Transfer Iphoto Library Between Macs

Transfer Iphoto Library Between Macs 5,0/5 3216 reviews

Jun 26, 2009 Copy, do not move, the iPhoto from the old Mac to the new Mac using thumb drive, firewire etc. As mentioned above. Place the iPhoto folder from the old Mac into the same folder 'Pictures' where your renamed folder 'org iPhoto' is located. Step four Once the old Macs iPhoto folder (library) is copied to /users/pictures, open the iPhoto application. Sep 25, 2013 This is how to move iPhoto photos to an external hard drive. On most newer Macs that are flash-based and/or Macs that are running out of internal hard disk space, storing photos on an external. Aug 20, 2011  Question: Q: transfer iphoto library from one mac to another. Bought a new iMac today and need to transfer all my photos (2000) from the old iMac to the New. Your iPhoto Library is located in the /Home/Pictures/ folder. Copy it to an external drive and transfer it. Jun 04, 2019  Move photos, files, and mail from Mac to Surface. Content provided by Microsoft. Applies to: Surface Devices Surface. When the transfer is done, select This PC from the left pane. You don’t need to copy the Photo Library folder in Pictures if you already moved your photos over.

I've had a multi-Mac household pretty much since college, rocking a laptop and desktop in addition to miscellaneous iOS devices throughout the years. Dropbox and iCloud sync made most of the pains of using several Macs disappear, but iPhoto was always a problem. My laptop is tiny! My iPhoto library, not so much.

Thankfully, Photos for Mac — paired with iCloud Photo Library's Optimize Storage feature — makes working with and syncing multiple Macs a breeze. Here's how you can do it.

How to use Photos and iCloud Photo Library with multiple Macs

Here's a quick, simple breakdown on setting up your Macs to support Photos and iCloud Photo Library.

I recommend starting with your biggest iPhoto library; it'll usually be on your desktop Mac. When you open Photos for the first time, your library should import automatically; if it prompts you to create a new library, your Photos library may be stored in another location on your Mac, and you may need to manually open it.

Once you've imported your biggest library on your Mac, make sure iCloud Photo Library is turned on and syncing. You can do this by following these steps:

  1. Launch Photos on your Mac.
  2. Click Photos in the menu bar.

  3. Select Preferences Where is steam library on mac and cheese. (or do this quicker by pressing ⌘,).

    Source: iMore

  4. Click on the iCloud tab.

    Source: iMore

  5. Check off the box for iCloud Photos.

    • You can also check off the box for Download Originals to this Mac if you have the space.
    • You can check off Optimize Mac Storage to save space on your Mac by only saving a percentage of images and video locally — the rest will be thumbnails that you can click on to download when you want to.

    Source: iMore

Now, open your other Mac, and launch Photos. If you have an iPhoto library on that secondary Mac, follow the same steps as above — import your library, then turn on iCloud Photo Library. If you have duplicates of the same photo on each computer, iCloud should automatically resolve those conflicts when it syncs, providing you with just one version of your photos when the sync process finishes.

Open Iphoto Library On Pc

If you don't have an iPhoto library on your secondary Mac, create a new library in Photos and turn on iCloud Photo Library. If you want to save storage space on this secondary Mac, make sure Optimize Mac Storage is selected: This will save a certain percentage of images and video locally to your device, while providing thumbnails of all the others for you to download at your leisure.

After you've set up all your Macs with Photos and the sync process has finished, you're now good to go. From here on out, any time you add photos, they'll sync to every computer you've set up with Photos.

I've had my 320 GB HD laptop for about a month. Running Windows 7 Pro on a Lenovo ThinkPad T500. User library takes up 100gb macbook pro.

What syncs, what doesn't sync

Photos for Mac syncs a lot more than just your original photos and videos. According to a support document on Apple.com, here's what else you should expect to see sync:

  • All folders and albums
  • Smart Albums
  • Keywords
  • Memories
  • Searchable keywords
  • Key photo selections

There are a few things iCloud Photo Library won't sync, however. Here's Apple's list:

How to move iphoto library between macs

Transfer Iphoto Library To New Mac

  • Books, cards, calendars, and slideshows
  • Keyword shortcuts
  • Unused keywords
  • Last imported album on the Mac in question
  • Names and faces in the People album

For those not using iCloud Photo Library

If you've chosen not to enable iCloud Photo Library, Apple still offers you free syncing of your last 1000 photos via My Photo Stream, which doesn't count toward your iCloud disk space.

This will sync and download images you've imported or taken on other devices, but you won't have the option to optimize your storage or sync your albums.

Iphoto Library Vs Photos Library

Octoober 2019: Updated for macOS Catalina.

Serenity Caldwell contributed to an earlier version of this guide.

macOS Catalina

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Transfer Iphoto Library From One Mac To Another

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