With the upgrade to Photos, many Mac users have been left with a duplicate iPhoto library on their Macs. Here’s how to delete iPhoto library and clear out some clutter.

• Consolidate Photos Libraries Mac
• Consolidate Photo Libraries Mac
• Merge Two Photo Libraries Mac
• Consolidate Mac Photos Libraries

iPhoto used to be the standard photo editor and photo management system on Macs, at least for the average computer user. Like it or not, however, that all changed when Apple first introduced the software, nearly a year ago. If your Mac came from Apple with Photos already installed, you don’t need to worry about old iPhoto libraries.

A Mac that was upgraded to a new version of OS X that added the Photos app, however, can end up with what look like duplicates of their photo libraries. The first time you start up Photos after upgrading, your Mac will copy over your photo library into the new software (if you explicitly set up more than one old iPhoto library, you’ll have to copy them over yourself). It doesn’t go back and delete the old one, though.

Here’s where things get a little bit confusing: you don’t actually have two copies of your photos. Thanks to the way OS X (the software that powers your Mac, like Windows powers a PC) works, your pictures aren’t actually stored in those libraries. Instead, they’re stored somewhere else on your hard drive, and each library has what Apple calls a “hard link” to the pictures. As a result, each library can access the photos, but store separate information about them. You can delete either library safely; only if you were to delete both libraries would you lose access to your pictures.

Move your iTunes library to another computer. When you get a new Mac, use Setup Assistant (or Migration Assistant, if you’re switching from Windows) to move files—including your iTunes. Connect computers (over a wireless network or with a cable) and copy your iTunes files from one computer to the. However, it's also possible to manually transfer your library to another machine, eventually leaving the one you copy it from with lots of free drive space. On the Mac you want to copy from (the. Export itunes library. Jan 04, 2020  In the Open iTunes Library window, navigate to and select the iTunes Library.itl file in the iTunes folder on your network and then click the Open button. Test Your Handiwork. Move your iTunes library to another computer. When you get a new Mac, use Setup Assistant (or Migration Assistant, if you’re switching from Windows) to move files — including your iTunes. Connect computers (over a wireless network or with a cable) and copy your iTunes files from one computer to. Nov 18, 2014  Launch iTunes while holding down the Option key A dialog box will open, asking whether you want to 'Cancel', 'Create a new library', or 'Choose an Existing Library'. Select 'Choose Library', then navigate to where you moved the iTunes folder. Remember that you will overwrite any existing music files in your library.

While having a second copy of your photo library doesn’t take up that much extra space on your computer, it can still be confusing – first of all, each library reports that it’s a certain size, which can make it difficult to figure out how much room is left on your Mac. Additionally, if you need to back things up, it can be hard to figure out where your files are.

Still with us? Let’s recap:

• if you upgrade your Mac from iPhoto to Photos, you’ll get a second photo library
• if you had multiple iPhoto libraries (you would know if you did), you’ll need to copy them into Photos manually
• the libraries each link to a single copy of your photos, rather than storing each photo twice
• it can appear that your libraries are taking up more space than they are, thanks to the way hard links work
• you can safely delete either photo library – only if you delete both of them will you lose access to your photos

1. Photos gave me an option of 5 different libraries to choose from. Why is there more than one? I have never used multiple libraries. And the dates on these are from times I wasn’t using iPhoto at.
2. Nov 11, 2015 As of OS X Yosemite, Apple is encouraging everyone to use its new Photos program for managing pictures in OS X. While Photos has a number of pros and cons, it does share a limitation of its “iPhoto” predecessor, in that while it uses a library system for managing photos and offers an option to create multiple libraries, it can only have one open at a time.
3. Those photos will now store in iCloud Photo Library and keeping them outside of the 'Photos' library also makes the library less portable. If you want to consolidate your libraries in Photos for OS X, then choose one or more photos from the photo library and click 'File' menu and then select 'Consolidate' option.
4. Photos for Mac has two modes of importing photos, managed (the default) and referenced. This is determined by the Photos Preference General Importing. If you disable 'Copy items into the Photos Library', Photos will not store copies in its library but reference the photos in their original location.
5. To set that option in Photos, go to Preferences General, and uncheck Copy Items to the Photos Library. Referenced items have a special mark on them that looks like an arrow pointing out of a.

Nov 11, 2015  First, the classic way of doing this would be to use an export/import option: Open Photos while holding the Option key Select your desired Library to open Select all items and export them to a. How to Combine Multiple Photos Libraries Into a Single Library. 1) Launch Photos while holding down the option key. 2) The Choose Library dialog box will appear. Select the library you wish to use as your main library from the list, and then click the Choose. 3) In the Photos app, select.

How to delete iPhoto library on your Mac

Now that you understand why you might want to delete an old iPhoto library, and why you don’t necessarily have to, let’s talk about how to actually do it.

Before you do anything like this on your Mac – that is, delete something potentially important – you should back up your software with something like Time Machine.

Read: How to Backup Your Mac with Time Machine

That way, if you accidentally delete something important, or something else goes wrong, you can always roll things back to how they were when you started. This is really easy, and there’s nothing to be concerned about; it’s just good practice to back things up (and keep them backed up) before you muck about in your computer.

First, you’ll need to open a Finder window: you can do this by clicking on the Finder icon (it looks like a square face) on the dock, or by clicking on your Mac’s desktop background and hitting ⌘+N Where is the system library on a mac. (Command + N) on your keyboard.

Consolidate Photos Libraries Mac

Next, look at the left-hand column in the new window. You’ll see a list of locations around your Mac; find the one that says Pictures and click on it. You’ll be taken to that directory, which contains libraries for Apple’s image-related apps (Photos, iPhoto, Photo Booth, etc).

In the list of files on the right, scroll down and look for your iPhoto library – it’ll be a little iPhoto icon, and the name will read, unsurprisingly, iPhoto Library. Don’t worry about accidentally deleting your Photo Booth or Photos libraries; you’ll be able to see which one is which.

To actually delete the library, you can do one of three things:

1. Click on the iPhoto Library listing, and without letting go of your mouse or trackpad button, drag it until it’s over top the Trash icon on your dock. Once you’re on top of the Trash, let go.
2. You can select (click on) the iPhoto Library, then right-click on your mouse or Trackpad (Apple will call this Secondary Click in your Mouse or Trackpad settings). A new menu will pop up; find the entry that says Move to Trash and click on it.
3. Finally, you can also delete your iPhoto Library by clicking on it and hitting ⌘+Delete (Command + Delete) on your keyboard.

Read: How to uninstall apps on Mac OS X

Consolidate Photo Libraries Mac

Now that you’ve gotten rid of your iPhoto library, it makes sense to completely uninstall iPhoto – that way you won’t accidentally create a new iPhoto Library and have to repeat all these steps. It’s as simple as opening up your Applications folder, and deleting iPhoto (using one of the three steps we just discussed). For a more in-depth look at how to uninstall apps on your Mac, be sure to check out our guide above!

Merge Two Photo Libraries Mac

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  Copy the libraryNow connect the USB drive to your Mac or to your AirPort Express, in which case you will need to use AirPort Utility to identify it as a shared volume. Go to your Home directory Music and find the folder called iTunes. Shared drive as itunes library mac. Copy this folder to a sensible location on your USB drive.4. This forces iTunes to copy music files that currently exist outside of your root music folder into that folder, making it possible to safely copy it in the next step.3.