bluestu69

Q: iMac Setup & Photos

Hi all,

 

New MAC owner (3 days) and I wonder if I might ask for some help.

 

I have around 20,000 photos stored on my Windows PC. I store these in the following file strucutre:-

 

Pictures/Year/Month/Event (So there are lots of folders.)

 

I have imported everything onto my Mac in the pictures folder but done nothing else. I have 2 users (myself as the admin and my wife).

 

What I want to do is:-

1) Be able to view all of the pictures in both profiles but retain the current folder structure I have.

2) Ensure that any changes made in one profile are replicated in another.


I don't use iCloud for my pictures (mainly because I'm not really understanding what it does for photos other than back-up) and wonder if this may be the issue.

 

I'm also not sure how the Photos app works as when I tried importing a couple of pictures it seemed to show everything regardless of year / folder etc.


I'd be grateful for any help as after a couple of days searching videos and web pages I feel as confused as when I started.


Stu

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Aug 17, 2015 2:10 AM

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Q: iMac Setup & Photos

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Winston Churchill,Helpful

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Aug 17, 2015 4:23 AM in response to bluestu69
    Level 10 (103,375 points)
    Apple TV
    Aug 17, 2015 4:23 AM in response to bluestu69

    I'm afraid you can't import the folders you have created, you will need to create new albums and folders inside Photos, once you have imported the photos themselves.

  • by bluestu69,

    bluestu69 bluestu69 Aug 17, 2015 5:06 AM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 17, 2015 5:06 AM in response to Winston Churchill

    Thanks Winston - this helps me greatly as I now next steps.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 17, 2015 9:10 AM in response to bluestu69
    Level 10 (84,217 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 17, 2015 9:10 AM in response to bluestu69

    What I want to do is:-

    1) Be able to view all of the pictures in both profiles but retain the current folder structure I have.

    2) Ensure that any changes made in one profile are replicated in another.

    Two ways to accomplish this

     

    1 - use iCloud Photo Library

     

    2 - use an external disk with ownership ignored (this is for iphoto but still applies to Photos) - iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users - Apple Support

     

     

    I don't use iCloud for my pictures (mainly because I'm not really understanding what it does for photos other than back-up) and wonder if this may be the issue.

    for your Mac iCloud is not a backup - you need local backup - iCloud is a way of having a single library on iCloud that is shared among multiple users and devices so every user and every device has exactly the same library - all changes made anywhere are reflected everywhere

     

    You can reproduce your folder structure in Photos using albums and folders

     

    start over with a new library

     

    drag a folder of photos to the Photos icon in the dock

     

    Open the last import album and select all -

     

    click the + sign in the upper right and create an album using the folders name

     

    Place it in the proper folder (you have to create the higher level folders using the file many ==> new folder)

     

    Repeat for each folder of photos

     

     

    A good starting place for using Photos is reading the help topics and taking the quick tour

     

    LN