Nov 09, 2018 Go to the location of the Photo library and move it to external drive. Set the external library as a System Photo Library (So whenever you open the Photos app it will open the photos library from the external hard drive.) After completing trasfer to drive, make sure this external drive is connected to your Mac whenever you want to access photos. IPhoto is a bit tricky. You will find iPhoto Library in your pictures folder. You need to get the pictures out of that. Right click (Command click) on it and select “Show Package Contents” In there you will see a folder with the originals. From there you can drag them to a external drive. They will open without a problem on a Windows machine.
Photos in your System Photo Library are available in apps like iMovie, Pages, and Keynote. You can also sync them to iOS devices and view them on Apple TV. And if you want to use your own images as your desktop picture or screen saver, the images need to be in your System Photo Library before you can select them in System Preferences.
If you have only one photo library, then it's the System Photo Library. Otherwise, the first photo library that you create or open in Photos will become the System Photo Library. If you have more than one library, you might need to designate a System Photo Library, so other apps can access the photos and videos you want them to use.
Follow these steps to designate a System Photo Library:
- Quit Photos.
- Hold down the Option key and open Photos. One of the photo libraries is already designated as YourLibraryName (System Photo Library).
- Choose the library you want to designate as the System Photo Library.
- After Photos opens the library, choose Photos > Preferences from the menu bar.
- Click the General tab.
- Click the Use as System Photo Library button.
If you open a second or different library in the Photos app, and you haven't designated it as the System Photo Library, other applications will use photos from the original System Photo Library. Hold down the Option key when you open Photos to see which library is set as the System Photo Library.
iCloud and the System Photo Library
You can use iCloud Photos, Shared Albums, and My Photo Stream only with the System Photo Library. If you choose a different library in Photos without designating it as the System Photo Library, the iCloud tab in Photos preferences is disabled:
If you designate a new library as the System Photo Library and then turn on iCloud Photos, the photos and videos in the new library will merge with those already in your iCloud Photos. If you want to keep the contents of your photo libraries separate, don’t turn on iCloud Photos for more than one library in Photos.
Check that you migrated the correct library
Mac Photos Cannot Open Migrated Library File
If you have more than one library in your Pictures folder, Photos will ask you to choose a library to migrate the first time you open the app. This library becomes the default library, and contains the pictures Photos will display every time you open the app.
If you choose a different library the first time you open Photos — for example, an older iPhoto library — you might not see all the pictures you expect. You can migrate another library by holding down the Option key when you open Photos. This brings up the Choose Library dialog, which lets you select from the available photo libraries in your Pictures folder:
Click My Albums in the sidebar to see all your albums
The first time you open Photos, you'll see your pictures in the Moments view. This view shows your pictures individually, but doesn't show your albums. To see them, click My Albums in the Photos app sidebar.
Find iPhoto Events that have become albums
When you migrate an iPhoto library to Photos, iPhoto Events are turned into albums. You can find these albums in a folder called iPhoto Events in Photos' Albums view.
Turn on My Photo Stream
If you had pictures more than 30 days old in My Photo Stream that you didn't import into iPhoto or Aperture before moving the library to Photos, those pictures won't appear in Photos.
If you recently created your Apple ID, My Photo Stream might not be available. If My Photo Stream isn't available, use iCloud Photos to keep your photos and videos in iCloud.
You can turn on My Photo Stream in Photos with these steps:
- In the menu bar, choose Photos > Preferences.
- In the Preferences window, click the iCloud tab.
- Click My Photo Stream.
Wait for Photos to generate all picture thumbnails
When you migrate a library to Photos, it can take some time to generate thumbnails for the entire library. A picture will appear as a white square until its thumbnail is created.
Learn how Photos displays Smart Albums and RAW + JPEG image pairs
Photos displays some Smart Albums differently than the program that created them. Learn more about How Photos displays Smart Albums from iPhoto or Aperture.
If your Aperture library included RAW + JPEG image pairs, only the JPEG file will be visible in Photos.
View all burst pictures
Sets of pictures taken in burst mode with your iPhone are displayed with a single thumbnail in Photos. To see all the pictures from the burst, double-click the thumbnail and then click 'Make a Selection…'
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After you update to Photos for macOS, turn on iCloud Photos to keep your photos and videos securely stored in iCloud and up to date on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple TV, and iCloud.com.