Make New Photo Library Mac
Photo library mac

With the upgrade to Photos, many Mac users have been left with a duplicate iPhoto library on their Macs. Here’s how to delete iPhoto library and clear out some clutter.

Photos app allows you to create a new photo library for specific purposes like personal, private, work and more. There is not mentioned about a limit to how many new photo libraries you can make in Photos app for Mac. Step 5: Once you are satisfied with your new library name and location, click OK Step 6: To switch between libraries, open the Pictures folder and double-click on the library you wish to use. You can also hold the Option (⌥) key on your Mac’s keyboard and click the Photos app in your dock and then click Choose Library after selecting a.

iPhoto used to be the standard photo editor and photo management system on Macs, at least for the average computer user. Like it or not, however, that all changed when Apple first introduced the software, nearly a year ago. If your Mac came from Apple with Photos already installed, you don’t need to worry about old iPhoto libraries.

A Mac that was upgraded to a new version of OS X that added the Photos app, however, can end up with what look like duplicates of their photo libraries. The first time you start up Photos after upgrading, your Mac will copy over your photo library into the new software (if you explicitly set up more than one old iPhoto library, you’ll have to copy them over yourself). It doesn’t go back and delete the old one, though.

Here’s where things get a little bit confusing: you don’t actually have two copies of your photos. Thanks to the way OS X (the software that powers your Mac, like Windows powers a PC) works, your pictures aren’t actually stored in those libraries. Instead, they’re stored somewhere else on your hard drive, and each library has what Apple calls a “hard link” to the pictures. As a result, each library can access the photos, but store separate information about them. You can delete either library safely; only if you were to delete both libraries would you lose access to your pictures.

While having a second copy of your photo library doesn’t take up that much extra space on your computer, it can still be confusing – first of all, each library reports that it’s a certain size, which can make it difficult to figure out how much room is left on your Mac. Additionally, if you need to back things up, it can be hard to figure out where your files are.

If you’re willing to pay $10 for a better interface, Gemini seems like a good bet.There are other, similarly polished duplicate-file-finders in the Mac App Store, too — but Apple flags this one as an Editors’ Choice, and we can see why.As a bonus, the allows you to search for and find duplicates, but not remove them. Mac search file in library. The trial version worked well for us, and the interface certainly stands out from barebones, free applications like dupeGuru. So, if you really wanted, you could use the demo to find duplicates on your Mac, locate them in Finder, and then remove them by hand. Gemini can also scan your iTunes and iPhoto library for duplicates. And Other Paid AppsIf you do want to spend money on a duplicate-file-finder app, looks like one of the best options with the slickest interfaces.

Still with us? Let’s recap:

  • if you upgrade your Mac from iPhoto to Photos, you’ll get a second photo library
  • if you had multiple iPhoto libraries (you would know if you did), you’ll need to copy them into Photos manually
  • the libraries each link to a single copy of your photos, rather than storing each photo twice
  • it can appear that your libraries are taking up more space than they are, thanks to the way hard links work
  • you can safely delete either photo library – only if you delete both of them will you lose access to your photos

How to delete iPhoto library on your Mac

Now that you understand why you might want to delete an old iPhoto library, and why you don’t necessarily have to, let’s talk about how to actually do it.

Before you do anything like this on your Mac – that is, delete something potentially important – you should back up your software with something like Time Machine.

Read: How to Backup Your Mac with Time Machine

That way, if you accidentally delete something important, or something else goes wrong, you can always roll things back to how they were when you started. This is really easy, and there’s nothing to be concerned about; it’s just good practice to back things up (and keep them backed up) before you muck about in your computer.

First, you’ll need to open a Finder window: you can do this by clicking on the Finder icon (it looks like a square face) on the dock, or by clicking on your Mac’s desktop background and hitting ⌘+N (Command + N) on your keyboard.

Photo Mar 18, 2020 Here's how to open one of the multiple photo libraries that you might have on your Mac or on a connected external drive: Press and hold the Option key as you open the Photos app. Select the library that you want to open, then click Choose Library. Photos uses this library until you open a different one using the same steps. Apr 22, 2015 If you have divided a large photo library into small, more manageable libraries, Photos for Mac makes it easy to work multiple libraries. When you first set up Photos for Mac, it asks you to choose.

Next, look at the left-hand column in the new window. You’ll see a list of locations around your Mac; find the one that says Pictures and click on it. You’ll be taken to that directory, which contains libraries for Apple’s image-related apps (Photos, iPhoto, Photo Booth, etc).

In the list of files on the right, scroll down and look for your iPhoto library – it’ll be a little iPhoto icon, and the name will read, unsurprisingly, iPhoto Library. Don’t worry about accidentally deleting your Photo Booth or Photos libraries; you’ll be able to see which one is which.

To actually delete the library, you can do one of three things:

  1. Click on the iPhoto Library listing, and without letting go of your mouse or trackpad button, drag it until it’s over top the Trash icon on your dock. Once you’re on top of the Trash, let go.
  2. You can select (click on) the iPhoto Library, then right-click on your mouse or Trackpad (Apple will call this Secondary Click in your Mouse or Trackpad settings). A new menu will pop up; find the entry that says Move to Trash and click on it.
  3. Finally, you can also delete your iPhoto Library by clicking on it and hitting ⌘+Delete (Command + Delete) on your keyboard.

Read: How to uninstall apps on Mac OS X

Now that you’ve gotten rid of your iPhoto library, it makes sense to completely uninstall iPhoto – that way you won’t accidentally create a new iPhoto Library and have to repeat all these steps. It’s as simple as opening up your Applications folder, and deleting iPhoto (using one of the three steps we just discussed). For a more in-depth look at how to uninstall apps on your Mac, be sure to check out our guide above!

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People love taking pictures. That's one of the reasons camera phones becomes standard feature. That is also why photo management feature is crucial for any personal computer. And if you are a Mac user, one of the most popular photo management apps is iPhoto.

Create New Photo Library Mac

But sometimes you need to move your iPhoto library. One of the reasons is because photos and videos can quickly fill out your hard drive. So it might be a good idea to store them on the dedicated external drive. Another possible reason is when you want to switch to a more recent Mac version.

How do you move your iPhoto library to another location?

Back Up Your iPhoto Library

Before doing anything to your library, it's better to back it up. If anything happens, you won't lose any of your precious memory. Routine backups also protect you from image files become corrupted or are unintentionally erased from your hard disk.

You can set up an external hard drive and use it with the Time Machine application to back up your photos. The app will automatically make regular backups of your computer, including your entire photo library. Just make sure that you quit iPhoto periodically before backing up or the Time Machine can't do a full backup of your library.

Create a New iPhoto Library Or Switch Between Libraries

One way that you can use to move your iPhoto library is to create multiple libraries. The advantages of taking this path are you can better organize your photos, albums, slideshows, projects (such as books, cards, and calendars), and then switch between the libraries.

For example, you could keep separate libraries for your personal photos and your work photos. Or, if you have a child who takes photos, you can keep his or her photos in a separate library.

The caveat is that you can only modify items (such as albums) or edit photos in one library at a time.

Here are the steps to create a new iPhoto library:

  • Quit iPhoto. Hold down the Option key as you open iPhoto.

  • In the window that appears, click Create New. Type a name and choose a location to store the new photo library. Click Save.

To switch between photo libraries:

  • Quit iPhoto. Hold down the Option key as you open iPhoto.

  • Select the library you want to switch to. Click Choose.

If you want to move photos from one library to another, use this steps:

  • Export the photos from the active library. This action doesn't delete the photos from the library.
  • Switch to the library you want to add them to.
  • Import the photos into the new library.

Celebrity Photo Library

Move Your iPhoto Library to a New Location/Mac

Update Photo Library On Mac

Even though you can use the multiple libraries tricks to move your photos to a different location, you can also move it by using a simple drag and drop.

Photo Library Download

  • First, quit iPhoto. In the Finder, choose your home folder (it's usually named after you).
  • Open the Pictures folder (in the home folder) to locate the iPhoto Library file.

For moving iPhoto library to a new location:

  • Drag the iPhoto Library file to a new location on your computer.

  • But the process doesn't stop here. You have to tell iPhoto the new location of the library. Open iPhoto. When it can't find the library, it will ask you the location.
  • In the window that appears, select the library you want, and then click Choose.

For copying iPhoto library to a new Mac:

Create New Photo Library Mac

  • Connect your external hard drive. When it displays on Finder, drag the iPhoto Library folder or package to external hard drive.
  • Eject the hard drive from your old Mac and connect it to this new one.
  • Now open iPhoto on the new computer. Hold down the Option key on the keyboard, and keep the Option key held down until you are prompted to create or choose an iPhoto library.

Repair Mac Photos Library

That's for how to move iPhoto library to a new location or a new Mac. If you unfortunately lost some important photos during the transfer, you can use Any Data Recovery for Mac. This app is a complete Mac data recovery solutions to recover all types of files from Mac's hard drive, including recovering photo on Mac, and also from other portable devices like USB flash drive, external hard drive, SD card, iPhone.

Create New Photos Library Mac

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⇐ ⇐ Photos Library Mac External Drive
⇒ ⇒ How To Get To Library Folder On Mac Yosemite