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asyahdo Author

Level 1

5 points

macOS Photos - how to keep imported photos up to date

With Google Picasa no longer working on macOS I'm trying to find an alternative photo viewing app (mainly viewing, very little editing)

I'm giving macOS Photos on Big Sur a go but I'm running into some issues with my set up - Imported Photos become out of sync

We use Onedrive as our cloud photo repository, which in turn syncs back to the family MBP.

That directory is then imported to macOS Photos (option disabled to copy items to the photo library so I'm not wasting HDD space)

This seems to be a onetime manual process and the imported photos become out of sync with the directory when OneDrive downloads new photos to the MBP.

Google Picasa had a feature that detected when the Onedrive photo directory was updated with new photos and these would appear for viewing.

Any tips with macOS Photos or other apps that provide a Picasa like experience?

Thanks

Mike

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Dec 10, 2020 10:06 PM

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

197,321 points

Posted on Dec 10, 2020 10:34 PM

Photos for Mac is very different from Picasa. You have to use only the Photos.app to manage the photos, that will appear in Photos. It does not sync with folders outside of Photos.

And it is not save to use a synced volume like OneDrive to store either the Photos Library or the originals. This may break. Photos has been designed for a different workflow. It is meant to be used to keep keep your Mac in sync with iCloud and your mobile devices, but it is strictly a single user photo manager (Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support).

If you want a replacement for Picasa that will sync with the folders in the Finder or on the local network, where you can share the photos between users, use a different application.

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macOS Photos - how to keep imported photos up to date

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