How can I save image files directly to the Photos app within macOS?

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Level 1

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How can I save image files directly to the Photos app within macOS?

If you am using Safari or Chrome on an iOS mobile device, it is simple to save any image file (.jpg, .png, etc.) directly to the "Photos" app. The next time I am on my MacBook Pro, if I open the Photos app... there are those images.

However, if I am on Chrome or Safari on my macOS MacBook Pro, and I see an image online that I want to save, if I right-click and go to Save Image As... I cannot see any way to save the image directly the Photos App. It appears I have to save it to some local HD location, then go import it into the Photos app. Is there really no way to save a photo straight to "Photos" on macOS?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Mar 27, 2021 10:15 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Yer_Man

Level 10

163,896 points

Mar 28, 2021 12:05 AM in response to Dolmetscher

I have an option to save to Photos in Safari v14, when I right-click on an image.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

197,327 points

Mar 28, 2021 1:27 AM in response to Dolmetscher

I can save files directly to Photos from Safari or Mail with "Add Image to Photos" - but not from third-party applications. Not all third-party applications support this sharing Extension. Consider to use Safari for downloading images.

As a work-around with Chrome you could create a special folder named "Add Image to Photos" and add a folder Action to this folder, that will automatically import any photo added to this folder to photos. Then save the photos you are downloading with Chrome to this folder.

How to create the Auto Import folder is described here: Automator Service for an Auto Import Fold… - Apple Community. It is still working for me on macOS 11 Big Sur, in spite of error messages when setting up the folder action.

Or simply drag the photos from the web page to the icon of the Photos.app in the Dock.

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Answer 3

Dolmetscher Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 28, 2021 8:55 AM in response to Yer_Man

Well I'll be... You are right!

I said in my original post that this was happening in Chrome and Safari, but it is actually only in Chrome that this is a problem. Maybe IE, Edge, and Firefox as well, but I do not use those browsers. It looks like it is no problem to save photos to the "Photos" app when using Safari.

Good to know! Thank you so much for answering my question. This has been bugging me for quite a while!

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Answer 4

Mar 28, 2021 12:48 AM in response to Dolmetscher

If you don't see that option as shown by Yer_Man, have a look in the 'Share' tab, it's also in there (and similar on i-Devices).

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How can I save image files directly to the Photos app within macOS?

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