How do I save photos from iCloud to my new MacBook?

Question

How do I save photos from iCloud to my new MacBook?

I'm completely new to the MacBook so please bare with me. Ive had an iPhone and an iPad for a while though, and there are tons of photos saved from them both into iCloud. And I want to download certain photos onto my macbook's hard drive so I can delete them off my phone/ipad but leave others where they are.

My question is this: is there a way to select a photo or an album on my macbook's iCloud and save or download it directly to my hard drive? Why isn't there a save button? I don't want to go through iTunes.

I tried reading this help page but got completely confused: Archive or make copies of your iCloud data - Apple Support

please help. thanks.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS Sierra (10.12.3)

Posted on Mar 3, 2017 3:04 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

685,347 points

Mar 3, 2017 1:11 PM in response to Community User

If you delete them from your device, they will delete from iCloud. iCloud is a syncing system, not an external drive.

Open Photos, go to Photos/Preferences/iCloud and set up syncing. Then go to System Preferences/iCloud, sign in, and check Photos syncing. Once all the Photos have synced to your computer, quit Photos. You should now have a complete compilation of your photos (like a Master Library). Reopen Photos with the option/alt key held down and create a new system Library. You can now delete photos from your devices while maintaining a master copy on the computer. Added photos can be exported from the new Library and imported into the Master Library. Turn off iCloud syncing when revert6ing to the Master Library.

Photos - Use multiple libraries in Photos

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Answer 2

macwulf

Level 1

8 points

Apr 28, 2017 12:04 PM in response to Eric Root

How do you create the new library please. I've tried every article and utube I can find. I download from iCloud but then lose the correct "info" on each picture (date created) There has to be a different way to save these photos on phone to iMac. UGH!

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