How can I transfer one MacOS Photos Album from one Photos Library to Another?

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Level 1

114 points

How can I transfer one MacOS Photos Album from one Photos Library to Another?

Hello,

Is there a method for easily transferring an album from one Photos Library to another Photos Library?

I want to maintain the info data such as photo date, tags, descriptions, file sizes, file names, editing data, etc. created in the original Photos Library. Unfortunately, exporting all 3,000 images in that album to a folder and re-importing them to a new Library does not keep all that data.

Any thoughts?

Thank you,

Shane

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017), macOS High Sierra (10.13.2)

Posted on Apr 26, 2018 11:19 AM

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Answer 1

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Old Toad

Level 10

207,703 points

Apr 27, 2018 1:00 PM in response to alcheme

Have you looked into the PowerPhotos copying and merging capabilities? It an copy an album from Library A to Library B with all of the metadata intact except Faces. This webpage lists what can and can't be copied between libraries: PowerPhotos > Help > Copying Limitations.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

195,037 points

Apr 28, 2018 10:37 AM in response to alcheme

. Unfortunately, exporting all 3,000 images in that album to a folder and re-importing them to a new Library does not keep all that data.

If you export the photos with "File > Export > Export unmodified Original" and enable the option "Export IPTC as XMP", Photos will create a sidecar file with all metadata you added in Photos. When you reimport the photo into a different Photos Library with the sidecar file present in the same folder, the metadata will be applied.

The only thing you will lose are the adjustments. You would have to export the modified version as well an then add them to the reimported original. I am using the External Editors extension to pair the original with the edited version.

It has the nice option "Replace with image from disk". By clicking this, I can add the jPEG file with the edited version to the imported original:

Now I have the edited version with all metadata in the other library, but can still use "revert to original".

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Answer 3

alcheme Author

Level 1

114 points

Apr 26, 2018 12:25 PM in response to Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill wrote:

I'm thinking it should retain the data, are you exporting them as originals?

Hi, Winston Churchill,

No, I exported using the first option at the maximum size. I can see now after importing some to the new library that the file descriptions, titles, keywords were retained; however, I cannot see the original photo taken date/time and I want to be able to revert existing edits to the original state sometimes. Right now, I cannot revert or sort by date taken because they all have the same date now (today). I hope that makes sense.

Is there a better way to export?

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Answer 4

alcheme Author

Level 1

114 points

Apr 27, 2018 1:03 PM in response to Old Toad

I tried it out - and it worked. This is very good software and solves it. I was able to move albums and folders between multiple Photos Libraries easily. Just simple drags and drops.

I can now convert my main 1TB photos library into smaller manageable libraries.

Thank you for the link!

Shane

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Answer 5

Apr 26, 2018 1:00 PM in response to alcheme

Yes export as an original.

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Answer 6

Apr 26, 2018 11:21 AM in response to alcheme

I'm thinking it should retain the data, are you exporting them as originals?

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How can I transfer one MacOS Photos Album from one Photos Library to Another?

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