How do I export a whole Photos album as an album, not individual pictures, to my desktop, keeping all metadata, including facial recognition?

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Level 1

16 points

How do I export a whole Photos album as an album, not individual pictures, to my desktop, keeping all metadata, including facial recognition?

I want to share an album of old family pictures with my sister. I understand that if I try to share it via the internet as a shared album, all identifying information will be stripped. I had hoped to just export the album to my desktop, drag and drop it to a USB drive, and mail it. I tried to export the album as a whole album, not individual pictures, to my desktop, but was unsuccessful. Also, I lost all the important facial-recognition data of ancestors and the chronological order of the photos. How can I send this album intact--as I see it in my Photos program on my 2013 MacBook Pro--to my sister?

MacBook Pro with Retina display

Posted on Dec 18, 2017 11:38 AM

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Answer 1

Atcs9164 Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 18, 2017 6:15 PM in response to LarryHN

I have a number of photos with groups of 15 people or more. What if I dragged and dropped my Photos Library to an external drive, deleted the photos I didn't want to include (I don't have too many yet in my library), and kept this Photos Library as a dedicated family legacy library?

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Answer 2

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Dec 18, 2017 6:23 PM in response to Atcs9164

Atcs9164 wrote:

I have a number of photos with groups of 15 people or more. What if I dragged and dropped my Photos Library to an external drive, deleted the photos I didn't want to include (I don't have too many yet in my library), and kept this Photos Library as a dedicated family legacy library?

The Photos library must only be on a drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) or APFS - Where is it safe to store a Photos Library? Requirements for the external drive

It can only be used on a Mac with the same or newer version of the Photos Application

You can not make any changes to the Photos library using the finder or any program other than Photos

If this is what you mean then yes

LN

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Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Dec 18, 2017 5:52 PM in response to Atcs9164

Put the names in the title, description or keywords

LN

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Answer 4

Atcs9164 Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 18, 2017 4:40 PM in response to LarryHN

There are 225 photos in the album I exported. I was surprised when 225 photos were dumped on my desktop, and I had to drag them all into a folder. I don't see the option of exporting the photos to a folder at the point of export. Lightroom provides that option. My sister has a Photos program on her computer. How do I send her the Photos library?

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Answer 5

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,140 points

Dec 18, 2017 4:42 PM in response to Atcs9164

I don't see the option of exporting the photos to a folder at the point of export

If you use the File -> Export command it's on the second screen.

This User Tip

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921

has details of the options in the Export dialogue.

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Answer 6

Atcs9164 Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 18, 2017 4:54 PM in response to Yer_Man

All I have on the second screen are file name and subfolder format, which gives me the option of "none" and "moment name." Since I had been choosing "none" for my other exports, I chose "moment name." The export dumped 225 individual folders on my desktop with one photo in each. Now I have to spend time deleting all these folders.

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Answer 7

Atcs9164 Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 18, 2017 5:34 PM in response to Yer_Man

Ah, ha! Thanks very much. In regard to facial identification, my understanding is that only people who have access to my computer can see it. If my kids want to know who some relative or ancestor is in old photos, they have to look it up on Mom's computer.

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Answer 8

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,140 points

Dec 18, 2017 5:13 PM in response to Atcs9164

The second screen: note the New Folder button, lower left.

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Answer 9

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Dec 18, 2017 5:30 PM in response to Atcs9164

Click on "new Folder" on the second screen

LN

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Answer 10

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Dec 18, 2017 2:56 PM in response to Atcs9164

You can not - there is no standard for storing face data so there is no place to export it to - you can select the photos and export (file menu ==> export) a desktop folder then drag that folder ot a flash drive and mail the flash drive, checking the boxes to include location and title, keywords and description which will keep all the standard metadata - or you can export the unmodified originlal which will give you exactly what you imported

You can not send something exactly like you see in photos unless you send the Photos library and she views it in Photos - the finder or preview do not have that capability

LN

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