Back up your library
Jul 12, 2017 How to Move Your Apple Photos Library to Another Location. Matt Klein @howtogeek Updated July 12. Which you can then open in Finder. On our system, we see our Photo Library is in our Dropbox, but yours will almost likely show up in your user folder. If you have other photo libraries on your system, they’ll be listed here. May 07, 2015 A window will pop up with a number, which in my Mac’s case was over 236GB between a number of different photo libraries — Apple’s Photo Booth, Aperture, iPhoto, and Photos, just to. Apr 01, 2020 Designate a System Photo Library in Photos If you have multiple photo libraries on your Mac, you can choose one to be the System Photo Library. The System Photo Library is the only library that can be used with iCloud Photos, Shared Albums, and My Photo Stream. Switch to Photos from iPhoto on Mac. If you didn’t update to OS X 10.10.3 or later, the Photos app is installed automatically when you update your version of macOS. When you first open Photos on your Mac, your photo library is upgraded. For more information about the Photos app, see the Photos User Guide.
2020-1-16 Go to the General tab and select iCloud Music Library to turn it on. If you don't subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match, you won’t see an option to turn on iCloud Music Library. If you have a large music library, it might take some time to upload and sync your music library. 2020-4-6 In addition to streaming music that’s available on the platform, Apple Music unlocks a nifty feature called iCloud Music Library, which as the name suggests, allows you to sync your music across all your supported Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and iTunes on Windows. 2020-4-1 How to Enable iCloud Music Library on Windows PC & Mac. As mentioned earlier, you need to be subscribed to Apple Music or be an iTunes Match subscriber to take full advantage of iCloud Music Library within the iTunes software for PC & Mac. If that’s the case, simply follow the steps below to enable the iCloud Music Library feature on your Mac.
Before following any of these steps, it's a good idea to create a backup of your photo library, even if you use iCloud Photos. You can use Time Machine, use a third-party backup solution, or copy the library to an external drive. By default, your photo library is stored in the Pictures folder within your home folder. How to browse users library folder remotely mac osx mac.
Make sure that your software is up to date
Photos is part of the Mac operating system. You can avoid or fix many issues by running the most up-to-date version of macOS. Learn more about updating the software on your Mac.
If you use RAW images in Photos, learn more about the digital camera RAW formats supported by iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
If you have trouble migrating an existing iPhoto or Aperture library to Photos
You might see an alert message when you first open Photos or migrate an existing iPhoto or Aperture library. Learn what to do if Photos can’t copy or create a library.
Your Mac contains thousands of hidden files and folders that you'll probably never need to access. We explained how to access all hidden files and folders in another tutorial, but there's an easier way to access one of most important hidden folders on your Mac, called the Library folder. The user's Library folder, which is different than the root Library folder at the top-level of the hard. How to access my library mac. Before going ahead with the steps to Access the Hidden Library Folder on your Mac, you need to be aware that /Library Folder contains important Data and Files related to Mac User Accounts. Hence, make sure that you are accessing the Library Folder for a good reason and you do know as to what you are trying to achieve. Sep 27, 2016 A lot of Mac tutorials mention the Library folder, which is where your macOS applications store things like settings and caches. Some settings can only be changed by editing files in the Library. But the Library is hidden by default. Jan 12, 2020 You can access the hidden Library folder without using Terminal, which has the side effect of revealing every hidden file on your Mac. This method will only make the Library folder visible, and only for as long as you keep the Finder window for the Library folder open.
If the Media Browser isn't showing your photos and videos
Use the Media Browser to make images from your photo library available in other apps, like Pages and iMovie. The Media Browser shows only the contents of the Photos library designated as the System Photo Library. If you have more than one Photos library—and the one you're using isn't set as the System Photo Library—the Media Browser won't show its contents.
Follow these steps to designate the current library as the System Photo Library:
- Choose Photos > Preferences.
- Click the General button at the top of the Preferences window.
- Click Use as System Photo Library.
If you're having other issues with Photos
If you're experiencing other issues—like missing or blank photo thumbnails, unexpected behavior, or if Photos won’t open—try to see if it's an issue with your library by following these steps.
Create a new Photos library and see if your issues persist:
- Quit Photos.
- Press and hold the Option key while you open Photos.
- In the dialog that appears, click Create New.
- Give your new library a name, then click OK. Note whether Photos opens successfully with this new library.
To return to your main Photos library, quit Photos. Then open it again while holding the Option key, select your main library, and click Choose Library.
Alternatively, you can open Photos in another user account on your Mac and note whether Photos opens successfully.
If Photos opens with the new library, or in a different user account, it might mean that there's an issue with your library. Follow the steps to use the Photos library repair tool on your main Photos library.
Learn more
- Learn how to create and order print products like books or calendars in Photos with Project Extensions.
- Get help with iCloud Photos.
With cameras so readily available, it’s easy to accumulate more photos than you know what to do with. You probably take dozens of pictures when you go out, meet up with friends, or go on vacation. And while taking photos is fun, organizing them is work. But it doesn't have to be that way. In this article, we’ll show you how to organize photos on your Mac in three easy steps:
- Merge your photo libraries in the Photos app
- Delete unwanted photos
- Group pictures using Smart Albums in Photos
Step 1. Consolidate all your photos in the Photos app for Mac
When macOS Yosemite was released in 2014, the Photos app finally came to Macs, replacing outdated iPhoto. Now with Photos, you’ve got more organization tools, including the ability to switch between libraries and merge them.
To start with, let’s get all of your photos from different places onto your Mac. Here’s what you should do:
- Use iCloud Photo Library to ensure that everything you take on an iOS device is synced automatically with your Mac. Alternatively, AirDrop photos from your iPhone and/or iPad to your Mac.
- Import photos from external drives to the Photos app on your Mac
- Import photos from your camera
- If you have several libraries in the Photos app, merge them into one
Once everything is on your Mac and in one library, it’s easier to get organized. Let’s take a look at a few questions most people have when they juggle several Photos libraries.
How do I switch libraries in Photos?
Libraries in Photos can come from a few different sources, including external devices such as cameras and iPhones. If you were using iPhoto prior to Photos, each device and source will have a Systems Photo Library. You can switch between them, and here is how you do that:
- Go to Launchpad
- Hold down the Option key, and then double-click on the Photos app to see the libraries you have on this device
- Now you can move easily from one photo library to another and open the one you want by double-clicking it
How to create a new Photo library on Mac?
Creating a new library is easy. If Photos is open, you’ll need to quit and reopen to create a new library:
- Hold down the Option key
- Double-click on the Photos apps
- Click the Create New button, then choose Library
- Give your new library a name and click OK
Free Stock Photo Libraries
How to merge two or more Photos libraries?
At present, there is no native macOS tool for merging libraries in Photos. Essentially, what you’ll be doing is moving all pics to one new library. So, create one as described above, and then follow these steps:
- Launch Photos holding down the Option key and select one the libraries you want to merge
- In the menu bar, click Edit > Select All
- Again in the menu bar, select File > Export. Now you’ve got the following options:
- Export Unmodified Original. This will export every image in these libraries, excluding any edits or changes made to them.
- Export [number of photos you want to export] Photos, which gives you the option to pick a format and select Full Size. That will export your photos as they are, with any edits you’ve made, in TIFF, PNG, or JPEG formats.
- Pick where they’re going (this could be a folder on your Mac or a connected external drive, for example)
- Repeat these steps for the other libraries you want merged
- Now close Photos and re-open using Option to select the library you are merging these photos into
- Either use File > Import or drag the exported photos into the library
How do I delete a Photo library from my Mac?
If you want to delete a library, it’s super easy. You just navigate to the Pictures folder on your Mac, locate the library you want gone, and move it to the Trash. However, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got all the images and videos out of it first. Export them like we described in the previous section, and then trash the library.
Step 2. Remove duplicates and other useless photos
Now that you've merged libraries — which can take a while if you’ve got a lot of photos scattered across different locations — you’ve probably got a whole load of duplicates and similar images. Chances are, you had the same photo on an external HDD and on your Mac and now it’s duplicated, or you had a dozen slightly different variations of the same shot. Sure, you might want to keep one or two, but do you really need the other 11 wasting space on your Mac? Probably not. Here is how you delete redundant photos from a Mac without it taking all evening.
How to delete duplicates in Photos
- Download Gemini 2 for Mac and launch it
- Click Scan for Duplicates
- It will scan every photo, album and folder on your Mac, including those on any connected external hard drives and imported from the iCloud Photo Library. Once complete, click Review Results.
- Gemini has a photo preview mode, so you can see every image, including metadata. Your duplicates are grouped under Exact Duplicates > Images, and similar photos will be under Similar > Images. Use the icon at the top to see a grid view, making it easier to identify which copy you want to delete.<
- Tick the box next to each image you want to delete, then click Remove
Gemini places these in a separate folder in Photos (Gemini Duplicates), giving you a possibility to look through the images once again before deleting them for good. For more information, this article is well worth a read.
Step 3. Use Smart Albums in Photos to organize your pics
After merging your libraries and clearing out duplicates and similar images, take photo organizing one step further and group the remaining pics with Smart Albums. Let’s take a look at how to use this fantastic feature of the Photos app to your advantage.
What are Smart Albums in Mac’s Photos app?
Smart Albums are a way of grouping images by the parameters you set. Maybe you’ll want an album to contain photos taken last Christmas, or you’d rather group all the pics of your kid together. All that and more can be done with a Smart Album. As is the case with a regular Photos album, you can edit and delete it.
How to make a new Smart Album in Photos
Creating a new Smart Album is simple:
- Launch Photos
- Click the + button next to My Albums in the sidebar
- Select Smart Album<
- Give your Smart Album a name
- Choose the Parameters, e.g. “kids,” “days out,” “Holiday 2018.” You can modify these at any time.
- Click OK to create
By developing a system (e.g., photos are grouped into albums by date taken) and using Smart Albums, you’ll make sure your photo library is easy to navigate, even if it contains thousands of photos from 2001 and up until now.
That’s it, hope this short guide helps you cope with your photo overload. And remember: the best way to organize photos on your Mac is to keep your library lean and manageable — free from clutter and useless copies. Gemini 2 will gladly help with that.