Move Photo library to new Apple ID

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Level 1

58 points

Move Photo library to new Apple ID

I want to establish a separate Apple ID account in the country to which I migrated in 2017 (Australia), while still maintaining my account in my country of origin (USA). I would like to migrate or import my Photos from the USA-based Apple account to the new Australia-based one.

I intend to do this on my MacBook Pro, where I am now maintaining two logins, one for each of those two Apple ID accounts.

Is this possible? If it is, is it as simple as copying the Photos library to an external drive and then importing the contents to Photos in my new account? If not, how?

Thanks very much

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.3

Posted on May 2, 2021 8:53 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,861 points

May 2, 2021 11:09 PM in response to Andrew Weiss

Almost, but don't use import.

Just copy the library from the EHD to your new account pictures folder, open it (Hold down the option key while starting photos), then set it to the system library in photos preferences. Make sure the EHD is formatted MacOS extended (journaled), or APFS and the Ignore ownership checkbox is checked. I'd also suggest copying the library to a folder on the EHD, rather than into the top level.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

195,071 points

May 2, 2021 11:23 PM in response to Andrew Weiss

One more thing - to be able to copy your Photos Library to the external volume, you have to ensure that the library is complete, with all original image files downloaded from iCloud. Do not use "Optimise Mac Storage" before you copy the library to the new location. Turn "Optimise Mac Storage" off and wait for all photos and videos to download from iCloud Photos to the Mac. Then make a copy of the library and open the copy in Photos. Check carefully, if there are any blank thumbnails indicating, that originals are missing. You may also get a warning about incomplete items. If that happens, take a note of the photos with blank thumbnails and switch back to the original iCloud Photos Library and try to force the download for the items with blank thumbnails by viewing them enlarged. Then copy the library again.

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