jsharrow

Q: iphoto to photos

Recently I rebuilt my entire computer. Re-installed the system. Before doing so I cloned my computer with super-duper. I had a lot of photos in iPhoto on my old system.

 

My new system is Yosemite and has the Photos app.

 

How do I import from the old iPhoto app on my back-up to the new photos app?

 

My old iPhoto was not using the cloud.

 

Thank you

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on May 6, 2015 1:29 PM

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Q: iphoto to photos

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  • by Alaska Sundog,

    Alaska Sundog Alaska Sundog May 6, 2015 2:17 PM in response to jsharrow
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2015 2:17 PM in response to jsharrow

    I had a similar problem but my iPhoto library was on an external hard drive.  So I went to the iPhoto library and double clicked on it.  My computer spend several hours re-building the library that is now viewable in the Photos app.

  • by VikingOSX,

    VikingOSX VikingOSX May 6, 2015 2:56 PM in response to jsharrow
    Level 7 (20,844 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 6, 2015 2:56 PM in response to jsharrow

    The first time you run Photos, it will migrate your iPhoto Library. It does not remove iPhoto, or prevent you from using the iPhoto library in iPhoto. Pictures added to iPhoto library after the initial Photos migration are not automatically migrated to it.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad May 6, 2015 3:06 PM in response to jsharrow
    Level 10 (141,095 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 6, 2015 3:06 PM in response to jsharrow

    Just let Photos open your iPhoto library the first time it's run and it will convert it over to the Photos library formate and leave an iPhoto version behind in case you still want to use iPhoto.

    OTsig.png

  • by jsharrow,

    jsharrow jsharrow May 6, 2015 3:17 PM in response to jsharrow
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2015 3:17 PM in response to jsharrow

    My old iPhoto is on the external drive. The current photos app is on the upgraded computer

     

    I opened the photos app and the iPhoto library was greyed out. I opened iPhoto on the external drive and it wanted to start a new file. I found the iPhoto library on the external drive and dragged it to photos and it said it can't convert the images.

     

    I may be able to double click on the iPhoto library and it will open the images in the iPhoto app that is on the external drive. But, I'm not sure where to go from there.

  • by jimoase,

    jimoase jimoase May 6, 2015 3:18 PM in response to VikingOSX
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Desktops
    May 6, 2015 3:18 PM in response to VikingOSX

    VikingOSX wrote:

     

    The first time you run Photos, it will migrate your iPhoto Library. It does not remove iPhoto, or prevent you from using the iPhoto library in iPhoto. Pictures added to iPhoto library after the initial Photos migration are not automatically migrated to it.

    For several weeks I have been trying to use Photo with the ease of using iPhoto.  The last straw was trying to combine several imports into one album.  Drag and drop didn't work and nothing I could find acheived my goal.   So when all else fails read the instructions, like a good Windows user.

     

    That is when I found out that iPhoto didn't go away.  What a relief I was in the process of looking for a iPhoto replacement.  It's unfortunate that Photo and iPhoto use different libraries because now all the stuff I put in Photo has to be removed  and moved to iPhoto. 

     

    With Photo I could not find stuff, could not access my Flickr stuff, could not organize my Photos by dragging stuff I like together.  Naming stuff that suddenly become dates really bothered me.

     

    I like some of the editing stuff and missed some of the editing stuff.  Change is difficult, especially when its done in more or less in secret without choice.  To me Photo was intuitive or a way to accomplish more.  Now that I know iPhoto is still available I think of Photo as Coke what ever that new improved version was suppose to be a few years ago.

     

    Some people put a lot of time into Photo, that is unfortate.  Maybe next time they will read the interface guide lines first.  Just following the inferface guidelines would have made a big difference in usability.

  • by petermac87,Solvedanswer

    petermac87 petermac87 May 11, 2015 6:20 AM in response to jsharrow
    Level 5 (7,402 points)
    May 11, 2015 6:20 AM in response to jsharrow

    If you did not migrate on setup then hold down the Option Key on starting up Photos and it will give you a choice of what libraries to select for migration.

     

    Cheers

     

    Pete

  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R May 6, 2015 3:29 PM in response to jimoase
    Level 6 (17,660 points)
    May 6, 2015 3:29 PM in response to jimoase

    jimoase wrote:

    The last straw was trying to combine several imports into one album.  Drag and drop didn't work and nothing I could find acheived my goal.

    If the Sidebar is visible, you can just drag & drop a selection of photos onto any album in it. Otherwise, use the + button at the top of the window.

  • by jimoase,

    jimoase jimoase May 6, 2015 10:21 PM in response to petermac87
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Desktops
    May 6, 2015 10:21 PM in response to petermac87

    petermac87 wrote:

     

    If you did not migrate on setup then hold down the Option Key on starting up Photos and it will give you a choice of what libraries to select for migration.

     

    Cheers

     

    Pete

    Thanks Pete,

     

    My problem, using Photo instead of iPhoto, happened because Apple has never steered me wrong since 1985.   My immediate reaction to Photo was how does it work.  For the first time I could not find the controls that are obviously needed.  Until today I thought the transition was without choice, that Apple dropped iPhoto and it was sink or swim time.  My plans were to return my full photo collection to GraphicConverter, software that I have used for about 20 years.

     

    OS X 10.10.3 has been a great disappointment.  iCloud, Mail and Photo now have, what to me, are questionable features and implementations.  Further Apple seems to be gaining a sneaky character.  Photo was presented as a replacement for iPhoto.  Mail and iCloud was presented as giving the user a choice for deciding what is Junk mail.

     

    If I plug in my camera Photo is going to come up.  Not by my choice.  There are comments like that for each of the other products I mentioned.


    In my basement is a complete set of Apple's Human interface standards that I bought in the early 1990s.  Apple today seems to be shredding those standards.   Its getting harder to differentiate the Apple and Microsoft user experience.  IBM, GM and Motorola used to be industry leaders.  Apple's replacement is some kid with an idea and ethics, who can't drive yet.

  • by jimoase,

    jimoase jimoase May 6, 2015 10:41 PM in response to jsharrow
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Desktops
    May 6, 2015 10:41 PM in response to jsharrow

    jsharrow wrote:

     

    My old iPhoto is on the external drive. The current photos app is on the upgraded computer

     

    I opened the photos app and the iPhoto library was greyed out. I opened iPhoto on the external drive and it wanted to start a new file. I found the iPhoto library on the external drive and dragged it to photos and it said it can't convert the images.

     

    I may be able to double click on the iPhoto library and it will open the images in the iPhoto app that is on the external drive. But, I'm not sure where to go from there.

    I can tell you what I did, your milaage may vary.

     

    When I installed OS X 10.10.3 iPhoto was replace on my dock with Photo.  So I assumed iPhoto was history.  When I launched Photo it converted my iPhoto library to what ever Photo uses. 

     

    Today while trying to drag some addtional pictures to an album, in Photo, and not having any success I discovered that iPhoto is still in the applications folder and is functional using the same old iPhoto library.  What I thought was the iPhoto library being converted, turns out to be the iPhoto library being copied and converted for Photo.

     

    Go to the Applications Folder, find iPhoto and launch it.  iPhoto was not changed, You many need to reestablish the link between iPhoto and the iPhoto Library on your external drive. 

     

    Photo is being marketed as an alternative for iPhoto not a replacement.

  • by jimoase,

    jimoase jimoase May 6, 2015 10:44 PM in response to R C-R
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Desktops
    May 6, 2015 10:44 PM in response to R C-R

    R C-R wrote:

     

    jimoase wrote:

    The last straw was trying to combine several imports into one album.  Drag and drop didn't work and nothing I could find acheived my goal.

    If the Sidebar is visible, you can just drag & drop a selection of photos onto any album in it. Otherwise, use the + button at the top of the window.

    What side bar?   I tried that  + button, no help.

     

    What happened to Apple?  Did they hire a bunch of Windows rejects to do Photo, iCloud and Mail?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie May 6, 2015 11:06 PM in response to jimoase
    Level 10 (106,883 points)
    iLife
    May 6, 2015 11:06 PM in response to jimoase
    What side bar?   I tried that  + button, no help.

    You can list all album and views readily accessable at the left side of the window, just like the old source list in iPhoto.

    To toggle the sidebar on and off use the  command View > Show/Hide Sidebar ⌥⌘S.

    Screen Shot 2015-05-07 at 08.01.35CEST.png

     

    With the sidebar visible you can drag directly to albums, delete albums, move albums into folders, etc.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie May 6, 2015 11:24 PM in response to jsharrow
    Level 10 (106,883 points)
    iLife
    May 6, 2015 11:24 PM in response to jsharrow

    My old iPhoto is on the external drive. The current photos app is on the upgraded computer

     

    Photos for Mac can only migrate an iPhoto  library, if the external drive  has a file system, that supports hard links. How is your external drive formatted? If the file system is not MacOS Extended (Journaled), move the library to a correctly formatted drive, save all other data on that drive as well and format the drive with Disk Utility.  Formatting erases the drive (this support document explains how to format a drive to use with photo libraries:  Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture - Apple Support)

    I opened the photos app and the iPhoto library was greyed out. I opened iPhoto on the external drive and it wanted to start a new file. I found the iPhoto library on the external drive and dragged it to photos and it said it can't convert the images.

    Don't try to import your library from the "File > Import" panel. You can drag the iPhoto Library onto the Photos icon in the Dock or 

    use the library Chooser panel to switch to the iPhoto Library.  Hold down the alt/options key while launching Photos. Select your iPhoto Library from the Library Chooser panel. If it does not appear there, you're drive may not be supported.

    I may be able to double click on the iPhoto library and it will open the images in the iPhoto app that is on the external drive. But, I'm not sure where to go from there.

    You can use both applications, Photo for Mac and iPhoto. when Photos migrates the iphoto Library, it will create a new library on the same drive. On no account delete your iPhoto Library or uninstall iPhoto until you have worked with Photos for some time and are sure, you do not need iPhoto any longer for emergencies, like repeating the migration, if something went wrong.

    Photos and iPhoto are sharing the image files in the libraries and don't duplicate the files. See:  Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 May 7, 2015 1:00 AM in response to jimoase
    Level 5 (7,402 points)
    May 7, 2015 1:00 AM in response to jimoase

    jimoase wrote:

     

     

    What happened to Apple?  Did they hire a bunch of Windows rejects to do Photo, iCloud and Mail?

    Well, that pretty much sums you up. I thought you were after assistance with an issue that is effecting you and not the majority?

     

    Bye

     

    Pete

  • by jsharrow,

    jsharrow jsharrow May 7, 2015 8:05 AM in response to jimoase
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 7, 2015 8:05 AM in response to jimoase

    That's good to know that iPhoto will work in Yosemite if needed. My issue is that I don't have iPhoto or the library on my system because I did a complete rebuild of my computer and I'm starting over, comping over what I need. Another user suggested holding down the option key upon start-up to choose the library. I will test that next and see if it works.

     

    One feature I'm looking forward to in the photo version is knowing everything is backed up to the cloud and I'm assuming I can access from my phone or tablet. this should save space on the phone or tablet because it's suppose to work more like a browser. I don't know if I have that concept correct, will know when I get hands on!

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