within virtually any application’s Open, Insert or Place dialog box.

Because it’s a feature you don’t use every day, it’s easy to overlook it – but it can save so much time that I’m surprised I don’t hear or see more people using it. Previous to Leopard, you could use Karelia’s free iMedia Browser to get the feature in Mac OS X Tiger (10.5) or Leopard – including any application that doesn’t support Apple’s built-in method. But in my day-to-day work, I’ve yet to come across an app I need it for that the built-in method doesn’t work in.

You simply need to click on the appropriate Media icon in the left-side source list of an Open, Place or Insert dialog box. The appropriate database will appear at the top of the window allowing you to access your library of assets, and offer previews of your assets below it. In the case of the screenshot above, I’m accessing a specific collection of images in my main iPhoto library from within Photoshop. No need to open iPhoto and drag the image to the desktop before opening it in Photoshop. The same method will work for bringing iMovies into Final Cut or your favorite video editing apps, etc.

You can still use Karelia’s iMedia Browser if you come across an app that Apple’s built-in method doesn’t work with. The nice thing about it is that it’s a stand-alone app that you can keep open and drag images out of whenever you wish.