Duplicate Photo Libraries
I have duplicate photo libraries and would like to combine the two into one library without creating duplicate photos. Is this possible? How would I do this? Is there a simple way to do this?
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I have duplicate photo libraries and would like to combine the two into one library without creating duplicate photos. Is this possible? How would I do this? Is there a simple way to do this?
It will depend on your system version. In macOS 12 Monterey or later you can import the photos from one library directly into another library. Photos will check for duplicates and skip the duplicates when importing, see this page in the Photos User Guide: Import photos from another library in Photos on Mac – Apple Support (UK)
It will depend on your system version. In macOS 12 Monterey or later you can import the photos from one library directly into another library. Photos will check for duplicates and skip the duplicates when importing, see this page in the Photos User Guide: Import photos from another library in Photos on Mac – Apple Support (UK)
If you have a lot of organizational effort in both libraries, i.e. albums, titles, captions, keywords, etc., you might consider using the paid version of PowerPhotos.
Here's the differences between Photos and PowerPhotos regarding merging libraries:
PowerPhotos: Photos:
Albums ----------- = (does not provide this)
Smart Albums (as regular albums) -----------
Folders -----------
Captions Captions
Titles Titles
Original images Original images
Edited images Edited images
--------------- Locations
Favorites Favorites
Can detect and exclude Duplicates detect after import
duplicates or not during import
Neither method included projects.
Both methods could import older iPhoto libraries into a Photos library when the iPhoto library couldn't be migrated into a Photos library.
Duplicate Photo Libraries