Cannot move photos from iCloud into Photos 1.5

I will read this completely when I return from the dentist, but it looks like I have to many photo libraries.I just did a search of My Pictures Folder. They include My iCloud photo library, My Photo Library, My Photos Booth Library, Photos Library, & Photos Library 2. This might explain why my Mac is staving for space, and photos duplicate themselves ... IDK. How would I consolidate every library into one?

I have an Phone 7 connected to iCloud & my late 2009 iMac

Over the years, my library has become corrupted on several occasions. I had to start anew. Unfortunately I don't think I properly imported the new photos, and created duplicate libraries. I'm thinking that just deleting my old libraries would be the thing to do. Perhaps keeping the iCloud library ... I went through it, deleted some dupes, and unwanted photos. I think everything is there. Any suggestions?

Re-reading what you wrote, no nothing else besides iCloud is connected to my photos. I can also see where you say that the duplicate libraries aren't causing duplicate photos. Nothing else besides my iPhone & iCloud are connected to my current library, Would deleting all those libraries other then iCloud be safe, or do I still need a photo library on my computer. The latest one perhaps?

Also once there gone, how to I properly add my photos back into my photos program.

Still I am really perplexed as to why my photos always duplicate. It doesn't happen immediately after I manually remove dups. It takes several weeks to occur.

I have an external hard rive for Time Machine, but wt copying two and three copies of my photos it has long filled 1TB. I have time, and looked through my current photos folder, plus iCloud completely. Their might be a photo stored in an old library, I might want to save, but I'm pretty sure they are just older versions of what I have now. Anyway, how would I even look at them, w/o room. I obviously have room for the representation of the photos, but cannot open them.

The thing I can't understand is I went to iCloud & deleted a bunch of photos that I didn't want anymore from iCloud. Faces, Bursts, badly taken photos, & just photos I didn't want anymore. Unfortunately it still wouldn't synch wt my computer. It had synched only 2 months ago. The additional libraries are from 2015 & 2017, so I've had them for a while , and they didn't cause me any problem. Is there a way I can inspect those other photo libraries contents w/o opening the folders.

Honestly I'm tempted to just get rid of them, and start anew.

I'm fairly sure iCloud has every photo in it I need, and is 308.3 MB. Still my Photos library which is 5 years old contains 448.6 MB. I'm not sure why it's so large, but I'm guessing it contains a whole lot of faces & dups I never bothered removing. My iPhoto Library is really small at 7.4 M.B. Is there a way to see what's in these libraries w/o bringing them into my current Photos program.

I’m guessing that keeping the current system Photo Library In my internal volume means I’ll have to also keep one library on my computer.

About checking the volumes before deleting them, can I look at what’s in a volume w/o moving the pictures into my Photos folder. Just asking because currently I don’t have room to move them into Photos.

Sorry for so many questions. I want to learn how to properly use Photos.

I had multiple photo libraries, taking up enormous amounts of space, so I removed some. I kept the newest 4 gig photo library on my mac. I'm positive this was the same library, my mac was currently using. All photos are found in iCloud photos page, and initially synched wt Photos on my Mac. It just wouldn't synch the folders. They were in iCloud, but not Photos. So I tried repairing the library.

Now nothing synchs wt my iMac. It connects only about 100 photos, and the rest are unseen & not openable. Photos will also only stay open for 20 seconds, so maybe it doesn't all tim. IDK My photo library is 4.34 gigs. iCloud has 2099 photos. The Photos app has 2098 Photos & 1 video, so they seem to match. Unfortunately Photo's on my Mac only holds about 100 from iCloud. It also crashes in about 20 seconds after opening.

Apparently iCloud works wt the Designated System Library, and if you only have one library it automatically becomes designated. This is the only library I have, so it should automatically work. I have an early 2009 iMac, using Photos 1.5. I don't have a ton of space, about 2 gb of free space, but more then before. I have about 100 gb free, on my external hard drive. It has saved files going back to July 2015. I tried to disconnect & reconnect wt iCloud on my computer, thinking that might help, but no dice. I was thinking perhaps if I reinstalled Photos, that might help. Still I don't want to mess it up anymore. Thank you in advance for your time.

Apparently I still had a slightly older Library connected to iCloud. I thought I had deleted all other libraries, but it luckily it was still there. As far as I can tell every photo synchs along wt the folders. I think that the way iCloud works is always going bewilder me. Still I am glad to have close to 6 GB free on my Mac now.