How to convert from iPhoto to Photos? I need general info as well as tips. My photo library is huge (95GB). I'm running OSX El Capitan 10.11.6 on iMac.

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Level 1

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How to convert from iPhoto to Photos? I need general info as well as tips. My photo library is huge (95GB). I'm running OSX El Capitan 10.11.6 on iMac.

How to convert from iPhoto to Photos? I need general info as well as tips. I've seen the Help info but am very nervous to take on this project, as my photo library is huge (95GB), organized into multiple events and albums. My photo library is backed up (Time Machine to SimpleSave HD). I'm running OSX El Capitan 10.11.6 on iMac.

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 23, 2016 12:03 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,699 points

Sep 23, 2016 12:26 PM in response to catherinemac

Have you seen this document? Updating from iPhoto to Photos for OS X - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204655

Is your iPhoto Library on your system drive in the Pictures folder? And do you have plenty of free storage on your system drive? The migration will need temporarily additional storage.

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

Your albums will appear unchanged in Photos. The events will appear as additional albums, since Photos does not have events. See this link: How Photos handles content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

216,100 points

Sep 27, 2016 6:21 PM in response to catherinemac

Here are some user tips from Photos for Mac User Tips that will help you in your transition from iPhoto to Photos:

Photos 1.5 vs iPhoto 9.6.1: Features and Capabilities

Moments in Photos are the New Events.

External Editors in Photos Are Here

Notes on Migrating an iPhoto Library from iPhoto to Photos for Mac

Photo Editing Extensions for Photos for Mac

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Answer 3

catherinemac Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 27, 2016 3:20 PM in response to léonie

Thank you for your quick response! Sorry it took me a while to get back to you on this. Yes, my iPhoto Library is in the Pictures folder. How much free storage will I need on my system drive? When I look at the storage info under "About this Mac", it says that I have 335GB free on my 500GB drive. Is this enough?

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Answer 4

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Sep 28, 2016 7:13 AM in response to catherinemac

Yes, it is

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Answer 5

catherinemac Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 27, 2016 6:22 PM in response to Old Toad

Thank you for the info ... I haven't started my migration yet, but have taken a quick look at what you have provided and see that it will be very useful.

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Answer 6

catherinemac Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 30, 2016 1:38 PM in response to léonie

Thank you for the info ... I've completed the migration but with two small problems:

1) It turns out that there was an existing Photos file already created before I migrated my iPhoto file. I solved this by exporting the few pictures from the original Photos file and then importing these pics to the new Photos file that was created with the migration. I then deleted the original Photos file.

2) I'm looking for help with this second issue -- I'm unable to select my Photos library as my screensaver. In fact, I'm not able to select anything in the Pictures folder to use as a screensaver. I did try the previous instructions for fixing this problem by removing screensaver files (from ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost), but this hasn't solved the problem for me.

I'd love to get my new Photos library set up as my screensaver. Any advice you can offer would be appreciated!

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