Merging Photos libraries

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Merging Photos libraries

I have overlapping photos libraries in 6 places. 1. an old iMac; 2. An external drive storing the Time Machine back ups for my old iMac; 3. My current iMac; 4. an external drive that has some but not all of the pictures and videos from the old and new iMacs and, my iPhone which is synched to the iCloud and the cloud which has some but not all of these photos. I also have just upgraded my iCloud storage plan to 2TBs to accommodate all these libraries residing in the cloud for at least a while.

What is the best way to merge these different libraries? Will the resulting merged library retain the places and names associated with the pictures? Will the resulting library resolve duplicate pictures?

At the end of this process I would like to have the Photos stored in the iCloud, and on an external drive with a sub set (perhaps most the recent or folders I am currently working with) stored on my new iMac. The old iMac is only used in the guest room and will not be using iCloud storage.

Lastly when should I cull out the many pictures that I do not need to saved. Should I do that before the merger or after I have merged the libraries?

I have avoided trying to consolidate all these various libraries because I anticipated it being a very long and tedious process. That may be the case, but understanding the best way to do this will get me started.

Thank you for helping me out with this.

Tiger 927

iMac 27″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Sep 17, 2020 7:12 AM

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cp from OH

Community Specialist

Sep 20, 2020 8:14 AM in response to Tiger927

Hello Tiger927,

Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities. We understand you'd like to know the easiest way to merge multiple photo libraries into one.

Your digital photos are like the negatives from back in the days of film cameras. Preserving them and ensuring that you have them safely stored and backed up, ensures that you have a copy of your photos. There is not a right or wrong way to make the changes that you're looking to do. Before making any changes or modifications to your libraries or iCloud Photos, it's always best to create a backup. Having a backup of your photos library is like having an insurance policy, you don’t plan on using it, but it’s great to have if you need it.

If you turn iCloud Photos on for all the devices, you'll see all the photos from the devices on all your devices.Keep in mind that iCloud Photos will take up storage on the devices. If you have a device with limited storage you'll want to be sure to turn on the Optimize Storage feature for that device. Optimize Storage allows smaller resolution and size photos to be viewed. These articles will provide you with some additional information about iCloud Photos:

Set up and use iCloud Photos

Get help with iCloud Photos

iCloud Photos is not an archiving service, but a syncing service which allows access of all photos on all devices. If you wish to archive the photos, you'll want to download a copy of the photos and videos from iCloud: Download iCloud photos and videos. Any labeling or geolocations which are embedded in the photo metadata (meaning the camera included it when you shot the photo) should transfer with it when you download the photo. If you have photos from multiple cameras, you'll want to verify the labeling and location data after you download them before you make changes to all of them.

With regard to duplicate photos and ones you do not want to save, it's a personal decision when you remove those. You can go through each library and remove them before any merging or turning on iCloud Photos. If you find you have duplicates after merging you'll want to be sure to note the information in this article: Using third-party apps to remove duplicate photos might damage your Photos for macOS library.

All the best.

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Merging Photos libraries

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