Marcelia

Q: How to use smallest Photos library on MacBook Air

I am running out of space on my MacBook Air and I prefer to store all my original picture on iCloud. How to keep the Photos library on my Mac to the strict minumum size. Thank you.

MacBook Air, iOS 9.2.1

Posted on Feb 26, 2016 1:32 AM

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Q: How to use smallest Photos library on MacBook Air

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  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Feb 26, 2016 2:48 PM in response to Marcelia
    Level 10 (106,848 points)
    iLife
    Feb 26, 2016 2:48 PM in response to Marcelia

    Are you already using iCloud Photo Library or do you want to turn your Photos Library into an iCloud Photo Library?

     

    To save storage on your Mac, enable iCloud Photo Library in the Photos > Preferences > iCloud. also enable "Optimize Mac Storage" in that panel.

    Photos will replace originals in your library by optimized versions. But that process is dynamic. If you are running out of storage, it will replace more and more originals by optimized versions. So it will take some time, until your Photos Library gets smaller. You cannot influence this process.

     

    One way to shrink the Photos library immediately, is rather drastic:  Wait, until the first upload of your photos has been completed and all photos are in iCloud.  Make a current backup of your Photos Library by copying it to an external drive.

    Then delete the Photos Library on your internal drive. Launch photos while holding down the options key and create a new, empty library. Enable this library as your System Photo Library and enable iCloud Photo Library with optimize Storage.

    Now all your photos will download as optimized versions and the library will be much smaller right from start.  However, this has a few draw-backs.  The faces thumbnails will be lost, also all your projects. It will be like using your iCloud Library from a different computer:  Use Photos and iCloud Photo Library on multiple Mac computers - Apple Support

  • by Marcelia,

    Marcelia Marcelia Feb 26, 2016 2:49 PM in response to Marcelia
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Feb 26, 2016 2:49 PM in response to Marcelia

    Thank you Leonie. This is exactly what I wanted to know. Much helpful.