How can I merge photos libraries?

One alternate if you have more space available,

• Export the photos from Photos to normal file system (Pictures/Desktop etc)
• And import them into your primary Photos library.
• Then delete the library from which you've exported the photos and merged

If you have Aperture 3.3 or later and iPhoto 9.3 or later you can merge libraries with Aperture.

Otherwise the only way to merge Libraries is with the paid ($30) version of iPhoto Library Manager

Do the merge and repeat the conversion.

If you want to merge the libraries

• Make one of the libraries as the system library
• Now open another library (Which is not system library)
• File > Import > Select Photos under media on the left pane
• Now select all photos to import to the current library.
• Repeat this for merging multiple libraries and finally make the consolidated library as your System Library

Note: Albums, Projects, Slideshows etc will not be imported from other libraries

That's adding the previews from one library to another one. It's not merging libraries.

There are several GBs that I have in photos in iPhoto libraries separated by year. It is already too late to "pre-merge" as I simply updated my OS because I got a notice to and a big surprise. Now I have orphaned iPhoto libraries grayed out by Photos. This means several days of work if I want to use Photos - exporting from iPhoto then importing to Photos. This means that even if I maxed out iCloud storage (1TB) I would not be able to use it for all my photos. I would not pay that much monthly anyway. I see Photos simply as a vehicle to sell iCloud storage. What I am going to be forced to do is use Photos simply as a platform for sharing by importing and deleting as size permits. In other words it is dumbing down my iMac to fit into iCloud and iOS. It may perform better but the function is inadequate in my opinion. iMovie suffers from the same dumb down, I still use the previous version that has functions that were deleted by the new version. I am not sure what Apple's mission here is but the reasons for buying a Mac are starting to be lost. If I get forced to get expensive software that could be run on a cheaper PC why bother with an expensive Apple?

This is not so much as a problem but a request to put back features that they threw away, especially library management. If you have a solution for that, I would appreciate hearing it.

Is there a question for the users in this forum there? Or just a statement of your personal views among with a misplaced note to Apple (they are not here - this is strictly a user to user forum)

LN

Mostly whining but the last part was a question about managing photos in separate libraries which from my poking around in the menus does seem to exist.

and what specifically do you want to know about library management?

Basically Photo is no different form iPhoto in this respect - you can not manage multiple libraries with it -- you open each library and use it exactly the same as with iPhtoo

LN

Ok, agree, mostly whining. However, the last paragraph was serious. I cannot find a method for continuing to manage photos (thousands) in various hard drives that is my current practice in iPhoto/Aperture. Yearly libraries works best. At this point I can only assume that I must stick with iPhoto/Aperture unless someone here can tell me something otherwise.

Again what specific issue are you having with multiple libraries

Basically Photos is no different from iPhoto [or Aperture] in this respect - you can not manage multiple libraries with it -- you open each library and use it exactly the same as with iPhoto

and as a side note generally mutual libraries are not a good idea as they defeat the search capability of iPhoto, Aperture and of Photos - one large library is generally the best solution

LN

Am I not correct in thinking that doing it this way will lose all the original metadata ?

When I do this it shows. Media>Pictures then many other choices "Moments" "Collections" etc. Is this window looking at my current library (the one that I'm trying to import TO) or another library (One that I want to import FROM)?

When the next version of PowerPhotos is released and we'll be able to merger Photos libraries like we could with iPhoto Library Manager and iPhoto libraries. Shouldn't be too long.

You can keep abreast of the development progress at the developer's blog: Fat Cat Software Blog.

Oh dear, this helped a lot. Thanks. 😉

Happy holidays. Cheers.

B