With cameras so readily available, it’s easy to accumulate more photos than you know what to do with. You probably take dozens of pictures when you go out, meet up with friends, or go on vacation. And while taking photos is fun, organizing them is work. But it doesn't have to be that way. In this article, we’ll show you how to organize photos on your Mac in three easy steps:

Mar 02, 2019  To merge in iCloud enable the smaller of the two libraries as your iCloud Photo Library.Wait for all photos to upload; that can take a very long time, a week ore more, depending on the size of the library. Photos will merge the the library into the library that is already in iCloud.Now enable the larger library as your iCloud Photo Library. Merging libraries. Select any set or all photos. Choose Export. From the Export dialog box, choose either Current or Original from the Kind pop-up menu, then click Export. Choose a destination and click OK. Drag the exported photos into the Photos library or use File Import to select and import. If you haven’t previously used iCloud Photos, go to System Preferences iCloud and click the Options button next to Photo. In the dialog, select iCloud Photos. Now, starting with the smallest Photos library and working up in size, follow these steps for each library you want to merge: Double-click. Jan 18, 2017 Multiple Libraries in Photos and iPhoto - Duration: 1:58. Steven Clayton 7,329 views. Apr 22, 2015 How to use multiple photo libraries with Photos for Mac. Photos for Mac lets you work with multiple libraries. Learn how to choose a default library, open another library, and merge multiple. Dec 28, 2018  How to merge two or more Photos libraries? At present, there is no native macOS tool for merging libraries in Photos. Essentially, what you’ll be doing is moving all pics to one new library. So, create one as described above, and then follow these steps: Launch Photos holding down the Option key and select one the libraries you want to merge.

  1. Merge your photo libraries in the Photos app
  2. Delete unwanted photos
  3. Group pictures using Smart Albums in Photos

Step 1. Consolidate all your photos in the Photos app for Mac

When macOS Yosemite was released in 2014, the Photos app finally came to Macs, replacing outdated iPhoto. Now with Photos, you’ve got more organization tools, including the ability to switch between libraries and merge them.

To start with, let’s get all of your photos from different places onto your Mac. Here’s what you should do:

  1. Use iCloud Photo Library to ensure that everything you take on an iOS device is synced automatically with your Mac. Alternatively, AirDrop photos from your iPhone and/or iPad to your Mac.
  2. Import photos from external drives to the Photos app on your Mac
  3. Import photos from your camera
  4. If you have several libraries in the Photos app, merge them into one

Once everything is on your Mac and in one library, it’s easier to get organized. Let’s take a look at a few questions most people have when they juggle several Photos libraries.

How do I switch libraries in Photos?

Libraries in Photos can come from a few different sources, including external devices such as cameras and iPhones. If you were using iPhoto prior to Photos, each device and source will have a Systems Photo Library. You can switch between them, and here is how you do that:

  1. Go to Launchpad
  2. Hold down the Option key, and then double-click on the Photos app to see the libraries you have on this device
  3. Now you can move easily from one photo library to another and open the one you want by double-clicking it

How to create a new Photo library on Mac?

Creating a new library is easy. If Photos is open, you’ll need to quit and reopen to create a new library:

  1. Hold down the Option key
  2. Double-click on the Photos apps
  3. Click the Create New button, then choose Library
  4. Give your new library a name and click OK

How to merge two or more Photos libraries?

At present, there is no native macOS tool for merging libraries in Photos. Essentially, what you’ll be doing is moving all pics to one new library. So, create one as described above, and then follow these steps:

  1. Launch Photos holding down the Option key and select one the libraries you want to merge
  2. In the menu bar, click Edit > Select All
  3. Again in the menu bar, select File > Export. Now you’ve got the following options:
    • Export Unmodified Original. This will export every image in these libraries, excluding any edits or changes made to them.
    • Export [number of photos you want to export] Photos, which gives you the option to pick a format and select Full Size. That will export your photos as they are, with any edits you’ve made, in TIFF, PNG, or JPEG formats.
  4. Pick where they’re going (this could be a folder on your Mac or a connected external drive, for example)
  5. Repeat these steps for the other libraries you want merged
  6. Now close Photos and re-open using Option to select the library you are merging these photos into
  7. Either use File > Import or drag the exported photos into the library

How do I delete a Photo library from my Mac?

If you want to delete a library, it’s super easy. You just navigate to the Pictures folder on your Mac, locate the library you want gone, and move it to the Trash. However, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got all the images and videos out of it first. Export them like we described in the previous section, and then trash the library.

Step 2. Remove duplicates and other useless photos

Now that you've merged libraries — which can take a while if you’ve got a lot of photos scattered across different locations — you’ve probably got a whole load of duplicates and similar images. Chances are, you had the same photo on an external HDD and on your Mac and now it’s duplicated, or you had a dozen slightly different variations of the same shot. Sure, you might want to keep one or two, but do you really need the other 11 wasting space on your Mac? Probably not. Here is how you delete redundant photos from a Mac without it taking all evening.

How to delete duplicates in Photos

  1. Download Gemini 2 for Mac and launch it
  2. Click Scan for Duplicates
  3. It will scan every photo, album and folder on your Mac, including those on any connected external hard drives and imported from the iCloud Photo Library. Once complete, click Review Results.
  4. Gemini has a photo preview mode, so you can see every image, including metadata. Your duplicates are grouped under Exact Duplicates > Images, and similar photos will be under Similar > Images. Use the icon at the top to see a grid view, making it easier to identify which copy you want to delete.<
  5. Tick the box next to each image you want to delete, then click Remove

Gemini places these in a separate folder in Photos (Gemini Duplicates), giving you a possibility to look through the images once again before deleting them for good. For more information, this article is well worth a read.

Step 3. Use Smart Albums in Photos to organize your pics

After merging your libraries and clearing out duplicates and similar images, take photo organizing one step further and group the remaining pics with Smart Albums. Let’s take a look at how to use this fantastic feature of the Photos app to your advantage.

Merge Two Photo Libraries Mac

What are Smart Albums in Mac’s Photos app?

Smart Albums are a way of grouping images by the parameters you set. Maybe you’ll want an album to contain photos taken last Christmas, or you’d rather group all the pics of your kid together. All that and more can be done with a Smart Album. As is the case with a regular Photos album, you can edit and delete it.

How to make a new Smart Album in Photos

Creating a new Smart Album is simple:

  1. Launch Photos
  2. Click the + button next to My Albums in the sidebar
  3. Select Smart Album<
  4. Give your Smart Album a name
  5. Choose the Parameters, e.g. “kids,” “days out,” “Holiday 2018.” You can modify these at any time.
  6. Click OK to create

By developing a system (e.g., photos are grouped into albums by date taken) and using Smart Albums, you’ll make sure your photo library is easy to navigate, even if it contains thousands of photos from 2001 and up until now.

That’s it, hope this short guide helps you cope with your photo overload. And remember: the best way to organize photos on your Mac is to keep your library lean and manageable — free from clutter and useless copies. Gemini 2 will gladly help with that.

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The iPhoto is a great application that holds all your images clicked with your Apple device. With an amazing imaging device, these devices give rise to a huge collection of photos on your iPhoto. Due to this, a user may find difficulty in recalling images or accessing them. There are many other instances of loss of photos while transferring or merging the library. Although, deleted iPhoto library by mistake can be recovered easily. Everyone who uses this function must know how to merge iPhoto and Photos library on Mac to perfectly execute the merging.

This also allows users to save plenty of space on your Mac computer. There are a number of ways to do this on your device. There are some third party applications that allow users to merge, import and manipulate the iPhoto library. These may not be good for your system or your photos.

You can export your library to the system entirely to merge the photos. However, this may not be recommended as there is a threat of losing photos. There may also be a loss of other photos related information like metadata and titles of files.

Here is how you should merge your iPhoto to the Photo library

Steps to Merge iPhoto Library to Photo

Online Photo Libraries

You can upgrade the iPhoto library to Photos and export all the photos in the library. Export the library as a file to the next system.

Go to Edit > Select all

Click File > Export

If you have made changes in the photos on your iPhoto library, click Export Photos

If not, click Export Unmodified Original

Import all your photos to the master photo library and remove the duplicate images.

Once you have done this, you have to export the images in iPhoto using the iPhoto export option. In order to do this, use the iPhoto option

Merge Photo Libraries Mac Icloud

Click File > Export

Click Original or any format – You will have a list in the pop-up menu

Export all the images in the previous used Photos library.

Libraries

Now you can remove all the duplicate images from the library.

You can also do this in a different way, here is how:

Merge Photos Libraries Mac Os

Upgrade the iPhoto library to Photos on your system and then make it your primary library for all the photos. Once upgraded, you can make the library master for the iCloud library.

You should keep the previous library separate and make use of Power Photos to switch between them.

Free Stock Photo Libraries

The merging needs some time and you have to give it time. Once it is done all your collection will be well organized. If you choose to do it in a third way, try to get a backup of all the images in the library.

Merge Photo Libraries Mac High Sierra

Merging the iPhoto to the photo library on your Mac is easy. You have to make use of tools like Power Photos to remove the duplicate files. you can also do it manually, by organizing all the images, but it may not be efficient enough. So make use of any one of the suggestions made here and save a lot of space to your computer. It also relieves you from the unorganized photo library.

⇐ ⇐ Clear Out Library Mac
⇒ ⇒ Change Location Of Photo Library On Mac