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Is there an efficient way to create a new photos library that contains only images you have placed in albums that maintains the album organization?

Is there an efficient way to create a new photos library that contains only images you have placed in albums and excludes the other images in the existing library?

iMac 27", macOS 10.14

Posted on May 16, 2019 11:00 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 16, 2019 11:20 AM

You could do it with a smart album.


  • Duplicate your Photos Library with ⌘D in the Finder.
  • Open the copy of the Photos Library by double-clicking it.
  • Create a new smart album with "File > New Smart Abum"
  • Set the rule for this smart album to "Album is not Any".

This smart album will show you all photos that are not in any album. Delete all photos from this mart album by selecting large groups of photos and using the command ⌘⌫. Empty the Recently Deleted album after each deletion, so the album will not get too full.


When the smart album is empty, you will have a new library with only the photos assigned to albums.



2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 16, 2019 11:20 AM in response to cougarpoint

You could do it with a smart album.


  • Duplicate your Photos Library with ⌘D in the Finder.
  • Open the copy of the Photos Library by double-clicking it.
  • Create a new smart album with "File > New Smart Abum"
  • Set the rule for this smart album to "Album is not Any".

This smart album will show you all photos that are not in any album. Delete all photos from this mart album by selecting large groups of photos and using the command ⌘⌫. Empty the Recently Deleted album after each deletion, so the album will not get too full.


When the smart album is empty, you will have a new library with only the photos assigned to albums.



Is there an efficient way to create a new photos library that contains only images you have placed in albums that maintains the album organization?

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