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How can I merge two user accounts and preserve the files of the old one? (docs, photo library)

Hello and thanks for your time.


I have recently upgraded from my trusty Macbook Air 2012 to the shiny new Macbook Air M2 2022. It took 10 years but finally the old one became glitchy, restarted intermittently, and the screen became a random pixelated mess. I could not use migration assistant to transfer all the data to my new computer because of these issues.

The Geniuses were able to use the thunderbolt connection to create a second user on my new computer with migration assistant successfully with the old information but I don't want it to be a separate user to access my old photo library and documents folder. I want to merge these two users and not lose any information.


How can I merge the two users on Mac OS with the goal of moving the documents folder and photo library to my new user, and then delete the old user?


Please advise me.


Thanks for taking the time.

MacBook Air, macOS 12.6

Posted on Oct 23, 2022 8:54 AM

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Posted on Oct 23, 2022 10:26 AM

If your new account is an administrative account you can select the folder of the old user account, bring up the Info pane for it and add yourself to the access section with Read and Write permissions. Then you should be able to go to the old user, open the Pictures folder and drag all of the file there into the Pictures folder of your user account. The same would be with the Documents file and the Desktop if you have any thing on it that is worth saving.


The you're done moving the files you want to keep you can go into the System/Users & Groups preference pane and delete the old user account.



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Question marked as Best reply

Oct 23, 2022 10:26 AM in response to EvanAppleRoz

If your new account is an administrative account you can select the folder of the old user account, bring up the Info pane for it and add yourself to the access section with Read and Write permissions. Then you should be able to go to the old user, open the Pictures folder and drag all of the file there into the Pictures folder of your user account. The same would be with the Documents file and the Desktop if you have any thing on it that is worth saving.


The you're done moving the files you want to keep you can go into the System/Users & Groups preference pane and delete the old user account.



How can I merge two user accounts and preserve the files of the old one? (docs, photo library)

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