Rufulo

Q: new Photos app sharing library across users

How do I share one Photos (v 1.0) library with multiple users on one Mac? Currently, I have a 115 GB iPhoto (v 9.6.1) library that I share across users on one Mac. It's stored in the shared folder, and all family members have access. After installing the new Photos app and upgrading my library, I moved the new Photos app library into our shared folder, and changed permissions to allow read & write access for a second user, but it still will not open in that user's account. I must avoid duplicating the iPhoto library in each user account because I don't have enough disk space for 3 115GB libraries.

OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB

Posted on Apr 10, 2015 10:09 AM

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Q: new Photos app sharing library across users

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Dec 13, 2015 6:02 PM in response to JDW1
    Level 10 (84,882 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Dec 13, 2015 6:02 PM in response to JDW1

    You missed quiet a bit

     

    Submissions

    1. Stay on topic. Apple Support Communities is here to help people use Apple products and technologies more effectively. Unless otherwise noted, do not add Submissions about nontechnical topics, including:
      1. Speculations or rumors about unannounced products.
      2. Discussions of Apple policies or procedures or speculation on Apple decisions.

    And of course you also violated the "be Polite" section that you posted - mine was very polite, informative and accurate

     

    So I guess that since you who is posting personal attacks vs my posting acurate information that you are the one who needs to take a deep breath and to quit getting bent out of shape

     

    have a great week

     

    LN

  • by RK101,

    RK101 RK101 Dec 19, 2015 10:13 AM in response to Rufulo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 19, 2015 10:13 AM in response to Rufulo

    @Rufulo and JDW1

     

    It appears a couple users have recently reported in this thread that they successfully set up multi-user sharing of the Photos library using permissions on a shared or public directory under El Capitan.

     

    Have either of you confirmed this?  Has Apple changed something with the latest OS version that now allows multiple users on the same Mac to share a Photos library?

  • by Yeehat,

    Yeehat Yeehat Dec 19, 2015 11:04 AM in response to RK101
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Dec 19, 2015 11:04 AM in response to RK101

    Actually I was a little surprised no user reported back about the simple workaround I found. I can confirm it works; ownership and permissions were reset when I  updated to 10.11.2, but I assigned once more read/write permissions to my wife's account and everything went back to normal.

  • by JDW1,

    JDW1 JDW1 Dec 19, 2015 2:24 PM in response to RK101
    Level 1 (18 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 19, 2015 2:24 PM in response to RK101

    I myself have not found a solution that achieves my aim.  I want the ability to have Apple's PHOTOS app open in my user and open in my wife's user so we can both browse, edit, add and delete photos.  I want that to happen while keeping the Photos library on the same, unpartitioned, internal drive of our iMac.  I don't want to be forced to use iCloud to accomplish this. 

     

    But my aim is nothing exclusive to me.  This is the want and need of most married couples sharing the same Mac.  It is a fundamental, basic need that should be made easier by Apple.

  • by Howard Brazee,

    Howard Brazee Howard Brazee Dec 19, 2015 2:42 PM in response to JDW1
    Level 1 (37 points)
    Applications
    Dec 19, 2015 2:42 PM in response to JDW1

    That is my want as well.

  • by RK101,

    RK101 RK101 Dec 19, 2015 5:32 PM in response to Yeehat
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 19, 2015 5:32 PM in response to Yeehat

    Yeehat,

     

    Just to clarify.  Your Photos library is in a directory to which your wife can read and write, and:

    - You can upload, view and edit photos from your account;

    - She can upload, view and edit photos in the same library from her account.

     

    Is this correct? 

     

    I assume you can't both be running the Photos app at the same time.  Do you log fully out of OS X before she logs in, and visa versa, or does it work with "quick switching" between accounts when you're both logged into OS X?

     

    Thanks!

  • by Yeehat,

    Yeehat Yeehat Dec 20, 2015 3:15 AM in response to RK101
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Dec 20, 2015 3:15 AM in response to RK101

    Our Photos library is in /Users/Shared, I granted read/write permissions to me, my wife and everyone, wheel has only read permissions (I made changed via the Finder, not the Terminal). Both of us can upload, view and edit photos to this library from administrator (mine) and standard (her) accounts, though of course not at the same time. It works even with fast user switching. As I said, OS updates seem to reset ownership and permissions to defaults (and this was to be expected) and occasionally one user is required to "repair" library. To accomplish reparation on my wife's standard account an administrator password is required and that's annoying, but at least things run almost like iPhoto's times.

  • by RK101,

    RK101 RK101 Dec 20, 2015 3:04 PM in response to Yeehat
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 20, 2015 3:04 PM in response to Yeehat

    Yay!  It works.  I updated to El Capitan, set up the Photos library in the Shared directory, set the permissions like you said, and it works.  Something must have changed with the El Capitan update, because this didn't work before.

     

    Even better - I can now load new photos from either account and they are visible in the one, shared Photos library.

     

    Now, if I could only figure out where they put the Red Eye tool in this Photos update.

     

    Thank you for your help!

  • by jvulto,

    jvulto jvulto Dec 21, 2015 4:16 AM in response to RK101
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 4:16 AM in response to RK101

    Just tried with one shared library with permissions set R/W to me, my wife and everyone.

    Both of us now can access the database however a repair of library is needed everytime we switch!

  • by Yeehat,

    Yeehat Yeehat Dec 21, 2015 6:44 AM in response to RK101
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 6:44 AM in response to RK101

    @RK101 You're welcome

     

    @jvulto We have just one library, I don't know if this makes any difference. I forgot to mention that we'both set this library as system library in Photos preferences in each account, but I think it's obvious. Now and then we're requested to repair library with no apparent reason, except for the OS update, but not frequently. I've just come back and forth many times between my account and my wife's with fast user switching, opening and quitting Photos to test my workaround once more: it just works (OS X 10.11.2, Photos 1.3). Lastly, I didn't update RAW Compatibility to 6.18 (no use for my needs).

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Dec 21, 2015 9:41 AM in response to JDW1
    Level 10 (141,242 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 21, 2015 9:41 AM in response to JDW1

    The way Photos and El Capitan is setup you have two options:

     

    1 - and external HD correctly formatted and connected by USB/Firewire to the Mac.

     

    2 - a disk image large enough to hold your library and any anticipated size increase due to adding additional photos. It can be placed in the Shred folder but will have to be mounted manually by each user when they want to use the library.

     

     

    Personally the first option would be my preference as it frees up space on the boot  drive for use by other files and allows one to maintain the amount of free space which is important for optimal system and application performance.

  • by Howard Brazee,

    Howard Brazee Howard Brazee Dec 21, 2015 3:51 PM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (37 points)
    Applications
    Dec 21, 2015 3:51 PM in response to Old Toad

    If an external drive is connected to the Mac (why not Thunderbolt?), how does that make it easier to share with my wife's computer in a different room?

     

    I've seen disk drives called Internet disk drives, but don't understand what that means, and wonder if one could be stand-alone in my house and store photos and music and documents I want to share between my wife and myself.    I'd want them to be accessible even if one computer is turned off - but backed up via Time Machine with each computer.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Dec 21, 2015 4:21 PM in response to Howard Brazee
    Level 10 (84,882 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Dec 21, 2015 4:21 PM in response to Howard Brazee

    1 - Thunderbolt is fine

     

    2 - the subject of this thread is sharing a library across multiple users - not across multiple machines - when you threadjack other people's threads you cause confusion for you, the volunteers who are helping people here and other users reading this later

     

    3 - Internet drive or NAS (Network Attached Storage)  drives are no suitable for holding or sharing an iPhoto or Photos library

     

    Please read this   Writing an effective Apple Support Communities question   and start your own thread with your question if you want more information - although the only current answer to your question is to use iCloud Photo Library with the same iCloud log in for both of you

     

    LN

  • by Yeehat,

    Yeehat Yeehat Dec 22, 2015 4:28 AM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Dec 22, 2015 4:28 AM in response to Old Toad

    Old Toad wrote:

     

    The way Photos and El Capitan is setup you have two options:

     

    1 - and external HD correctly formatted and connected by USB/Firewire to the Mac.

     

    2 - a disk image large enough to hold your library ...

    I'm not sure I get the point. Do you mean that our best bet is checking Ignore property on this volume?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Dec 22, 2015 5:29 AM in response to Yeehat
    Level 10 (107,679 points)
    iCloud
    Dec 22, 2015 5:29 AM in response to Yeehat

    Do you mean that our best bet is checking Ignore property on this volume?

    "Ignore ownership on this volume" is essential.  Apple recommended it in this document for iPhoto Libraries, the same goes for Photos Libraries.  iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users

     

    If a Photos Libraries is accessed from a different user account and the library is not only read but modfied, the ownership will change for some of the internal databases.  And then the original owner can no longer open the library without repairing the library with the First aid Tools.  The "Ignore ownership on this volume" flag prevents this. A shared folder does no longer suffice.

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