Best practices managing multiple iPhoto librarys

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Level 1

47 points

Best practices managing multiple iPhoto librarys

I think that my challege in managing multiple iPhoto libraries is shared by a lot of amateur photographers. My wife and I both have Apple MacBook Airs and we both take and upload photos. About every three months I merge the two iPhoto libraries with the iPhoto Library Manager. Then I take the output of the merge and replace both MacBook iPhoto libraries.

Thinking out loud, would it be easier and less labor intensive to have both my wife and I share the same library? I remember reading a caution statement regarding the possible iPhoto file corruption when sharing.

Any suggestions?

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Jan 20, 2015 11:48 AM

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Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Jan 20, 2015 11:54 AM in response to KlaatuBarada

Currently you can share the same library is on an external drive with ownership ignored - iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users - Apple Support

If that works for you then it certainly would be less labor intensive

In any case be sure you have a good backup going to protect aainst failures

LN

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

200,723 points

Jan 20, 2015 12:03 PM in response to KlaatuBarada

Thinking out loud, would it be easier and less labor intensive to have both my wife and I share the same library? I remember reading a caution statement regarding the possible iPhoto file corruption when sharing.

The alternative would be to keep separate photo libraries - one for your wife and one for you.

I found it much easier to haveseparate photo libraries and just share the best photos with the other family members, after they have been tagged and edited. Export them and give them the other family members to import them to their libraries. Or transfer them using a shared photo stream.

This avoids fighting about which photos to keep and how to adjust the photos.

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