wallpaper slide show from multiple folders

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Level 1

11 points

wallpaper slide show from multiple folders

I have a Mac Air 13" w/OS X 10.11.6. I am trying to set up a wallpaper slide show that displays all of my photos. Rather than add thousands of individual photos located in 50 or so folders and subfolders, I would like to drop all my folders containing subfolders & photos into the Folders category under Desktop. Is there a way to do this? So far, it seems that I can only have one folder active. I am able to set up multiple folders on my Dell Win 7 Inspiron.

MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Jul 25, 2016 10:31 AM

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Answer 1

riley709 Author

Level 1

11 points

Nov 24, 2017 5:35 PM in response to riley709

I have a Mac Air running ios 10.11.6 & Photos 1.5. After much experimentation, I think I have discovered something of which no one seemed to be aware when I originally asked the question. In case someone might benefit from my effort, here are the details of how to set up a wallpaper slide show of all or a large subset of your photos:

In Finder, Pictures, create a new folder such as “For Wallpaper”.
Open a new finder window
In the new window, select Pictures, then Photos Library.
2 finger click on the large Photo Library icon
Select Show Package Contents
Click on Masters
Keep opening folders until you find the desired photos
Drag & drop the desired photos into the “For Wallpaper” folder

(if Photos app is open, close the app to complete transfer)

9. The photo files now reside in “For Wallpaper” folder but no longer in the Masters folder but the photos still appear in Photos app & in their original Albums.

10. Go to “Desktop & Screen Saver” in System Preferences

11. Select Desktop at top of window

12. Click the + close to the bottom left corner of the window

13. Select the “For Wallpaper” folder

Your wallpaper should now be a slide show of your desired photos

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Answer 2

Sep 22, 2016 3:14 PM in response to riley709

Not natively possible in OS X (all versions, including Sierra)

You can use iPhoto, Aperture, or the cleverly-named Photos to import your wallpapers and then select the library in the desktop background dialog. However, simply saving new images into your folders will not automatically add them to your App's library. You have to manually import them.

Also, the above approach has the drawback that the randomizer tends to display the same small set of images over and over again, regardless of how many choices it has.

Bottom line, this feature does not exist in OS X

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