Photos download

Sign in with Apple ID and password at www.icloud.com with account credentials from a web browser , if there are more than 1000 photos hold shift key click on first photo and then

last ( 1000 th. photo ) to get selected .

And click on download icon .

The photos will get downloaded in download folder of Mac , select them ( use command and A keys ) and connect an external hard drive Connect and use other storage devices with Mac - Apple Support

Even you select other in safari preferences , a second step appears to choose the location external hard drive and save them , the photos will not directly save from iCloud.com to an external hard drive .

This article Change General preferences in Safari on Mac - Apple Support is for downloading files from internet and not from www.icloud.com , you are downloading photos and not files .

Irv123 Said:

"iPhotos download: How do I download 1000s of photos in one go from iCloud to external drive”

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Try my User Tip: Getting a Quick and Direct "iCloud Drive-to-External Hard Drive" Download - User Tip

You have a few options:

1. Make a Time Machine backup of your computer to the external drive. This will backup everything, not just photos.
2. Drag pictures out of photos into a folder on your desktop or directly to the external drive. Or select photos (or select all) and go to File > Export. With a large library it may be best to split into smaller groupings.
3. Quit Photos, Navigate to the Pictures folder in your user folder and copy the Photos library to the external drive.

Personally, I favor the Time Machine backup and keeping my photos on my Mac and synced to iCloud. That way I have an easily restored copy of my library. But any are options.

If you have a Mac. Open the Photos app and ensure that iCloud sync is turned on. Photos > Preferences > iCloud. And ensure that you are downloading originals. You cannot easily save 1000s of images from iCloud without going through an intermediary (Mac Photos) to then move images to an external drive.

You can turn on iCloud in Photos on a Mac to download everything and then move those images to an external drive. Or you can do the same with a PC using iCloud for Windows.