How To Open Photos Library Files On Mac

02.04.2020by
How To Open Photos Library Files On Mac Rating: 5,0/5 1888 reviews

Your Photos library holds all your photos, albums, slideshows, and print projects. If your library is large, and you want to free up storage space on your Mac, turn on iCloud Photo Library and use Optimize Mac Storage, or move your library to an external drive.

Dec 02, 2011 I would like to access the digital files of my photos but can't seem to open the iPhoto Library folder - this is NOT the application which opens just fine. Opening iPhoto is the only way I can see my photos at this point, but I'd like to find missing files in the original place they're stored. How do I open the iPhoto Library folder? Apr 01, 2020 Designate a System Photo Library in Photos If you have multiple photo libraries on your Mac, you can choose one to be the System Photo Library. The System Photo Library is the only library that can be used with iCloud Photos, Shared Albums, and My Photo Stream.

Aug 30, 2011  Accessing the iPhoto Picture Files and Originals. You can either access the directory from Go To Folder command within the Mac OS X Desktop by hitting Command+Shift+G or by opening the directory manually: Open /Pictures/ and locate the “iPhoto Library” file; Right-Click and select “Show Package Contents”. Apr 21, 2015  I successfully migrated from iPhoto library to this new Photos Library in April.17th, and everything seems okay except for some minor bugs. But from yesterday on, I started Photos and got this message 'Can't open Photos Library, try another.' If I try reading iPhoto or Aperture Library. Open the Pictures folder (in the home folder) to locate the iPhoto Library file. For moving iPhoto library to a new location: Drag the iPhoto Library file to a new location on your computer. But the process doesn't stop here. You have to tell iPhoto the new location of the library. When it can't find the library, it will ask you. How to find Photos' image files in the Finder. And Copy Items to the Photos Library is checked next to the Importing label), then you can’t easily get to the original file in the Finder.

Before you start, be sure to back up your library.

Prepare your drive

You can store your library on an external storage device, such as a USB or Thunderbolt drive formatted as APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).1 Find out how to check the format of your external storage device.

Photos

To prevent data loss, Apple doesn't recommend storing photo libraries on external storage devices like SD cards and USB flash drives, or drives that are shared on a network.

Clicking on the folder will take you to the current user account’s Library folder.So, that was a nice way of accessing the Library folder as all it needed was a press on the Shift key and you were ready to go. If you would like for the option to continue to be there, you need to do the following procedure to make it stick there:Go to the desktop area of your Mac so that you are inside a Finder window.Click on the “Go” menu at the top and select the option that says “Go to Folder.” This option allows you to jump to any directory on your Mac and you just have to input the path to the directory.Enter in the following path into the box on your screen and hit “Go” to go there. Unhiding the Library Folder Permanently on Your MacWhile the method above lets you access the Library folder for your user account, the option for the folder will go away as soon as let go of the Shift key. Unhide user library mac. To enable it in this menu, hold down the “Shift” key on your keyboard, and the folder will appear in the menu. What you need to do is find the menu labeled as “Go” and click on it.As you can see above, the Library folder just doesn’t exist there although it does exist on your system.

Move your Photos library to an external storage device

  1. Quit Photos.
  2. In the Finder, go to the external drive where you want to store your library.
  3. In another Finder window, find your library. The default location is Users > [username] > Pictures, and it's named Photos Library.
  4. Drag your library to its new location on the external drive. If you see an error, select your external drive's icon in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info. If the information under Sharing & Permissions isn't visible, click , then make sure the 'Ignore ownership on this volume' checkbox is selected. If it's not selected, click to unlock it, enter an administrator name and password, then select the checkbox.2

  5. After the move is finished, double-click Photos Library in its new location to open it.
  6. If you use iCloud Photo Library, designate this library as the System Photo Library.

Delete original library to save space

After you open your library from its new location and make sure that it works as expected, you can delete the library from its original location.

In a Finder window, go back to your Pictures folder (or whichever folder you copied your library from) and move Photos Library to the trash. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash to delete the library and reclaim disk space.

Open another Photos library

If you have multiple libraries, here's how to open a different one:

  1. Quit Photos.
  2. Press and hold the Option key while you open Photos.
  3. Select the library that you want to open, then click Choose Library.

Photos uses this library until you open a different one.

Learn more

If you have a permissions issue with your library, you might be able to resolve the issue by using the Photos library repair tool.

1. You can't move your library to a disk that's used for Time Machine backups.

2. If the volume isn't formatted APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled), or has been used for Time Machine backups but hasn't been erased, this checkbox will either not be present, or won't be selectable after unlocking. Erase and reformat the drive for this option to be available.

  • 1. Mac Files Tips
  • 2. Mac Software
  • 3. Mac Storage Tips
  • 4. Mac Troubleshooting
  • 5. Mac OS

People love taking pictures. That's one of the reasons camera phones becomes standard feature. That is also why photo management feature is crucial for any personal computer. And if you are a Mac user, one of the most popular photo management apps is iPhoto.

But sometimes you need to move your iPhoto library. One of the reasons is because photos and videos can quickly fill out your hard drive. So it might be a good idea to store them on the dedicated external drive. Another possible reason is when you want to switch to a more recent Mac version.

How do you move your iPhoto library to another location?

Back Up Your iPhoto Library

Before doing anything to your library, it's better to back it up. If anything happens, you won't lose any of your precious memory. Routine backups also protect you from image files become corrupted or are unintentionally erased from your hard disk.

You can set up an external hard drive and use it with the Time Machine application to back up your photos. The app will automatically make regular backups of your computer, including your entire photo library. Just make sure that you quit iPhoto periodically before backing up or the Time Machine can't do a full backup of your library.

Create a New iPhoto Library Or Switch Between Libraries

One way that you can use to move your iPhoto library is to create multiple libraries. The advantages of taking this path are you can better organize your photos, albums, slideshows, projects (such as books, cards, and calendars), and then switch between the libraries.

For example, you could keep separate libraries for your personal photos and your work photos. Or, if you have a child who takes photos, you can keep his or her photos in a separate library.

The caveat is that you can only modify items (such as albums) or edit photos in one library at a time.

How To Open Documents On Mac

Here are the steps to create a new iPhoto library:

  • Quit iPhoto. Hold down the Option key as you open iPhoto.
  • In the window that appears, click Create New. Type a name and choose a location to store the new photo library. Click Save.

To switch between photo libraries:

  • Quit iPhoto. Hold down the Option key as you open iPhoto.
  • Select the library you want to switch to. Click Choose.

If you want to move photos from one library to another, use this steps:

How To Open Exe Files On Mac

  • Export the photos from the active library. This action doesn't delete the photos from the library.
  • Switch to the library you want to add them to.
  • Import the photos into the new library.

Move Your iPhoto Library to a New Location/Mac

Even though you can use the multiple libraries tricks to move your photos to a different location, you can also move it by using a simple drag and drop.

  • First, quit iPhoto. In the Finder, choose your home folder (it's usually named after you).
  • Open the Pictures folder (in the home folder) to locate the iPhoto Library file.

For moving iPhoto library to a new location:

  • Drag the iPhoto Library file to a new location on your computer.

  • But the process doesn't stop here. You have to tell iPhoto the new location of the library. Open iPhoto. When it can't find the library, it will ask you the location.
  • In the window that appears, select the library you want, and then click Choose.

For copying iPhoto library to a new Mac:

  • Connect your external hard drive. When it displays on Finder, drag the iPhoto Library folder or package to external hard drive.
  • Eject the hard drive from your old Mac and connect it to this new one.
  • Now open iPhoto on the new computer. Hold down the Option key on the keyboard, and keep the Option key held down until you are prompted to create or choose an iPhoto library.

That's for how to move iPhoto library to a new location or a new Mac. If you unfortunately lost some important photos during the transfer, you can use Any Data Recovery for Mac. This app is a complete Mac data recovery solutions to recover all types of files from Mac's hard drive, including recovering photo on Mac, and also from other portable devices like USB flash drive, external hard drive, SD card, iPhone.

Open Mac Files On Pc

Recover Unlimited Mac Data for You

How To Open Photos Library Files On Mac Free

  • Recover data deleted, formatted or lost on Mac;
  • Restore files from hard drive and external storage devices;
  • Recover data from failed/crashed/dead MacBook;
  • Fully supported latest macOS 10.15 Catalina;
Comments are closed.