Photo Album & Folder Transfer

Yes, I know the albums & folders are only links to the original photos in the library. With 2500 photos linked to 160 albums linked to 30 folders,

There are no folders.

There are no Albums.

The only thing that is real is the images.

All of the organization you have created doesn't exist anywhere on disk. It's not links to files inside of folders that are links to Albums (whatever file structure you wish to create to describe those).

They are tuples in a database.

All of the keywords, titles, faces, cars, boats, trees, dogs, etc. are stored in tuples in a database.

The original image files are stored in a myriad of folders numbered 0 through F. I don't know if it continues in a hexadecimal sequence beyond F (mine doesn't).

All of the information you attach to a photo, keywords, face names, are not stored with the photo; they are also in the database.

It is possible to create a method to export all of that into some PhotosLibrary package, but Apple doesn't currently provide anything to do that. There is nothing that resembles your structure with all of the information lurking inside the Library Package which you could copy. Best you can do is export the pictures as OT demonstrated, but all you can keep with them is the Title and folder names, if you choose those options in the Export. If that is all you need, then use the Export feature.

Maybe Apple can include that feature in an upgrade.

You (and a few hundred thousand others) would have to provide that feedback to Apple (unless it already is in their plans).

In the past, you could burn Albums to a DVD which would be a mini Library, with all of the information intact. That was long ago and nothing like it has returned.

need the organization to remember where the photo was taken. 😊

That information should be stored in the actual photo file (EXIF data). But, if you have created folders and Albums with those names, Exporting them as OT showed will preserve that.

If you use iCloud, you can set up Shared Albums to share with other iCloud users. I don't think this requires Photos in iCloud.

How to share albums in Photos on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac - Apple Support

Well, you really don't have an organization as much as you have the illusion of organization.

All of that is stored in the Library index with references to the image files.

When you add a photo to an Album, you are not moving the file into some subfolder. All that happens is a reference to that photo is linked to that Album (which really isn't anything itself--there are no album folders in the Library).

Apple has provided no method to export the metadata stored in a Library in any way, much less linked to the original photos.

I have many shared albums (shared with my wife :-) ) in Photos (without using the iCloud option for Photos). I typically add new images to my Photos library, create a new shared album, and then add these images to the shared album. I usually delete the original images from the library afterwards. Note that the images in the shared library may be lower resolution than the originals (maximum of 2048 pixels along the long edge of the image).

Automator or Apple Script may be able to automate some or all of these steps.

- Pie Lover

P.S. Seems I have 108 shared albums. I may be underestimating the effort but I don't think it would take an enormous amount of time to create 160 shared albums especially since the originals are already in Photos.

You can import a folder into your wife's Photos library and have it generate an album with the same name as the folder. In the Import view just select Keep Folder Orginization.

You'll have to take the new albums out of the folders they are in but that's just a little bit of housecleaning.