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When importing photos from another library in the Photos app on Mac can you import selected albums?
The Apple documentation only gives two options: import the entire library or import selected photos. I’d like to import specific albums.
Thanks!
Mac mini, macOS 10.14
There is currently no way in Photos to do this. We can only import the media (photos or videos), but not the structure of the library.
For the time being, I am still using PowerPhotos as a companion to Photos. PowerPhotos lets me select albums or folders of albums to import and merge into another Photos Library. https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/
But we need the full, Pais version to this - the free trial does not suffice copying item from one library into another.
the added bonus is, that PowerPhotos will also transfer the keywords between the libraries, which Photos still cannot do.
When you want to import selected albums in Photos, you have to export them to folders and then reimport them while preserving the folder structure.
There is currently no way in Photos to do this. We can only import the media (photos or videos), but not the structure of the library.
For the time being, I am still using PowerPhotos as a companion to Photos. PowerPhotos lets me select albums or folders of albums to import and merge into another Photos Library. https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/
But we need the full, Pais version to this - the free trial does not suffice copying item from one library into another.
the added bonus is, that PowerPhotos will also transfer the keywords between the libraries, which Photos still cannot do.
When you want to import selected albums in Photos, you have to export them to folders and then reimport them while preserving the folder structure.
@ThisisXian. : Sorry, I saw your question only now.
Which system version do you have installed? In the older versions of Photos the "Use Raw as Original" is only available, when the photo has been opened in Edit mode. In macOS 13 Ventura you can use "Use Raw as Original" also when you select the thumbnail of a photo.
When I want to pass a RAW file to an external editor I am using the "External Editors" extension (from the AppStore) to call the external editor. It has a nice option to select the format of the file passed to the editor.
For example: Calling the External Editors extension in the Edit mode:
And selecting the RAW file:
No, in Photos we can export albums to folders, but not export them as another library. That is exactly, why I invested in PowerPhotos as a helper for Photos. I can create new libraries from selected albums, without losing the option to revert to the original, and PowerPhotos can show me the photos in albums as a table with the metadata arranged in column, like Aperture could. https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/
Thank you very much. I really appreciate your help. I’m currently in the process of converting a 3TB Aperture library to Photos using your guide. Your guide has been very helpful. So I will purchase PowerPhotos as you recommend. I think I have an older version of PowerPhotos as I am still on Mojave due to Aperture. Is PowerPhotos version 2 worth the upgrade?
And if possible one more question. My 3TB Aperture library is on a dedicate 6TB hard drive. I noticed in your Aperture conversion guide that you mentioned that after conversion your Aperture library takes up very little space. I’ve exported a series of photos (about 100gig worth) as a new Aperture library and converted that library to Photos as a test. I’ve noticed that the Aperture test library retained its original size. So I have a 100 gig Aperture library and a 100 gig Photos library.
The point is, I’m not sure that the 6TB drive is going to be large enough to convert the 3TB Aperture library. Any thoughts you have on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
Again, thank you very much for all of your help.
PowerPhotos 2 is worth the upgrade, particularly, if you are planning to use iCloud Photos. It can even import from an iCloud Photos Library, what Photos cannot do, and it can transfer the originals and the edited versions as a master-version pair between libraries. PowerPhotos two requires macOS Big Sur or later. If you want to profit from PowerPhotos 2 wait until you upgrade to Big Sur or later. But get the complete migration done before upgrading to Ventura. Then you will no longer be able to migrate Aperture Libraries as libraries.
The sizes of the Aperture and Photos Library can be confusing. At the time I wrote the migration guide for Aperture we did not yet have the APFS file system format. At that time the migration from Aperture or iPhoto to Photos created the copies of identical image files as hard links. This resulted in two libraries of apparently the same size, but together they would use much less storage, because all identical image files in both libraries have been using the same entries in the file system table, so they have been using the storage only once. Now on APFS volumes a similar technique is used to store the identical files efficiently, but I have not found any documentation how it is done in Photos.
The space saving will only work, as long as both the old Aperture Library and the new Photos Library are hosted on the same volume. Once you move them to a differnet volume, the hard links will break and the the libraries will need together much more storage.
Ok! Thank you for the guidance! You have provided extremely helpful information. All of your answers and previous posts on Apple discussions have been invaluable as I work through this project.
Thank you!
Hi léonie, I’ve followed your guide and last night migrated my 2.5tb library from Aperture. The process went smoothly, but unfortunately I’m having an issue accessing RAW files in Photos and was hoping you may be able to offer some guidance.
With my newly migrated library open in Photos when I select an image, right click, and choose “Edit with…. Photoshop” the image opens in photoshop as a jpeg.
When in Photos I select the “Image” drop down menu, but “reprocess RAW” and “Use RAW as original” are both greyed out and cannot be selected.
However, with the image selected if I use the info button the information indicates the image is RAW.
I’m confused as to how to access my RAW image in Photos, or wondering if there was some error in migration?
Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks very much!
I'm not sure if this thread is still active. I have a question on the PowerPhotos software. I bought the paid version. Is it possible to add it to both of the computers I use daily? One is my MacBook Pro (where I installed it) and the other is my Mac mini. If I need to buy two I can but I am not sure if they would sync. My photos library is a mess. Total mess. And I already have seen a huge benefit from this software.
Also there's a guid mentioned in this thread and I am not sure where I can find that. If you can point me in the right direction that would be lovely. Thanks.
Thank you. Is it possible in the Photos app on Mac to export an album or group of photos as a new library, the way you could in Aperture?
You#re welcome 😊 Feel free to ask back, if there are more questions.
You can use PowerPhotos on all your Macs. I purchased it only once, and the license key is good for all my Macs I am using.
Importing photos from another library
