Unable to mass import iPhoto library into Photos

Hey el_mc,

What happens when you follow the steps in the guide you recently viewed under "Import photos from another library" here: Import photos from another library in Photos on Mac - Apple Support

Import photos from another library

1. If the library you’d like to import into isn't already open, quit Photos, press and hold the Option key as you open Photos, select the library that you want to import your photos to, then click Choose Library.

2. Choose File > Import.

3. In the Import window, select the Photos library that contains the photos and videos that you want to import, then click Review for Import.

4. Do one of the following:

* To import the entire library, click Import All New Items.

* To import selected photos, select the photos to import, then click Import Selected.

If you want to save space on your Mac after importing from a previous library, you can delete the previous library.

If an alert appears, let us know what it says exactly. The more details you can provide the better we can help.

Take care!

The first system version that can import an iPhoto Library to Photos is macOS 13 Ventura. Which system version is installed on your new Mac?

On older system versions you can only open iPhoto Libraries in Photos to create a Photos Library from it.

To access your iPhoto Photos and to be able to view it in Photos try the following:

• Quit Photos, if it is running.
• Hold down the options key ⌥ and launch Photos.
• Wait for the dialog to select a library to appear.
• Select the iPhoto Library you want to convert to a Photos Library and click done.

Photos will now create a new Photos Library from your iPhoto Library in the same folder as the iPhoto Library. If the library is on an external drive, you have to ensure, that disk is locally mounted, a wired connection, not a network share, and the file system format should be MacOS Extended (Journaled) or APFS. The library must not be on a Time Machine volume either

Once you upgrade the new Mac to macOS 13 Ventura you can import the items from this library into your main Photos Library. Alternately you can use the command "File > Export" in Photos to export large batches of photos from your converted library and import them to your main Photos Library.

Or do you still have iPhoto on your old Mac? Then you could run iPhoto to batch export the photos and videos to folders and import them from these folders to your new Photos Library.

el_mc Said:

"Unable to mass import iPhoto library into Photos: I am trying to import an iPhoto library from OS X 10.11.6 (the highest my old MacBook could update to). I can't import the library to Photos, and I did find the Masters folder, but each photo is down a rabbit hole of folders. There's no way that I can individually copy over every photo in there. How do I just mass import the library into Photos?"

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Transferring Photos in All of iCloud:

Download, of iCloud, and then search through the download: Not all photos are seen in the Photos app. So, one method would be to download all of iCloud, and then import the files to a folder on an external hard drive. From there, open the folder, and browse through the it using the Search Bar on the top-right corner of the Finder window. download. Perform my User Tip: Getting a Quick and Direct "iCloud Drive-to-External Hard Drive" Download - User Tip.