HT204414: Designate a System Photo Library in Photos

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johnmacward

Q: How to import both iPhoto and Aperture library to iCloud Photo Library (Photos app)

Hi all,

 

Based on the article here (Designate a System Photo Library in Photos - Apple Support) has anyone tried to bring both an iPhoto and Aperture library into iCloud Photo Library so that both libraries are available as one in iCloud and form the one Photos app library rather than being seen as separate libraries. I don't want the two separated as I have 200GB's of space in iCloud which is plenty to hold the two's collective space of about 40GB's.

 

It seems as though the procedure is pretty simple.

  • First of all set one of your libraries as the System Photo Library, this will happen naturally with setting up Photos app for the first time. I chose iPhoto as the original library.
  • Let this library upload all it's photo's to iCloud over a few minutes, hours, days etc.
  • When finished, enter your other library by closing Photos app and reopening while holding down the Option key (usually Alt). In this case I now opened the Aperture library that it had found.
  • Under Preferences > iCloud set this library as the System Photo Library and in turn it will have the ability to upload to iCloud.
  • When it's finished I suppose you will have both iPhoto AND Aperture pictures in the one iCloud Photo Library.

 

At least I hope the above makes sense.

 

Anybody already tried this with good / bad results, let us know here.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Apr 12, 2015 3:46 PM

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Q: How to import both iPhoto and Aperture library to iCloud Photo Library (Photos app)

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Brian Webster1,Helpful

    Brian Webster1 Brian Webster1 Apr 16, 2015 5:18 AM in response to johnmacward
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Apr 16, 2015 5:18 AM in response to johnmacward

    That should work, but another option would be to use Aperture to merge the two libraries together, then migrate the resulting library over to Photos.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Apr 12, 2015 10:44 PM in response to johnmacward
    Level 10 (106,888 points)
    iLife
    Apr 12, 2015 10:44 PM in response to johnmacward

    Do you need to keep both libraries separate on your Mac? The Aperture library and the iPhoto Library?

    If not, it would be preferable to merge the libraries first by importing one library into the other Library using Aperture.

     

    You can then systematically check the merged library in Aperture for missing GPS coordinates, missing titles, inconsistent dates, batch change any meta data that need cleaning up, perhaps check for duplicates.

     

    If you migrate from one combined library you will be better able to profit from the safe saving links between the original library and the upgraded Photo library. If you upload two iCloud from two different libraries, the merged Photos library will partly consist of downloaded files that need extra storage. And do not include all Faces and books/products. It will be like merging libraries from different Macs:

     

    See these two documents:

    Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

     

    How to use Photos for OS X with multiple Macs | iMore

  • by Arsalan Haque,

    Arsalan Haque Arsalan Haque Apr 12, 2015 11:52 PM in response to johnmacward
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 12, 2015 11:52 PM in response to johnmacward

    I have read that if you turn 'on' the  Icloud library, that Photos OSX merges the current (non system) photo librarythat you have opened ( using option key)  with the existing icloud library .  

    Does this mean that the current opened non-system designated library also merges with the system designated Library ?  . And if not, does this mean that the icloud library can be different  to the System Designated Photo library ?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Apr 13, 2015 12:52 AM in response to Arsalan Haque
    Level 10 (106,888 points)
    iLife
    Apr 13, 2015 12:52 AM in response to Arsalan Haque
    . And if not, does this mean that the icloud library can be different  to the System Designated Photo library ?

    Only the system library can be used with iCloud. So you have to make the current library the system library, before you enable iCloud Photo Library.

    You can have only one iCloud Photo Library.

  • by Arsalan Haque,Helpful

    Arsalan Haque Arsalan Haque Apr 16, 2015 5:18 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 16, 2015 5:18 AM in response to léonie

    i cant find where i saw this, but someone was suggesting that if you open  'another' library and then make it 'system designated' and then upload to iclould ...the icloud merges these new photos with the existing ones  . but what happens if i revert to the previous designated library to being the  designated library again . Do i end up with an  icloud library containing photos from two merged libraries , but the libraries themselves remain as they were , two separate libraries, one being designated, the other not ?

  • by Arsalan Haque,

    Arsalan Haque Arsalan Haque Apr 13, 2015 1:51 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 13, 2015 1:51 AM in response to léonie

    found it here  - 'If you designate a new library as the System Photo Library and then turn on iCloud Photo Library, the photos and videos in the new library will merge with those already in your iCloud Photo Library. If you want to keep the contents of your photo libraries separate, don’t turn on iCloud Photo Library for more than one library in Photos.'


    That bit seems clear. You can merge photos from different libraries by making them 'designated' first  .

    BUT  this means that Photos app only shows you library A , or library B, depending on which one you have opened , but Icloud library contains photos from Both library A and library B .

    is this correct ?

    and if so, does it not get a but confusing ?!?


  • by johnmacward,

    johnmacward johnmacward Apr 16, 2015 5:20 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 16, 2015 5:20 AM in response to léonie

    Hi Leonie,

     

    Thanks for your reply. Yeah, ideally I'd like to just use one program however I have libraries in both because as first I used iPhoto and then later purchased Aperture and used it for a bit so I had disjointed libraries.

     

    I never considered that method of merging everything into ONE and then just giving that library to Photos app.

  • by johnmacward,Solvedanswer

    johnmacward johnmacward Apr 16, 2015 5:25 AM in response to johnmacward
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 16, 2015 5:25 AM in response to johnmacward

    Hi all,

     

    Ultimately I went with my own suggestion of first setting the iPhoto library as system Photo library (well the initial wizard did all this for me), letting all of that upload and then opening the Aperture library and enabling it as System Photo library and iCloud enabled - this then let all Aperture items upload to iCloud.


    This had the desirable effect of merging the two together into one. Now I just have to to delete the original library that was created AND even consider deleting the iPhoto and Aperture libraries themselves as they're taking up a good 40GB's on my drive as it stands.

     

    I have to say Apple ALWAYS have a way of solving your problem, even if not obvious at first (for example hold down Option key and click Photo's).

  • by pjbonz,

    pjbonz pjbonz Apr 19, 2015 4:59 PM in response to johnmacward
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 19, 2015 4:59 PM in response to johnmacward

    Don't delete you other Libraries as the newPhoto library uses the original photos. Look under photos in support they explain it better than I can.

    pjbonz