chroth
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Share an (already) online iCloud Album within iCloud

Hi all

 

I have an online -rather large- iCloud album in my private account. I would like to share all pictures of this album with my family. For that, I created a shared album (empty, as of now) and would like to put my existing photos in there.

 

I can see how the mechanism works (I can easily share 1, 2 pics in there) but when it comes to a large number of photos (4000+), I have the following questions:

 

1. it seems to me that I have to re-download all my pictures again (first) so that they can be uploaded again to the shared album (second step). Is that true? This leads to the second question:

 

2. In the light of one, I am under the impression that the photos are essentially duplicated, i.e. copied to the shared album (not just referenced). Is that true?

 

To summarize: I get the impression that this is a terribly slow process (re-download and re-upload several GB, instead of just passing a reference to another album) and that this is also wasting online storage space (which I have to pay for, at iCloud).

 

Is there a simpler way? Am I missing something?

 

Thanks for any pointers!

c.

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 1, 2015 7:04 AM

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chroth

Q: Share an (already) online iCloud Album within iCloud

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Oct 1, 2015 8:06 AM in response to chroth
    Level 10 (84,857 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 1, 2015 8:06 AM in response to chroth

    I'm not clear on your question but hopefully this will give you some answers - iCloud Photo Sharing FAQ - Apple Support

     

    LN

  • by chroth,

    chroth chroth Oct 1, 2015 8:12 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2015 8:12 AM in response to LarryHN

    Hi Larry,

     

    thanks for the quick reply, but sorry that doesn't really help me (read it before).

     

    Please let me know where I would need to clarify - sorry for not being precise.

     

    Maybe this will help:

     

    Current process:

    1. I upload the photos to my own account (few GBs)

    2. After a while, I figure out that I'd like to share the album with my family and create an album in my shared section.

    3. I select all photos in the existing (private) album and select iCloud Photo Sharing -> to the album created in step 2.

    4. Photos downloads all the photos (few GBs)

    5. Photos uploads all the photos to the newly created shared album (few GBs)

    6. I end up with the result I wanted (each photo exists in both albums (i.e. double the space needed)).

     

    (all in all: several hours of additional up-/downloading and double the space used)

     

    What I would expect:

    1. the same

    2. the same

    3. the same

    4. Photos just creates a reference in the shared album to the private album (or something like it), so that I do not have to upload/download stuff again

    5. done

    (should be done in a few seconds)

     

    Does that help?

  • by LarryHN,Helpful

    LarryHN LarryHN Oct 1, 2015 9:10 AM in response to chroth
    Level 10 (84,857 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 1, 2015 9:10 AM in response to chroth

    I think that the answer is int the FAQ I posted

     

    Does iCloud Photo Sharing use my iCloud storage?

    No. Photos and videos uploaded to iCloud Photo Sharing don't count against your iCloud storage.

    LN

  • by chroth,

    chroth chroth Oct 1, 2015 9:10 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2015 9:10 AM in response to LarryHN

    Hi again,

     

    ok, you are right, this helps! Thanks, I must've missed it, sorry.

     

    But one thing remains:

     

    Is the download/upload necessary? I don't have the fastest internet here at home, so it's taking tremendous amounts of time (especially the upload...)

     

    Thanks for your time