Apple Intelligence now features Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools enhancements, seamless support for ChatGPT, and visual intelligence.
Apple Intelligence has also begun language expansion with localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Learn more >
Apple Intelligence has also begun language expansion with localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Learn more >
You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
I signed up for additional storage (200G) in iCloud for photos thinking that my wife an I could each have an iPhoto library but this does not appear to work on her computer (iMac, 10.12.6). We have a family sharing account.
macOS High Sierra (10.13.5), Family Plan
Hi Phil0124,
Thanks for the link!
They say you need macOS 10.13 High Sierra and right under that it says you can share a storage plan with family members using an older operating system - copied from the link below:
My situation seems to work now except I need to upgrade my storage plan - not enough storage.
To share your storage plan, you need iOS 11 or macOS 10.13 High Sierra.
For the best experience, have your family members update their devices too. However, you can share a storage plan with family members that are using an older operating system.
On my wife's iMac I try clicking on photos and it won't let me check photos. I click on options and iCloud Photo Library and then another window pops up saying open photos to choose or create a library to use with iCloud Photo Library and at this point the library is already open. There is a note under this statement that says that iCloud Photo Library can only be used with one library at a time. This is why I thought we couldn't each have separate libraries. Just wondering - I had merged two of her libraries and now have a "Merged Library.photoslibrary" which is probably a different name than what is in iCloud now. Could this be the problem? In which case I need to delete her original iCloud library or rename the Merged Library.photoslibrary to match the library in the cloud.
I decided to go ahead and try renaming the Merged Library.photoslibrary back to Photos Library.photoslibrary and this resolved the problem. iCloud was telling me she couldn't have a second library and I interpreted this incorrectly to mean that we could only have one photo library between us. Now I need more iCloud storage space!
Thanks for helping to point me in the right direction LarryHN!
Jtag324
ok - that is not really a merge but if it works for you go with it - Notes on Merging Photos Libraries
if it is ok then I think you have things solved but using iCloud Photo Library to actually merge ibraries is much better
LN
For a Mac to be able to share iCloud storage, you need to be running macOS 10.13 High Sierra.
If your wife is running 10.12, then you cannot share iCloud storage.
If you are using the same Apple ID for iCloud, then you aren't really sharing the storage as its intended, and as such you only get one Photo Library as its technically only one account.
For her to get her own Photo Library, she needs her own Apple ID for iCloud, and macOS High Sierra.
See here: Share an iCloud storage plan with your family - Apple Support
each of you has a Photos library on your device and if you each enable iCloud Photo library you will have your photos on icloud.com when you log in with your Apple ID
I'm not at all clear on what you expect or what the issue is
LN
Jtag324 wrote:
Notes on Merging Photos Libraries
Item 3 Merge the libraries with PowerPhotos
Not sure why it's not really a merge but it does work for me!
Thanks!
then you need to read the link I supplied again paying close attention to what it says
basically because you now have only one version of the photo (original or edited) depending on your selection and has lost all edit history and lost alll ability to revert to previous edits or to the original - again if it works for you great but it is not a true merge as is explained in the PowerPhotos documentation and in the linked article
LN
Yes, I missed that.
You can share to devices not running High Sierra, but to initiate sharing it must be done from devices running iOS 11 or High Sierra.
To get more storage just buy more the same way you did originally. Just select a larger plan.
But again, the Photo Libraries would only be different if you and your wife are using different Apple IDs for iCloud.
If you are using the same one, you aren't sharing the storage as much as sharing the account.
If you turn on iCloud Photo Library on a second device with the same Apple ID all you are doing is merging libraries.
Having different Apple IDs means each person gets a different iCloud Photo Library with their own photos.
Hi Phil0124,
My wife and I each have different Apple IDs so we are ok there. I believe that the only problem was in renaming the photo library after I merged her two libraries (my mistake). When I tried to add the new photo library iCloud wouldn't accept it because she already had a library. After I renamed her merged library to the original library name then iCloud accepted the library but just gave me the error - not enough storage. Was surprised to see storage options jump from 200 GB to 2 TB which I'm sure we wouldn't need. Considering leaving family plan and each of us getting 200 GB.
Both of my wife's original libraries are stored on time machine backup so there is not a problem reverting to edited or original photos.
Thanks for the assistance!
How did you merge the libraries?
LN
With an app called PowerPhotos which also finds duplicates and merges libraries:
https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/Help/print/merging%20libraries
Thanks again LarryHN
Notes on Merging Photos Libraries
Item 3 Merge the libraries with PowerPhotos
Not sure why it's not really a merge but it does work for me!
Thanks!
2 iPhoto Libraries in iCloud with Family Sharing
