How to merge parts of two iPhoto libraries and remain separate users

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Level 1

4 points

How to merge parts of two iPhoto libraries and remain separate users

We have two user accounts - let's call them A and B - on our iMac and hence two separate libraries which is fine for the major part of our photos, but we have many photos of mutual adventures and hopefully more to come in the future. If this is relevant: the photos are imports from other computers, but are no longer available from these computers. There's a continuous backup on Time Capsule via Time Machine.

We would like to share the photos from the two existing accounts, except those that are from each users past.

I expect to have to move or copy some photos including new imports in the future to a new shared library AND keep our old libraries from the past separate as they are from the past.

I further more would like to share the photos from mutual adventures to to Apple TV - maybe via Airplay as I can already do with the iTunes library on account A.

It seems to me the best way would be to have a separate user account - account C - for mutual iPhoto and our music in iTunes, BUT user A synchronize the music to my iPhone and user B does not yet. To complicate things - I think - user B has less storage on the iPhone than user A, so the full iTunes library simply does not fit on user B. I do realise it's possible to do selective synchronisation of music, but will this work in such a setup?

How do I do this?

iPhoto '08, Mac OS X (10.6.8), iPhone 4 32 GB and iPhone 4 8 GB

Posted on Dec 30, 2012 3:35 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Dec 31, 2012 7:37 AM in response to renapple

Create a new Account on your Mac, call it Media or user C. Create an iPhoto Library there. (BTW: This will work for iTunes too.)

Enable Sharing on the Library:(Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other accounts. In those accounts, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. The Library will appear in the other source pane.

This means that both users will be able to see the pics in Library C, and their own pics.. If you want to use a pic then simply drag it from the shared Library to your own in the iPhoto Window. This means that each user can have their own edits.

If you want to add photos to the Library: Log into the Media account for that purpose.

To make it all seamless: Set your Mac to log into the Media Account automatically. Set iPhoto to launch on log-in. Then switch to your own account using Fast User Switching.

Net result: a Library that's permanently available to all users but also protected. Each user can have their own versions of the pics if they want.

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Answer 2

renapple Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 2, 2013 9:15 AM in response to Yer_Man

One more spec: iPhoto '09 vers. 8.1.2 (424)

Thanks a lot for the answer - it seems quite straightforward and I've so far done what you suggested, but now I'm a little bit puzzled about how to move selected existing events/photos from users A+B libraries into the shared Media library (the new user). In other words I'd like to avoid duplicates, unless they would be copied to and edited by user A or B on the private library as you have indicated. At present the new user Media library is empty and the photos are on the other user accounts.

I understand that the suggested setup will work for future photos, but as I understand from reading other posts I can't export the faces data and import it to the new shared library, but that post relates to iPhoto '11?

There was a suggestion to use iPhoto Library Manager also, but is there another way in iPhoto '09?

A couple of extra questions and I apologize it there's to much "that's obvious" stuff:

User A and B have separate iCloud accounts which we do not use for storing photos/music, but user B use the iCloud automatic feature to sync photos from the iPhone 4 to an iPad and user A+B use iCloud for Mail/iCal sync/sharing. I expect it to be difficult/impossible to maintain the autosyncing for user B if the shared photos for this user is only stored in Media library?

Is there a better solution for user B - eg. somehow copy the selected photos instead of moving them?

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Jan 2, 2013 10:57 AM in response to renapple

The only want to move selected Events/Photos/Albums plus all versions and metadata from one Library to another is with the paid version ($20) of iPhoto Library Manager

Other than that: export from one Library (File -> Export) to the Finder and then move them to the new space and import them there. That will get the Photos but miss some metadata (depending on what export settings you choose) and the version history.

User A and B have separate iCloud accounts which we do not use for storing photos/music, but user B use the iCloud automatic feature to sync photos from the iPhone 4 to an iPad and user A+B use iCloud for Mail/iCal sync/sharing. I expect it to be difficult/impossible to maintain the autosyncing for user B if the shared photos for this user is only stored in Media library?

Yes.

Is there a better solution for user B - eg. somehow copy the selected photos instead of moving them?

Yes, but then you're using double the disk space.

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Answer 4

renapple Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 2, 2013 12:58 PM in response to Yer_Man

Thank you for a quick reply. Unfortunately this is turning out to be more complicated than I initially had hoped. Please see why in explanation below.

I would like to give more information about the setup, just to be absolutely sure there's no smart setup for us. As user A was the first user in our network this user has an iTunes id which is used for the Appstore/iTunes syncing iPhone/Airplay to share music and photos from user A's library. User A (unfortunately?) also has an iCloud id which is different from the iTunes id in order to use the iCloud sync features for Mail/iCal etc. User B has an iTunes id and a small music library, but is currently not using it. User B also has an iCloud id to use the sync features.

From your answers it seems there's no way to "get it all" (sharing, syncing, personal/mutual data) in our current setup and the whole iCloud/Air Play/sharing is a little confusing to me, but given that the primary purpose is to show the mutual photos as a screensaver on our iMac and Apple TV and play the music there too there are two ways to do this:

1. your suggested setup with the extra library (to be shared via Airplay to Apple TV with an iTunes id assigned to the new Media user iTunes/iPhoto library). In this setup user B looses the ability to see photos on the iPad unless duplicates exist.

2. copying all mutual photos for user A respectively B to two separate albums in the existing separate libraries and making these albums available as screensavers and sharing via Airplay, BUT with the limitation that only one user's album will be available at a time as screensaver and as far as the Apple TV goes the users two separate iTunes id's have to be used to access the album from one user at a time.

Question:

Ref. 1 As I understand it iTunes purchases are linked to one id. So what are the consequences for a user if the iTunes id is in use for the Apple TV homesharing via Airplay and a logon is attempted on the user's iPhone?

Ref. 1 As I understand the sharing setup the iTunes id for user A with the most music must be the preferred one for the new Media user and the music library for user A must also be copied to the new Media user?

Ref. 2 As I said the whole iCloud/sharing/synchronizing issues are a little confusing. Given the above information with two separate iPhones, iTunes accounts, iCloud accounts and the wish to share photos/music

Do you see any smarter way to do this than your initial suggestion?

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