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 want to use a different library with iCloud, follow the instructions in the next section to change the System Photo Library.
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How to designate a System Photo Library
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. Additionally, all photos and videos from iCloud will redownload to the device.
- Quit the Photos app.
- 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 Use as System Photo Library is grayed out, the current library is already set as your System Photo Library.
If you open a 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.
Need help?
If you still have issues with Photos, contact Apple Support.
Requirements:- Mac OS X v10.6.8 through 10.13.6
(10.14 Mojave or later not supported) - iPhoto v8.1.2 and later
- Mac computer with an Intel
Core 2 Duo processor or better
Photos 4.0 Updating Library
Registration FAQ
Documentation
iPhoto Library Manager is only provided for older Macs that are still running iPhoto instead of Apple's newer Photos app. If you need to work with Photos libraries, or migrate your iPhoto libraries to Photos, use PowerPhotos instead.
iPhoto Library Manager allows you to organize your photos among multiple iPhoto libraries, rather than having to store all of your photos in one giant library. You can browse the photos in all your libraries directly from iPhoto Library Manager, without having to open each library in iPhoto just to see its photos, and search across all your libraries to help track down a particular photo.
iPLM also gives you the ability to copy your photos from one library to another, while keeping track of photo metadata that is normally lost when exporting from one library and importing into another. Titles, dates, descriptions, keywords, ratings, faces, and place information are all transferred along with the photos, ensuring that you keep all that information you spent hours entering into iPhoto. Event and albums are also reconstructed when copied, and both the edited and original copies of each photo are copied as well. You can split up a large library into multiple smaller libraries, merge entire libraries together into a big one, or rebuild a corrupt library that is causing iPhoto to hang or crash.
Since it can be easy to lose track of what photos are stored in which library, iPhoto Library Manager can analyze your libraries for duplicate photos, showing them to you side by side and letting you get rid of extra copies of photos that you no longer need. This duplicate analysis is also used when merging libraries and copying photos, to help prevent importing multiple copies of a photo into a library in the first place.
Features and screenshots
Create and manage multiple libraries
iPhoto Library Manager lets you create multiple iPhoto libraries, instead of having to keep all your photos in a single iPhoto library. This lets you speed up iPhoto by having smaller libraries, archive old photos that you don't use much, or organize photos in different categories or projects. The possibilities are endless!
Browse and search
Photos 4.0 Updating Library 0
Use iPhoto Library Manager's photos browser to quickly view your photos without having to open iPhoto itself. You can also search for photos in a single library, or across all your libraries at once.
Copy photos and their metadata
If you have an existing library you want to split up into smaller libraries, you can copy photos by drag and drop from one library to another. iPhoto Library Manager will take care of retaining all the photos' metadata, such as keywords, ratings, faces, and so forth.
Find duplicate photos
It can be easy to have multiple copies of the same photo creep into your iPhoto libraries. iPhoto Library Manager lets you search for duplicates in one or more libraries, view them side by side, and take actions on them, such as moving duplicates to the trash, tagging them with keywords, and more.
Merge iPhoto libraries
Got a whole bunch of libraries you want to consolidate into one? iPhoto Library Manager lets you merge libraries while weeding out duplicate photos in the process. You will be shown a preview of what your merged library will look like before any modifications are done, to ensure your merged library looks how you want.
Photos 4.0 Updating Library Stuck
Rebuild corrupted libraries
Sometimes, an iPhoto library will become corrupted, with missing photos, mysterious iPhoto hangs, or outright crashes. With iPhoto Library Manager, you can rebuild a new library based on your current library, starting with a fresh database free of corruption. You can even scavenge photos from the library that iPhoto may have lost track of.