deity.netlify.com

As of OS X Yosemite, Apple is encouraging everyone to use its new Photos program for managing pictures in OS X. While Photos has a number of pros and cons, it does share a limitation of its “iPhoto” predecessor, in that while it uses a library system for managing photos and offers an option to create multiple libraries, it can only have one open at a time. This means that if you wish to consolidate libraries, you might find yourself jumping through hoops; however, there is a relatively simple way to get this done.

• Merge Photos Library Mac
• How To Combine 2 Photo Libraries On Mac

First, the classic way of doing this would be to use an export/import option:

How to Merge iPhoto Libraries in Photos for OS X? When you first time launch Photos app, it will ask you to choose which library would like to import into Photos app. Once you choose your library, you can not import another library into Photos.

• Actually, there is a much simpler way to combine two photos into one page (one pdf) on a Mac. Open a new powerpoint file, open the photos you want to join or save into one PDF, use the Crop command (Shift+Control+Command+4) to crop the images one by one and paste them in the powerpoint file. Adjust the size of photos and placement on the slide.
• Nov 11, 2015  How to quickly combine multiple Photos libraries in OS X. Open Photos while holding the Option key. Select your desired Library to open. Select all items and export them to a folder. Quit and re-open Photos while holding the Option key. Select a second library to open. Import all of the items into.
• Oct 25, 2019  Launch Photos on your Mac. Click on Photos in the sidebar, under the Library section. Pick out the photos you want to add to an album, either new or existing. Hold down the command key on your Mac and click to select multiple photos.
• Apr 07, 2017  Hello, Photo is not at all my photography main app but it comes handy at importing off of the iPhone, I just figured it out that on my backup MacBookAir I have two Photo libraries and was trying to find out how to merge them in a single one as to save space (there probably are.
• Jan 31, 2017  Feature Request: iCloud Photo Library support for multiple Apple IDs. Apple could just include a toggle to either keep your iCloud Photo Library separate or combine with someone else’s.

1. Open Photos while holding the Option key
2. Select your desired Library to open
3. Select all items and export them to a folder
4. Quit and re-open Photos while holding the Option key
5. Select a second library to open
6. Import all of the items into this second library.

This approach will undoubtedly take a long time, and will require you essentially duplicate your library contents more than once to consolidate them import them all into the second library. While it may be doable for those with only a few libraries to manage, for those with a number of different libraries, the following approach may be more streamlined:

1. Open Photos to load your current library (or open with the Option key held to choose a different or new library to use)
2. Open the Terminal utility (in the Applications > Utilities folder)
3. Type the following command, then hold the Option key immediately after pressing Enter to execute it:

When you do this, a second instance of the Photos application will open, and will request you select a library. Do this for a different library, and you will now have two Photos windows on your screen with different libraries open. Now you can select some or all the photos from one library, and drag them into the second Photos window to add them to that library. You can do this for individual photos, entire moments, or custom selections as you browse through your photos.

Note that copying in this manner may cause Photos to briefly hang and show your cursor as a spinning beachball, but do not interrupt the process. After a short while, your photos will be copied and show up in your second library. You will also see a notification that confirms the number of photos imported.

This window will pop up if you held the Option key at the appropriate time when launching an instances of Photos (if not, then quit Photos and try again). Use it to select a photo library other than the one open in your primary instance of Photos.

Merge Photos Library Mac

When done, close the second instance of the Photos application, and then repeat the Terminal command (press the Up arrow to quickly load the previously-entered command–be sure to hold the Option key after pressing Enter), to load a new library and copy your files into your main library.

One quick warning with this approach, is that you should not load the same library in two separate instances of Photos, as this may lead to conflicts in how data in the library is handled, and could corrupt the library. Therefore, just be sure you load separate libraries in separate instances of Photos, and you should be good to go. Kvm native library failed to load mac.

Photos makes it easy to create and switch between libraries. That’s good when photos need to be kept completely separate. For instance, a real estate agent might want to keep personal photos separate from house photos taken for work. But too much separation is annoying—you have to keep switching between libraries, and it’s easy to import new photos into the wrong one.

How To Combine 2 Photo Libraries On Mac

If you struggle with multiple Photos libraries, never fear—you can merge them. Unfortunately, the process is slow, can require a lot of disk space, and may result in the loss of some metadata. You have three options: merging through iCloud Photos, using the PowerPhotos utility, and merging by exporting and importing. Each has pros and cons.

Merge through iCloud Photos

Apple’s iCloud Photos service offers the best solution for merging libraries. The trick is that whenever you designate a library as your System Photo Library, Photos automatically uploads all images that aren’t already present, adding them to the photos already in iCloud Photos. It also retains all the metadata surrounding your photos—titles, keywords, albums, facial recognition, projects, and more.

On the downside, using iCloud Photos almost certainly won’t be free unless you have so few photos that the combined library will fit within the free 5 GB of iCloud space Apple gives everyone. Almost everyone will have to pay for additional storage space ($0.99 per month for 50 GB, $2.99 for 200 GB, or $9.99 for 2 TB) for at least the month in which you’re doing the merge. iCloud Photos is a good service, so it’s likely worth paying for anyway.

More problematic is that the iCloud Photos way of merging will be very slow. If you haven’t already started using it, it could take a week or more to upload many thousands of photos. Plus, it will probably download the entire cloud-based collection of photos to each library whose photos you want to merge, so you may need a lot of local disk space too.

If you haven’t previously used iCloud Photos, go to System Preferences > iCloud and click the Options button next to Photo. In the dialog, select iCloud Photos.

Now, starting with the smallest Photos library and working up in size, follow these steps for each library you want to merge:

1. Double-click the Photos library to open it.
2. In Photos > Preferences > General, click Use as System Photo Library. (If it’s dimmed out, that library is already set as the System Photo Library.)
   
3. Wait for photos to upload. Scroll to the bottom of the Photos view to see the progress. A Pause link will appear there during uploading—click it if you need to keep Photos from overwhelming your Internet connection. Once the photos have all uploaded, go back to Step 1 with your next Photos library.

When you’re done, the last Photos library becomes the one you’ll keep, and you can delete the others. Needless to say, make sure you have good backups first!

Merge with PowerPhotos

The $30 PowerPhotos from Fat Cat Software provides a variety of extra capabilities when working with Photos. It helps you to create and manage multiple libraries, copy photos between libraries, find duplicates, and—most important for this topic—merge libraries.

Because PowerPhotos is working entirely on your Mac’s drive, it’s fast and it doesn’t require huge amounts of extra disk space. Unfortunately, unlike the iCloud Photos approach, which brings in both originals and any edits to those photos, PowerPhotos can import only your original photos or the versions that you’ve edited, not both. Plus, it can’t merge facial recognition data, smart albums, or print projects.

PowerPhotos provides an actual interface for merging too—choose Library > Merge Libraries to start.

In the window that appears, you have four tasks:

1. Choose source libraries. You aren’t limited to merging just two libraries; you can pick multiple sources.
2. Choose the destination library. This is the library you want to receive all the photos. If you want, you can create a new one.
3. Configure duplicate handling. PowerPhotos can import just one of several copies of duplicate photos, or you can bring in all the duplicates if that’s important.
4. Choose options. PowerPhotos can merge album contents, create an album from each source library, and create a backup before merging. Most important, though, is the choice of whether to merge your original photos or the edited versions.

Merge by Exporting and Importing

This final option is conceptually simple. You export all the photos from one library and then import them into another. It’s even what Apple recommends. The main thing it has going for it is that it’s free, and it will be faster than the iCloud Photos approach. It could also be useful if you want to copy a subset of photos between libraries, rather than merging all photos.

However, as with PowerPhotos, you have to choose between original and edited photos, and you’ll need a lot of extra disk space. Even worse, you’ll lose even more metadata, including albums, faces, and print projects. And if you export as JPEG, your photos may also suffer a slight quality drop as they’re recompressed.

Recover Lost iTunes Library Using iTunes. You can do the same thing with iTunes, but it has its limits. Here is how you do it: Step 1: Close iTunes. Step 2: Go to where your library file is. In Windows, this is UsersUsernameMusiciTunes. For Mac, you go to Go Home, and then click to open your Music folder, then the iTunes folder. Dec 28, 2016  How to Restore iTunes Library on Mac For avoiding the big downside—one system crash or failed hard drive, you may lose everything you've spent hours ripping from CDs or, even worse, purchasing from the iTunes Music Store, you may have backed up your iTunes library to prevent the loss of your precious files. 19 rows  Feb 03, 2018  In general if you try to connect and sync an Apple device to a new library. Jul 05, 2019  If this just happened to you, take a breath and don’t worry, as you probably can still recover those deleted iTunes library files with the following tips we’re going to show you. New update: now that Apple phased out iTunes, some of the methods below may.

For those who want to use this approach, Apple provides detailed instructions. In essence, you’ll click Photos in the sidebar to see everything, and then choose Edit > Select All. Then you’ll choose File > Export and either Export X Photos (to get the edited versions of images) or Export Unmodified Original for X Photos (to get the original images). Once everything has exported, you’ll switch libraries in Photos and then drag the folder of exported images back into Photos to import it.

Our nod goes to the iCloud Photos technique, but PowerPhotos is a fine utility for those who aren’t perturbed by its limitations. Of course, don’t start any merging without making backups first, and if you need help, don’t hesitate to call or text us!

Remember, you can text us during normal business hours and we will get right back to you! Use the 'Chat Bubble' on the left side of any page on our website!