hanna.su

Q: Synchronise Photos and iPhoto?

When Photos came it imported all my photos from iPhoto. I haven't really used Photos until now, and now I realise that my library in Photos is a duplicate of my library in iPhoto, except they are not synchronised. My iPhoto library is up to date, every photo I do not want is deleted. This is not the case with Photos. Is there any way I can synchronise the two apps so that Photos is exactly the same as iPhoto is now? Right now iPhoto and Photos together use more than 100GB space, when in reality I only have about half of that in photographs.

 

If I can't synchronise them, deleting photos from one app will not delete them from the other, correct? In other words I can delete every photo from Photos without deleting my photos in iPhoto, right?

 

I have Photos 1.0.1 and iPhoto 9.6.1

 

Thank you

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Apr 26, 2016 11:10 AM

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Q: Synchronise Photos and iPhoto?

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  • by Glenn Leblanc,Helpful

    Glenn Leblanc Glenn Leblanc Apr 26, 2016 11:22 AM in response to hanna.su
    Level 6 (11,016 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 26, 2016 11:22 AM in response to hanna.su

    When you first open Photos, the iPhoto library is migrated and the photos of the 2 libraries are hard linked to where they do not take up extra space, even if they both show a large amount of data. However, from that point on, they are treated separately as far as adding or deleting photos.

     

    You can't synchronize the 2 applications. They are separate and have nothing to do with one or the other.

    So you might want to just select the one you want to use and go from there. I would assume that iPhoto will be phased out eventually. Photos will be more incorporated in the system as far as for tasks like sharing in emails, adding photos from apps like mail, and so on.

     

    Yes, you can delete some or all photos in one app and not affect the other one.

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Apr 26, 2016 11:22 AM in response to hanna.su
    Level 10 (106,848 points)
    iLife
    Apr 26, 2016 11:22 AM in response to hanna.su

    If you did not import any photos at all into your Photos Library, you can simply delete the Photos Library.

    And if you want to start using Photos you can drag the current iPhoto Library onto the Photos icon in the Dock and  migrate the library again to Photos. Then the libraries will be identical.

     

    The two libraries cannot be synced. If you add photos to one library they will not appear in te other library.

     

     

    and now I realise that my library in Photos is a duplicate of my library in iPhoto, except they are not synchronise

    If you are having the same photos in the Photos Library and in the original iPhoto Library, they do not need twice the storage.  They are stored efficiently by using the photos twice.  See:  Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

     

    But nevertheless, deleting a photo from one library will not delete it from the other.

  • by hanna.su,

    hanna.su hanna.su Apr 26, 2016 11:21 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 26, 2016 11:21 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc

    Thank you!

    I want to use the Photos app but with my iPhoto library. Can I delete everything in Photos and then migrate my iPhoto library? Like it did the first time I opened Photos. That would mean that my Photos app is up to date. If so, how do I do that?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Apr 26, 2016 11:25 AM in response to hanna.su
    Level 10 (106,848 points)
    iLife
    Apr 26, 2016 11:25 AM in response to hanna.su

    Delete the complete Photos Library.

    Then drag the iPhoto Library onto the Photos icon to create a new Photos library from it.

  • by Glenn Leblanc,

    Glenn Leblanc Glenn Leblanc Apr 26, 2016 11:27 AM in response to hanna.su
    Level 6 (11,016 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 26, 2016 11:27 AM in response to hanna.su

    Yes. Make sure all your photos are in iPhoto first and that it is working properly. Delete the photos library and start fresh. Hold the option key down and click the Photos icon in the dock. You can choose the iPhoto library and it will migrate it again.

    Or, follow Leonie's suggestion of dragging the iPhoto library to Photos icon in the dock.