Transferring good quality photos from Cloud to a drive

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Level 1

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Transferring good quality photos from Cloud to a drive

Hi! I have seen similar questions but not the exact answers I am seeking.

I have been downloading my photos from the cloud so as to put them on an external drive and clear some cloud-space. It takes a while to do them in batches of 1000, but that's the most you can do.

I would quite like to export them off the Photos application instead, but it is only letting me do one at a time. I can drag them, but I want to optimize my exports in terms of quality, so I've been going the File-Export route, and that only seems to work for one at a time; highlighting even two items doesn't give me the option to export from Photos. Is this normal?

Would it be better to keep downloading them from the internet in batches of 1000? Do I have less control over the quality then than if I use File-Export? Not sure.

Many thanks!

Posted on Apr 30, 2024 3:40 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 30, 2024 8:14 AM in response to Sam2392

I'm not sure what's happening when you choose Export. When I select 6 pictures, for instance, and go to File>Export>Export 6 Photos, I get this:

You can see three of the slected pictures behind the menu.

Then, when I select Export 6 Photos, I get this dialog:

I've never been restricted to exporting only one picture at a time. How is this different for you?

Dragging is not advisable for this-- you may not get dependable results.

You do have to decide if you want the edited, annotated images, or if you want the originals. File>Export>Export Originals works the same way, but you don't have options-- since there's only one way to be the "original."

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Answer 2

May 1, 2024 8:42 AM in response to Sam2392

Sam2392 wrote:

Hi, thanks for your response! Weird - maybe I need an update or something if it's a problem with the app? It doesn't give me those options.

We're talking using Photos on a Mac, here, right-- not iPhone? I realize I don't see your device or OS listed, but I assumed Mac from your reference to File Export.

If you choose "File>Export>Export Unmodified Originals" you don't get so many choices. It goes like this:

In this case you get the original file, nothing more and nothing less. If you check "Export IPTC" you get metadata in an extra file that can be recombined with the original.

What do you see, instead? That will help figure out what's happening.

But also is there anything wrong with downloading them from the web?

Are you talking about downloading from iCloud Photos? That is certainly slower, and you're right, you have no control over the order. You get the edited and cropped versions, without all added metadata.

Exported edited copies will have a Finder date that is the export date rather than the create date, Exported originals have the create date as the Finder date. Pictures download from iCloud Photos have the download date for the Finder date. The original date is included in the metadata for all the exports, and that's the date that image viewer will show.

Let us know how your export is different...

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Answer 3

Sam2392 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 30, 2024 3:24 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Hi, thanks for your response! Weird - maybe I need an update or something if it's a problem with the app? It doesn't give me those options.

But also is there anything wrong with downloading them from the web? My one problem there seemed to be that I couldn't get them to download in order, which annoyed me. But if that issue applies to exporting from the app as well then maybe I should stick with the download option?

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