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How do I get my iPhotos to migrate to photos now?

I seem to have missed the opportunity to upgrade my photos from iPhoto to photos. Help!


MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Jan 10, 2022 7:05 PM

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4 replies

Jan 11, 2022 11:50 AM in response to Keith Barkley

I have come into the forum to ask exactly the same question because I get completely different answers from the Apple Genius Bar, Helpline etc. One common theme is that if you are lucky you can transfer all the photographs from Iphoto into photos but you will lose all the Events folders and Albums and you will have X,000 photographs in any order whatsoever, with all the date and time information deleted (ie with 20,000 photographs impossible the get into any order at all). SO, when you say Photos will create a new Library from my Iphoto media do you mean that all the folders and the order they are in and Albums will still be there? Also how do you get your iphoto Library on to your new computer?

At the moment I agreed with the Apple Genius Bar that I could save all the photographs in Events in Iphot into files on a separate hard drive, which I have done (creating a new file on the hard drive, highlighting the photos in the Event and then clicking and dragging. However, visiting an authorised dealer today to enquire about purchasing a new imac I received no helpful advice on getting those files into photos.

Please can anyone help?

Jan 11, 2022 1:11 PM in response to Kidlingtonuser

If you are getting a new Mac and your iPhoto Library is on Time Machine, part of the setup process is to connect your time machine drive to the new computer to transfer your files. Your iPhoto Library should come with it.


At that point use the process I described above to convert your iPhoto Library into a Photos one. Note that while your Albums will transfer, Photos does not use events so they are converted into albums. Projects do not copy over.


If you can't go the Time machine route, you can transfer your iPhoto Library like any large file: external hard drive, over the network, or even Target Disk Mode.

How do I get my iPhotos to migrate to photos now?

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