Default Photos Library Post iPhoto Migration

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Level 3

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Default Photos Library Post iPhoto Migration

(Inadvertently posted this in the Catalina forum, reposting here as it is a Photos query). I performed a long overdue OS upgrade (10.9 to 10.15) on the Mac that I store my photos on. I did not realize that would inactivate iPhoto but I was able to migrate over my old iPhoto library to Photos. When I open Photos however, it requires me to hold the option key down in order to open that migrated library, otherwise it just opens a default (empty) library. I have gone into preferences and indicated that this should be used as the system library so it now open by default, but the referenced Library is still called 'iPhoto Library'.

I thought that the migration would convert this to a Photos library and that new photos, photos brought in from my iCloud account etc would be combined into this one.

Before I connect and sync my iphone to bring in new photos, do I need to do anything further to make sure that new imports and my old library photos all end up in the same place?

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Dec 24, 2020 6:55 PM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

195,191 points

Dec 24, 2020 11:38 PM in response to Anthony Brade

When you open an iPhoto Library in Photos, for example I"Photo Library.photolibrary", Photos will create a new Photos Library from the iPhoto Library (with the same filename as the original library - the name part of filename is showing the source of the library, the extension the format). It does not convert your iPhoto Library, this remains an iPhoto Library. You should afterwards be seeing two libraries:

The original iPhoto Library will remain unchanged, but Photos is changing the filename extension from ".photolibrary" to ".migratedphotolibrary", so your old iPhoto Library will be called "iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary". The icon of the original library will still be an iPhoto Library icon (a fan of three pictures showing a pink flower).
The new Photos Library will be in the same folder as the original iPhoto Library and be called "iPhoto Library.photoslibrary". Note additional "s" in the filename extension. The icon will be showing three pictures with the rainbow flower.

As Tony described you can rename the new library to any name you want, but do not change the filename extension of the new Photos Library.while working with photo libraries it helps to keep the filename extensions visible. You can do that in the Info panel for the individual files - in the Info for the file in the section "Name&Extension" disable the checkmark "Hide Extension".

To change it for all files go to the Finder > Preferences > General and enable "Show all filename extensions".

You should be able to open the new Photos Library and to switch between Libraries directly from the Finder. Just quit Photos, if it is running, then select the Photos Library you want to open in the Finder and double click it to open in Photos.

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Answer 2

Dec 24, 2020 11:09 PM in response to Anthony Brade

Photos 5 can't open an iPhoto library unless it has been converted.

What is the full filename, including extension of the library? If the extension is "photoslibrary" you are using the converted library regardless of the filename.

If you want to, you can rename it to photos library.photoslibrary - which is the default name for a photos library. But it won't actually make any difference. Also if you rename it, you will need to set it as the system library again and if you use iCloud that will probably trigger a complete sync of the library.

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Default Photos Library Post iPhoto Migration

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