Want to consolidate all photos libriaries into one.

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Level 1

8 points

Want to consolidate all photos libriaries into one.

Help please I'm pulling my hair out.

I have several different photos libraries on different imacs and external hard drives as well as other miscellaneous photos needing a home.

I would like to create a new, single 'master photo library' with everything merged into it. As I merge in the old libraries I want to delete them, so I can have everything saved in only one place and free up lots of disc space on my imacs and external drives. Some of the old photo libraries have duplicate photos and videos and some are old back-ups, and so ideally I would like the new master library to avoid importing duplicates.

I thought it would be a simple matter of creating the new master library on icloud photos. To this end I have purchased a 2TB storage plan.

So far I have labelled the first old library as the System Photo Library and automatically uploaded all of the contents about (30,000 photos and videos) to icloud photos.

I now want to upload/merge another library into but need to understand how to do this. I don't want to save the new photos onto my imac containing the first library as the idea is to use the new icloud storage, not the imac storage.

I want to worry about how I view the icloud library through other devices later, at this stage I just want to create a single library I can access from anywhere.

Heeellllpppp!!

Many thanks.

iMac 27", macOS 10.13

Posted on Oct 30, 2019 8:12 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

léonie

Level 10

195,169 points

Oct 30, 2019 10:16 AM in response to BenjiVii

I now want to upload/merge another library into but need to understand how to do this. I don't want to save the new photos onto my imac containing the first library as the idea is to use the new icloud storage, not the imac storage.

Merging the library in iCloud will avoid duplicates and keep the edited versions paired lossless with the originals. If you do not want the the merged library to download to your Mac, enable "optimize Storage" in the Photos > Preferences > iCloud. Then only thumbnails for browsing will download, not the originals.

One of your libraries is already in iCloud. Now open the next library in Photos, make it the system Photo Library, enable iCloud Photos and "Optimize Mac Storage". Wait for all photos from the second library to upload to iCloud. Then switch to the next library ...

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

207,847 points

Oct 30, 2019 9:43 AM in response to BenjiVii

The easiest and quickest way to do what you want would be with the paid version of PowerPhotos. Here is what your options will be in PowerPhotos:

Say you have 5 libraries, 1 - 5, with 1 being your current library. Make a copy of 1 and merge #2 into 1, then #3 into 1, #4 into 1 and finally #5 into 1. Once you're satisfied that you have all of your photos in the #1 library and it's working as expected you fan delete libraries 2 thru 5 and the copy of #1.

There are some downsides to this method. Projects will be copied as albums. If you choose edited jpegs you won't get the original file of the edited image. That can be a problem if they've been cropped of a particular reason.

If you pick Originals you wan't get any of the edited versions. But, as I look at it one can always reedit a photo but can't unedited one after the merge.

The other way is to use iCloud Photo Library. Make #1 the system library and enable iCloud Library. It will upload all of the images, albums and projects to the iCloud library. Then make #2 the System Photo Library and sync it with iCloud. Repeat with #3 thru #5. When done #5 will be your combined library. Of course you'll probably have to temporarily purchase addition iCloud space to accomplish this. Also it can take quite a while for one upload depending on how many photos in the libraries, i.e. weeks or more. But you'll keep all versions, albums, etc.

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Answer 3

BenjiVii Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 30, 2019 2:08 PM in response to léonie

Thanks guys that's really helpful.

I'm minded to persevere with the icloud process.

As I have several imacs and each has a library set as the System Photo Library, how do I stop the originals being deleted in on icloud photos when I delete them on my imac?

Cheers.

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Want to consolidate all photos libriaries into one.

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