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How do I merge the photos from all libraries I've created into a single library?

The five libraries I made are on an external drive and my MacBookPro. I want to consilidate them all into one library on an external drive. I originaly made this choice because I thought it would be easier to find what I was looking for by using different libraries but have now realised it would be easier to do so using projects. I am new to Aperture so any suggestions for keeping things organized would be much appreciated.

Aperture 3, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), Aperture 3.4.5

Posted on Oct 7, 2013 2:03 PM

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Posted on Oct 7, 2013 6:21 PM

Are the libraries all descended from a common root or are they really a bunch of separate libraries. If they are separate then you can add the libraries together.


The command to use is File->Import->Library. If the originals are all managed then my suggested workflow would be to:


Pick one of the libraries as the starting point. If you do not have a good backup of this library create one now. Run a library repair on this library.


While it will add time to the process I also suggest you run a library repair on each of the other libraries before importing them. This step is optional but will greatly reduce the chance of getting hung up during the import process.


Now with the first library open run the command File->Import->Library selecting one of the other libraries. Then move on to the next library. I suggest that you run a library repair between imports on the library you are importing into. Again it is optional but will reduce the chances for problems. Of course you can be flexible here. If some of the libraries are small you can do a few before running the repair.


The import command will not touch the imported libraries. When you are done you will have the new combined library and all the originals so you will need to account for this disk space wise. Also you will need to decide what to do with these extra libraries. If you do decide to delete them I would wait for a while before doing so to make sure the combined library is working OK and had all your images.


regards

4 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Oct 7, 2013 6:21 PM in response to SakamotoPhoto

Are the libraries all descended from a common root or are they really a bunch of separate libraries. If they are separate then you can add the libraries together.


The command to use is File->Import->Library. If the originals are all managed then my suggested workflow would be to:


Pick one of the libraries as the starting point. If you do not have a good backup of this library create one now. Run a library repair on this library.


While it will add time to the process I also suggest you run a library repair on each of the other libraries before importing them. This step is optional but will greatly reduce the chance of getting hung up during the import process.


Now with the first library open run the command File->Import->Library selecting one of the other libraries. Then move on to the next library. I suggest that you run a library repair between imports on the library you are importing into. Again it is optional but will reduce the chances for problems. Of course you can be flexible here. If some of the libraries are small you can do a few before running the repair.


The import command will not touch the imported libraries. When you are done you will have the new combined library and all the originals so you will need to account for this disk space wise. Also you will need to decide what to do with these extra libraries. If you do decide to delete them I would wait for a while before doing so to make sure the combined library is working OK and had all your images.


regards

Oct 8, 2013 12:29 PM in response to SakamotoPhoto

What exactly does a library repair do?

Library repair checks the consistency of the different parts of the library and repairs what it can.


The Aperture library is a collection of many different bits, folders, database files and regular files and at times the interconnections between the parts can can corrupted. As I wrote adding in the library repairs is optional and will add some time to the whole operation but in my experience whenever I have done extensive work to the library I have found that doing the repair before lessens the chance for hangs.


good luck,


regards

How do I merge the photos from all libraries I've created into a single library?

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