How can I get rid of duplicates in different iPhoto libraries? I'm trying to carve out disk space so I can update to Photo from iPhoto, and I can see from the thumbnails in my two different iPhoto libraries that there are some photos that are in both libraries. Can anyone help?
MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)
iPhoto has no tools to search for duplicates.
You could use iPhoto Library Manager tis earch for duplicates and to merge the libraries into one. If you do not yet own iPhoto Library manager, you could wait with the duplicate search until you have migrated the libraries to Photos and the use Power Photos instead. Power Photos is the successor to iPhoto Library Manager for Photos.
See this User tip on how to merge libraries in Photos: Notes on Merging Photos Libraries | Apple Support Communities
If you have multiple iPhoto libraries there is no solution to finding duplicates accross them
WithiPhoto Library Manager or Aperture 3.6.1 if you own it you can merge them without duplicates and them migrate the merged library
LN
Power Photos can search for duplicates across multiple libraries, Larry, also Photo Sweeper can. I find it very convenient. This Help page is showing how to do it: https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/Help/starting%20the%20duplicate%20fin ding%20process.html
I suggested to postpone the duplicate finding and do it after the migration to Photos, because it will make more sense to pay for PowerPhotos than for iPhoto Library Manager, if JayOldSkool does not yet own a copy of iPhoto Library Manager.
but that does not answer the OP's very specific request which appears to state that until they remove duplicates they do not have adequate space to migrate to Photos - I can not see them nor read their mind so I work with what thye tell me
I'm trying to carve out disk space so I can update to Photo from iPhoto,
Ands (I guess is it still true) if you purchase IPLM you can also get a license for PowerPhotos so there is no cost issue unless FC has changed their policy recently
LN
Thank you Larry! When you say 'merge them without duplicates' do you mean 'merge them without getting rid of duplicates"?
You are correct Larry, I can't migrate to Photo before cleaning off some disk space (that photo dupes are now taking up) in order to have enough disk space to migrate to Photo! I'm going to see whether purchasing IPLM includes a license for PowerPhotos and work from there. Thank you again!
With IPLM one option of merging is to eliminate duplicates - that merges libraries without merging duplicates - no idea how you read that as
do you mean 'merge them without getting rid of duplicates"?
IPLM is not getting rid of anything - it is merging and the choice is to merge everything or to merge without merging the duplicates - read the IPLM documentation for details on using IPLM - https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/Help/table%20of%20contents.html
LN
I too have no idea how I read any ambiguity into your statement- sorry.
But I think I now newly understand that "merging", for example, 2 libraries, is, in effect, creating a 3rd library with a set of all the photos of each constituent library, but without duplicates if I so choose. I'm not sure I'm going to have enough disk space for that either, but I'm going to give it a try.
I would do the merging on an external drive, if you are not sure about the available storage.
The external drive needs to have the file system MacOS Extended (Jounaled).
Then you can delete the two original libraries from your internal drive and replace them by the merged library.
I would keep the original librarues for some time, until you are sure the merging worked well and no photos are missing.
dupes in iPhoto libraries
