topcop1

Q: Does the new Photo App replace my IPhoto Library?

I just did an update to Yosemite 10.10.3.  With it is a new Photos App.  I read some time back that something new would replace IPhoto.  Is this it?

 

I noticed when the update finished downloading my IPhots app was removed from the dock and replaced with Photos.  I got as far as this screen, shown below.

 

I thought you choose one of the four displayed but I guess you have to perform at least one of those.  My question is, should I import my IPhotos Library to Photos?  If so, I will then have two big photos libraries with over 15,000 photos each.  So do I then delete the iPhoto Library?   I am surprised Apple did not give a little more direction on this.

Screen Shot 2015-04-10 at 4.13.06 PM.png

MAC OS.X

Posted on Apr 10, 2015 1:27 PM

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Q: Does the new Photo App replace my IPhoto Library?

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  • by walter228,

    walter228 walter228 May 24, 2015 1:36 PM in response to R C-R
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 24, 2015 1:36 PM in response to R C-R

    the reason  it says item not available is because you still have it in the computer, just take the iPhoto app from within you application folder and put it in the trash, then go back to the app store and look in purchases, now it will show iPhoto and the button should say "download", instead of "open" as it did before

    you deleted the app. Once it is downloaded you will be able to open it and put it back in the dock if you choose.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN May 24, 2015 2:00 PM in response to MLPhil78
    Level 10 (85,032 points)
    Photos for Mac
    May 24, 2015 2:00 PM in response to MLPhil78

    Yes -hold down the option key while launching Photos and select the library you want to migrate in the resulting window

     

    And I suggest that you start a new thread - this one is so convoluted and threaJacked that following g a single problem is not really possible - to the right of the "Apple Support Communities" banner at the to of the page click on New if yu need more help - and give full details  --  Writing an effective Apple Support Communities question

     

     

     

    LN

  • by david.moody,

    david.moody david.moody Jun 3, 2015 5:38 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 3, 2015 5:38 AM in response to léonie

    Hello, should we delete the iPhoto after migrating to Photos? What should we do? I would've thought that Apple would design the installation process to remove iPhoto automatically since Photos is a replacement app...

     

    Thanks,

    David.

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Jun 3, 2015 6:00 AM in response to david.moody
    Level 10 (139,572 points)
    iLife
    Jun 3, 2015 6:00 AM in response to david.moody

    Photos is an alternative not a replacement. It does not have the same features as iPhoto - it's stronger in some areas, not as flexible in others - and that, plus the faac that you paid for it, is why it's not removed. You can choose to trash it or not as you wish. I'd spend some time getting to know the new app before deciding.

  • by david.moody,

    david.moody david.moody Jun 3, 2015 6:03 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 3, 2015 6:03 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    as I understand it once photos has created it's revised database it will not see any changes you make in iPhoto if you keep using iPhoto, so it seems to me it's one or the other, not both...

     

    What do you think?

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Jun 3, 2015 6:40 AM in response to david.moody
    Level 10 (139,572 points)
    iLife
    Jun 3, 2015 6:40 AM in response to david.moody
    as I understand it once photos has created it's revised database it will not see any changes you make in iPhoto if you keep using iPhoto, so it seems to me it's one or the other, not both...

     

    And vice versa. Yes.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 3, 2015 7:01 AM in response to david.moody
    Level 10 (107,827 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 3, 2015 7:01 AM in response to david.moody

    david.moody wrote:

     

    as I understand it once photos has created it's revised database it will not see any changes you make in iPhoto if you keep using iPhoto, so it seems to me it's one or the other, not both...

     

    What do you think?

    You will not want to maintain two photo libraries with redundancies, that's right. You could keep your main library in iPhoto, to be able to use geo tagging and batch changing, and other features that are still missing in Photos, but use Photos for the features that are missing in iPhoto, like setting up a small iCloud Photo Library to share your best photos between devices.  Once apple has released the first Photos updates, that hopefully will bring some of the missing features to Photos you can then migrate your main library to Photos, if you want.  Upgrading from iPhoto to Photo is well supported, but not downgrading a Photos library to an iPhoto Library.

     

    If you are already happy with what Photos can do for you now, upgrade, but compare the features before you do it:

     

    Have you seen Old Toad's User Tip:   Photos vs iPhoto:  Features and Capabilities

  • by merrickb,

    merrickb merrickb Jun 15, 2015 12:58 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iLife
    Jun 15, 2015 12:58 PM in response to léonie

    It shows as using twice the space on the hard drive, even though supposedly it is not, though (the tech at Photos support I talked to on the phone told me this). I just built a new Yosemite drive (I fear this was a mistake), and then migrated everything to it. I migrated my iPhoto library (~240 GB) to Photos only to discover how awful Photos was (smart albums totally screwed up, no geotagging, etc, etc). I had not purchased iPhoto via the app store, ever, so there was no record of me having downloaded it from there, so I could not get the current version. I called support, and they gave me a code to unlock it.

     

    Now I think that my Photos library might be the primary instead if iPhoto, and I plan to only use iPhoto unless they massively improve Photos. In that case I need to delete both, and move a backup back over (another few hours of copying), remove Photos from the dock, and forget about it.

     

    Photos is not ready for Prime time, they should have waited.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 15, 2015 2:21 PM in response to merrickb
    Level 10 (107,827 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 15, 2015 2:21 PM in response to merrickb

    Have you launched the unlocked iPhoto?

    You will see a warning, that the library has been migrated. Click the "Open iPhoto" button in this panel.

    If iPhoto is working with its original library, you can simply delete the new Photos Library.  The iPhoto Library will continue to work.

  • by merrickb,

    merrickb merrickb Jun 15, 2015 3:06 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iLife
    Jun 15, 2015 3:06 PM in response to léonie

    i moved user data, including iPhoto library using migration assistant, then opened Photos, converting the iPhoto library. I only discovered my mistake in trusting Photos to not be a huge downgrade after using it, then installed the new iPhoto, then ran it, using the migrated library (since no others were available).

  • by Nicholasjohnfield,

    Nicholasjohnfield Nicholasjohnfield Sep 27, 2015 9:27 AM in response to topcop1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 27, 2015 9:27 AM in response to topcop1

    I just got off the phone with Apple.

     

    You can delete the Iphoto library if it's migrated to your photos. It is a duplicate, and you no longer need it.

     

    Thanks,

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Sep 27, 2015 10:18 AM in response to Nicholasjohnfield
    Level 10 (107,827 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 27, 2015 10:18 AM in response to Nicholasjohnfield

    You can, but it would be burning all bridges back and gain you nothing.  Deleting the iphoto Library will not free much space, since all photos inside are hard linked to the Photos Library. It just looks like the two libraries would use twice the space of one library, but that is not the case.  The storage will only be released, when you delete the linked photos in both libraries. (Six Colors: The (hard) link between Photos and iPhoto)

    If you delete the iPhoto Library you cannot use iPhoto to repeat the migration, if you should discover problems in your Photos library, like missing photos, or incorrectly migrated projects. And sometimes a library corruption can only be fixed by repairing the library in iPhoto and migrating again.

  • by Cards Darwin,

    Cards Darwin Cards Darwin Sep 27, 2015 8:16 PM in response to topcop1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 27, 2015 8:16 PM in response to topcop1

    The new Photos app is just a mess & confusing!

     

    Feels like its not finished + you cannot change the appearance in any way like you can with iPhoto. It just feels like I'm using a rip off Samsung application.

    The new features should have been migrated to iPhoto first then the name changed to only Photos. Or even better Photos & Videos with editing for both!

    Photos suggests i can only keep Photos in the application & not Videos?

     

    Just tried to migrate as above, but it states i don't have enough space?

     

    Iv completely lost my confidence in Apple, & this inst an alternative application because iPhoto wont be updated anymore.

    Im backing everything up on an external HD & deleting both iPhoto & Photos!

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 27, 2015 9:24 PM in response to Cards Darwin
    Level 10 (85,032 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 27, 2015 9:24 PM in response to Cards Darwin

    Thanks for sharing - do you have a technical question that the volunteer users here can assist with?

     

    LN

  • by vinod86,

    vinod86 vinod86 Oct 23, 2015 8:16 AM in response to topcop1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2015 8:16 AM in response to topcop1

    I just purchased an external 1 TB hard drive to move all my photos and free up space on my MacBook Air.

     

    Like everybody, I noticed two photo libraries - one from iPhoto and one from Photos.

     

    So, I followed the original route of making a copy of my Photos library in my external hard drive and pointing Photos to default to it.

     

    Next came the obvious question of the libraries I can delete from my Mac - whether I can delete both the Photos and iPhoto libraries?

     

    So my solution was as follows:

     

    1) Made a copy of both my iPhoto and Photos libraries on my external hard drive

     

    2) Opened Photos app with my latest Photos library and exported every individual item in my library to my external hard drive into a separate folder.

     

    3) Open Photos again and create a new Photos library (that resides on my external hard drive) to import all the individual items backed up in Step 2 above.

     

    4) Delete both the Photos and iPhoto libraries on my MacBook Air.

     

    I'm still in Step 2 and hope to see this through.

     

    Thanks,

    Vinod

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