In which shared album is my photo?

Question

MrMacvos Author

Level 1

9 points

In which shared album is my photo?

Hello,

Does someone know how to get the info in which shared Photos album a photo is present?

The current little info-panel does not show this.

And the 'Add to shared album' pop-up doesn't show it either.

Which suggests that I can add the same photo 100x to the same shared album.

I thought I read somewhere that adding a to a shared album just created a link to the original.

Or does it create a real copy?

I haven't been able to find any info about this.

Some links to such info are appreciated!

- -

Thanks,

Marc

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), 2GHz i7 16GB RAM 1TB SSD, 500GB SSD

Posted on Oct 10, 2016 4:23 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 10, 2016 6:05 AM in response to MrMacvos

A shared photo album creates a new photo, in most cases it will be a lower resolution version.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

202,205 points

Oct 10, 2016 6:07 AM in response to MrMacvos

Shared albums are synced with iCloud, and if you add a photo to shared album a new file will be created, because the Shared albums do not transfer the photo at the full resolution. The photos in Shared albums are limited to 2048 pixels on the long edge, if they are not panoramic.

You can share the same photo over and over again to a shared album, and it will be added again and again. Photos are not updated in the Shared album. If you share it, then edit it, you have to add it again to have the updated version in the shared album.

I thought I read somewhere that adding a to a shared album just created a link to the original.

This is true for smart albums, not shared albums. The shared albums are stored outside your Photos Library.

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Answer 3

MrMacvos Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 10, 2016 6:08 AM in response to léonie

Can you give me links to where Apple has documented this?

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Answer 4

Oct 10, 2016 6:14 AM in response to MrMacvos

Take a look about ½ way down this one.

iCloud Photo Sharing - Apple Support

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Answer 5

MrMacvos Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 10, 2016 6:35 AM in response to Winston Churchill

:-) haha I've flown over this page a few times and somehow overlooked that sentence. Probably because I wasn't looking for the width of a shared photo but if it is copied or linked. That page gives some info, but still does not say that photos are copied and that there is no reference to the original. Any idea where I can find that info on Apple's support site?

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

202,205 points

Oct 10, 2016 6:59 AM in response to MrMacvos

You can see where the local copies of your Shared albums are stored in your user library, if you look at the subfolders of the folder in your hidden user library (on macOS Sierra)

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.cloudphotosd/Data/Library/Application Support/com.apple.cloudphotosd/services/com.apple.photo.icloud.sharedstreams/as sets/

Apple does not describe where the shared albums are stored, only indirectly by saying you have to save the photos to your library before you can back them up: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201077

If you want to copy the shared photos into your Photos Library to save them, ctrl-click them and use the command "Import".

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Answer 7

MrMacvos Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 10, 2016 7:26 AM in response to léonie

Thanks for the info! The path is the same under El Capitan.

I am creating shared albums, not subscribing to them. That's why I found it strange that when I share photo's from my library:

- The title of the photo gets lost in the shared album.

- No way to find out if a photo in the library is also present in a shared album.

Anyway, that a photo is copied to a shared album is now clear, since these are present on my disk, in a separate folder.

Also that there is no reference to the original in the library, is now made clear.

Thanks both of you!

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Answer 8

Oct 10, 2016 8:00 AM in response to MrMacvos

MrMacvos wrote:

...... but still does not say that photos are copied and that there is no reference to the original...

But it kinda does if you think about it. If the shared library photo can't be the same size as the original, it can't be a link and has to be another file altogether.

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