Joel, I appreciate you covering this new topic. One thing you didn't seem to cover: albums & folders. When merging an old library with a new one, will it copy over my albums & folders? If not, it's basically just importing photos, which there are other ways to do. Keeping all the organization I've done with albums intact is the secret sauce I'm looking for.
Good point @sidewinder3000! Apple's documentation only talks about merging and pure importing. It doesn't actually say anything about keeping folders, favorites, albums or anything else intact. I did a quick test to verify again, and sure enough, it only imports. Does not retain albums or folders. I did however go back to PowerPhotos and purchased it. I wanted to confirm how that does, and sure enough, it merged two libraries and retained all information for albums and folders. I think that will be your key to success. Nice piece of software for $30. I may have to do a video on it! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!
@@Learnwithjoel I have the same question as @sidewinder3000 . I have dozens of photos libraries that I would like to merge but don't want to lose albums, folders, meta data etc. I was a heavy Aperture user until apple abandoned us and am constantly amazed at how limiting Photos is. Is there an update on the best way to merge multiple photo libraries while also retaining albums and folders etc. Thank you!
@@abigails4398 He did another video about merging Photos libraries, but it sounds like PowerPhotos may be the best option for you. There's a free trial, so you don't have to commit to buying the software (he explains this in his other video). Hope that helps!
@@chloe2264 thank you. I purchased it and downloaded it and when I opened it - it was requiring me to update my OS. I don't want to update my entire OS just to be able to use this app. there was money down the drain and I am back to the drawing board
@@abigails4398 oh no… that sucks. I’ve been going through the backend with opening up package contents of old libraries and sorting through everything in it. There’s a folder with all my edits and a folder with the originals, for iPhoto at least. I’ve been comparing and replacing every photo file to eventually drag and drop into Photos. All my folders are intact within the iPhoto Master. Maybe Aperture is similar? Good luck!!
Hello Joe, I am having some troubles on merging the 2 libraries. I am doing all steps, the photos are being detected and when I click import all new items (3100), it doesnt do the job. The photo app closes the library from where i want to import the photos from "device" and the photos are not being imported. Any suggestion?
Thanks so much for making these videos! After I merged my libraries, several of my pictures have a small white cloud on the bottom right of the photo. What does this mean? Thanks.
You're very welcome @camila&boys! I'm happy this was helpful! The small white cloud on the bottom right of the photos usually is the indicator to show that the photo/file is syncing to iCloud. The icon will eventually go away and you shouldn't have to worry about it. Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!
Good question @Justin Harvey! I think there's still room for improvement! :-) Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Great reminder and suggestion @Mr. B. Bison! I know I often put the links that pop up on the video, but sometimes I'll forget to add into the description too. I'll make notes for myself as reminders for linking content below! Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and the content I’m creating, please feel free to SUBSCRIBE and use SUPER THANKS on the video if you haven’t already! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
I also don't trust the duplicates detection. What I'd like to do is view two Photos Libraries side-by-side so I can at-a-glance compare two different libraries. Any idea how to do this?
Hey @Alan Findlay | View from the Rock! Are you trying to merge two libraries together from File > Import menu at the top? A few thoughts or ideas if you haven't tried already....The libraries that you are trying to merge, do both open successfully? Have you tried repairing the libraries and then merging? To repair Apple Photos library, if open, close the app. Then, while you click to open Photos, hold down the Command and Option keys at the same time. In the window that opens, click Repair to start the repair process. You might be asked to enter your user account password. If this doesn't work may have to contact Apple, or I do have another previous video with some other options too if you haven't watched that yet. How to MERGE and COMBINE Apple Photos LIBRARIES - EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW! th-cam.com/video/7Zvn5mMBxlI/w-d-xo.html I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Hi @Jenny xu! So if you're importing from one Photos Library into another, it should retain all of that metadata and organization of albums. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Hi, Joel. Your videos are great! Really informative, well structured and geared to practical use. Could I ask for your advice on something that might affect many people? I have unsynchronized photos scattered across multiple iphones, imacs and a macbook pro. Some of these devices need to be wiped so they can be sold or donated. What is the best way forward? Synch all individual devices to iCloud then run an app like Photosweeper to catch the duplicates? Or should I first consolidate everything on my newest device, a macbook pro, download originals, back up to time machine and then synch to iCloud?? And one detailed question: I did a lot of work organizing my photos on an old iMac into albums, but when I imported into iPhoto, the albums were not copied over. It also appears the older photos are longer ordered by date, which means a big mess. I would appreciate your advice!
I just recently moved backups and old files from 4 different sources to a new external hard drive so I had everything in one place. I'm now in the process of merging all these libraries onto my new MacBook Pro. I'm not sure if that will work for you, but maybe it gives you some ideas. GL
Hey @Fernando Uhart! Great question! Yes, you can totally move the Photo Library to an external hard drive. I have another video that I'll reference below that I made specifically for this process! If you're using iCloud Photos, make sure that after you copy it to the external drive, open it up and set the preference to be the System Library so it syncs with iCloud Photos. How to MOVE your iCLOUD PHOTO LIBRARIES and APPLE PHOTO LIBRARIES to an EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE! th-cam.com/video/wArkMrYehR8/w-d-xo.html I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
I hear ya @Dimitri D! I don't 100% trust Apple Photos ability to detect duplicates! Which is why I made a video on that topic! I'll link down below for reference! HOW TO DELETE DUPLICATE PHOTOS in Apple Photos - IN DEPTH review of software to FIX your Duplicates! th-cam.com/video/VpQ5kDc3BvQ/w-d-xo.html Question though...do you use iCloud Photos for syncing? If you do, there is really no reason to every plug your iPhone into a Mac for importing photos/videos, as iCloud Photos will sync it all automatically! I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and the content I’m creating, please feel free to SUBSCRIBE and use SUPER THANKS on the video if you haven’t already! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Thanks for the feedback @Bob Dziedzic! I sometimes get caught up with so many scenarios and topics that it's hard to keep it short! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Where are photos you have edited in iPhoto stored? When I upgraded to Monterey my edited photos disappeared? Where can I find those edited photos? MANY thanks… Note: these photos are only saved to my Mac not the iCloud
I just upgraded to Monterey. Now when I import new photos and try to share them to messenger or facebook, it isn't showing me any of the new photos. Anybody have any ideas? I'm looking in photos and haven't had a problem before.
Thanks @Torbjørn Høstmark Borge! I think you should be able to. Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
How do you move an ipad photo library into a mac? Finder iPad sync doesn't allow all photos to be moved from iPad to Mac, it only wants to override the iPad photo library, and import the camera roll from the iPad. All you did in this video is merge photo libraries which pre existed on your mac. How do I get the photo library out of the iPad onto the mac?
All you need to do is give the computer a few minutes to index the changes that have just been made so it recognizes the import as having been done., just like every other drop of data input into your computer. The more complex the file and metadata attached to it, and photos are larger and require more relationships, ie date, place, faces..., the longer it may take to fully index. Its pretty basic.
I don't disagree with that logic and simplicity of indexing the files @Calvin Jones. However if I can start off with a brand new Apple Photos library, with no photos in it, and import 20 pictures from an SD card multiple times and it does not recognize them as duplicates, and still come back a day later with the same results, I would say there's some type of bug within Apple Photos and the findings of duplicates. It doesn't happen to all, but I've had it happen more times than not. Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and SUPER THANKS! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
You're very welcome @Jackie Wynn! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Right @Brandon Price! There's always little tweaks that Apple seems to do that fly under the radar! Thanks so much for watching! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Why didn't i think about this? I've been looking for this all say today. Google Photos only wants to sync the main library and this is a great way to merge an old library into the system default. Thank you for making this video.
Happy to help @Gabriel Alaka! Thanks so much for watching! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Sorry to hear that @Elaine & John! I would say maybe your computer needs a reboot or perhaps try a different browser? I hope you're able to eventually watch it! I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Good call @Tom Lang! There's for sure something funky. I repaired the library after the fact and still the same issue. I should export into a different app and then back into that library and see if it's a file issue or a library issue. Thanks for the insight and continued support!
Guys, I need help! so, Idk why but I can't import photos from WhatsApp or any other websites and I cant send images from my mac to Instagram or any other websites. it keeps on showing "cannot import file"
Hey @وسيم! I'm not too familiar with WhatsApp. I also haven't seen too many sending images from Mac to instagram. I have two theories/troubleshooting ideas... 1. Are you using iCloud Photos? If you are, do you have the settings set to "optimize the device storage"? If you do, the photo may not be fully downloaded when trying to upload and that may be a reason your getting the "cannot import file". 2. Double check your format settings on your iPhone for the Camera. Navigate to: Settings > Camera > Formats. If you have it set to "High Efficiency", try changing it to "Most compatible". This will only effect new photos going forward, but this changes the pictures to be .jpegs instead of the .HEIF/HEVC formats that are not as popular yet. Not sure if these are the issues, but worth a shot to try. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Lots of not-duplicates meaning I gotta import everything then deal with it later. Need something that can remove dupes within apple’s library file. I’m thinking to let my iPhone do it in batches. Glad I got the 1TB. Still, this is all quite stupid. Apple needs to get that feature into Mac OS
You're very welcome @skkrawczyk! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
hey joel i imported a photo library to my main photo library & all the imports reverted back there original rotation & all the tags are missing? i thought importing would be just that import the copies as is. but maybe my version is broken because its doing the same thing as if i just dropped a photo full of phoots in the library. do you know how to import the library as is? changes & all. also thanks man your the only guy that covers the important mac stuff.
Great question @RazorBackRoar I know Apple says specifically that Keywords do not transfer through the import process. I'll link their support article below where they have this in the fine print: Import photos from another library in Photos on Mac support.apple.com/en-us/HT209528 What's weird and counter intuitive is that you can manually export a photo from Apple Photos and include the keyword, Title and caption, but you can't when you do the whole library? Doesn't make sense to me. So now that I think about it, that may be a last resort...exporting all photos from the library and then bringing them into the other Library? A lot of manual process, but it may or may not be worth it. When you say that imports reverted back their original rotation, what do you mean by that? From my understanding is when you import/merge two libraries together it brings the photos over as is and any edits that were made in addition to album organization. I believe that is all it does in my experience. Now there may be a third party app like Power Photos or something that may have the ability to export/import keywords, but I'm not 100% sure as I often don't use keywords anymore. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and the content I’m creating, please feel free to SUBSCRIBE and use SUPER THANKS on the video if you haven’t already! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
I'm not using Monterey but saw your original video th-cam.com/video/7Zvn5mMBxlI/w-d-xo.html first. I imported a library as the video stated, and now have a ton on duplicates. Not really a merge a I would expect, more like a copy ... of everything. Did I miss something or is that the was it's suppose to work?
Great question @Bob Clarke! In theory it should merge and not create duplicates. But reality of what really happens vs what should happen is completely different. I personally don't trust Apple Photos as being a good option for recognizing duplicate photos. I have had so many inconsistencies with it being inaccurate, it's frustrating! It's hit or miss. I have created another video on this topic because it has been so frustrating. I'll link below incase you haven't watched it. HOW TO DELETE DUPLICATE PHOTOS in Apple Photos - IN DEPTH review of software to FIX your Duplicates! th-cam.com/video/VpQ5kDc3BvQ/w-d-xo.html I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
⚠️In MacOS Ventura. Use Duplicate-Merge function with caution. In principal, it allows you to quickly scrub thru duplicates, then merge the duplicates where you end up with one single highest-resolution photo, with the most Metadata (if available). At time of writing I can confirm this is unreliable. I tested before doing a massive ‘batch merge’ and discovered several photos where the lower resolution photo was retained and the higher resolution was deleted. Not permanently, went to Deleted Items which is recoverable. Just to say, tread carefully. As Joel mentions things do not always work as expected.
AMAZING!!!! You saved me HOURS and a lot of headache !!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THIS VIDEO!!! LEGEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is there an updated version of this without using 3rd party software?
Joel, I appreciate you covering this new topic. One thing you didn't seem to cover: albums & folders. When merging an old library with a new one, will it copy over my albums & folders? If not, it's basically just importing photos, which there are other ways to do. Keeping all the organization I've done with albums intact is the secret sauce I'm looking for.
Good point @sidewinder3000!
Apple's documentation only talks about merging and pure importing. It doesn't actually say anything about keeping folders, favorites, albums or anything else intact.
I did a quick test to verify again, and sure enough, it only imports. Does not retain albums or folders.
I did however go back to PowerPhotos and purchased it. I wanted to confirm how that does, and sure enough, it merged two libraries and retained all information for albums and folders.
I think that will be your key to success. Nice piece of software for $30. I may have to do a video on it!
Thanks so much for watching!
If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already!
If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you!
It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!
@@Learnwithjoel I have the same question as @sidewinder3000 . I have dozens of photos libraries that I would like to merge but don't want to lose albums, folders, meta data etc. I was a heavy Aperture user until apple abandoned us and am constantly amazed at how limiting Photos is. Is there an update on the best way to merge multiple photo libraries while also retaining albums and folders etc. Thank you!
@@abigails4398 He did another video about merging Photos libraries, but it sounds like PowerPhotos may be the best option for you. There's a free trial, so you don't have to commit to buying the software (he explains this in his other video). Hope that helps!
@@chloe2264 thank you. I purchased it and downloaded it and when I opened it - it was requiring me to update my OS. I don't want to update my entire OS just to be able to use this app. there was money down the drain and I am back to the drawing board
@@abigails4398 oh no… that sucks. I’ve been going through the backend with opening up package contents of old libraries and sorting through everything in it. There’s a folder with all my edits and a folder with the originals, for iPhoto at least. I’ve been comparing and replacing every photo file to eventually drag and drop into Photos. All my folders are intact within the iPhoto Master. Maybe Aperture is similar? Good luck!!
Hello Joe, I am having some troubles on merging the 2 libraries. I am doing all steps, the photos are being detected and when I click import all new items (3100), it doesnt do the job. The photo app closes the library from where i want to import the photos from "device" and the photos are not being imported. Any suggestion?
Thanks so much for making these videos! After I merged my libraries, several of my pictures have a small white cloud on the bottom right of the photo. What does this mean? Thanks.
You're very welcome @camila&boys! I'm happy this was helpful!
The small white cloud on the bottom right of the photos usually is the indicator to show that the photo/file is syncing to iCloud. The icon will eventually go away and you shouldn't have to worry about it.
Thanks so much for watching!
If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already!
If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you!
It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!
did they fix the problem where this option works well now?
Good question @Justin Harvey! I think there's still room for improvement! :-)
Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Suggestion, when you reference a website or article could you link that in the description?
Great reminder and suggestion @Mr. B. Bison! I know I often put the links that pop up on the video, but sometimes I'll forget to add into the description too. I'll make notes for myself as reminders for linking content below!
Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and the content I’m creating, please feel free to SUBSCRIBE and use SUPER THANKS on the video if you haven’t already! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
I also don't trust the duplicates detection. What I'd like to do is view two Photos Libraries side-by-side so I can at-a-glance compare two different libraries. Any idea how to do this?
Hmmm. Didn't work for me at all. I keep getting "photos must be migrated" errors at every attempt.
Hey @Alan Findlay | View from the Rock!
Are you trying to merge two libraries together from File > Import menu at the top?
A few thoughts or ideas if you haven't tried already....The libraries that you are trying to merge, do both open successfully? Have you tried repairing the libraries and then merging?
To repair Apple Photos library, if open, close the app. Then, while you click to open Photos, hold down the Command and Option keys at the same time.
In the window that opens, click Repair to start the repair process. You might be asked to enter your user account password.
If this doesn't work may have to contact Apple, or I do have another previous video with some other options too if you haven't watched that yet.
How to MERGE and COMBINE Apple Photos LIBRARIES - EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW!
th-cam.com/video/7Zvn5mMBxlI/w-d-xo.html
I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Is there a way to import that keeps the metadata? Like the albums from the old library, edited photos etc?
Hi @Jenny xu!
So if you're importing from one Photos Library into another, it should retain all of that metadata and organization of albums.
I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
@@Learnwithjoel It should, or it does? It'd be great to know before I do it.
Hi, Joel. Your videos are great! Really informative, well structured and geared to practical use. Could I ask for your advice on something that might affect many people? I have unsynchronized photos scattered across multiple iphones, imacs and a macbook pro. Some of these devices need to be wiped so they can be sold or donated. What is the best way forward? Synch all individual devices to iCloud then run an app like Photosweeper to catch the duplicates? Or should I first consolidate everything on my newest device, a macbook pro, download originals, back up to time machine and then synch to iCloud?? And one detailed question: I did a lot of work organizing my photos on an old iMac into albums, but when I imported into iPhoto, the albums were not copied over. It also appears the older photos are longer ordered by date, which means a big mess. I would appreciate your advice!
I just recently moved backups and old files from 4 different sources to a new external hard drive so I had everything in one place. I'm now in the process of merging all these libraries onto my new MacBook Pro. I'm not sure if that will work for you, but maybe it gives you some ideas. GL
Hi Joel, wonder if I can have the photo library only in icloud in order to avoid using space in my mac or an external HD?
Hey @Fernando Uhart! Great question!
Yes, you can totally move the Photo Library to an external hard drive. I have another video that I'll reference below that I made specifically for this process!
If you're using iCloud Photos, make sure that after you copy it to the external drive, open it up and set the preference to be the System Library so it syncs with iCloud Photos.
How to MOVE your iCLOUD PHOTO LIBRARIES and APPLE PHOTO LIBRARIES to an EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE!
th-cam.com/video/wArkMrYehR8/w-d-xo.html
I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
I have the same issue with importing from iphone… and not on the new os. It kept saying 1300 new photos over and over again
I hear ya @Dimitri D! I don't 100% trust Apple Photos ability to detect duplicates! Which is why I made a video on that topic! I'll link down below for reference!
HOW TO DELETE DUPLICATE PHOTOS in Apple Photos - IN DEPTH review of software to FIX your Duplicates!
th-cam.com/video/VpQ5kDc3BvQ/w-d-xo.html
Question though...do you use iCloud Photos for syncing? If you do, there is really no reason to every plug your iPhone into a Mac for importing photos/videos, as iCloud Photos will sync it all automatically!
I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and the content I’m creating, please feel free to SUBSCRIBE and use SUPER THANKS on the video if you haven’t already! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Thanks for sharing your information, and keep your video short and sweet because if to long I just skip over.
Thanks for the feedback @Bob Dziedzic!
I sometimes get caught up with so many scenarios and topics that it's hard to keep it short!
Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Where are photos you have edited in iPhoto stored? When I upgraded to Monterey my edited photos disappeared? Where can I find those edited photos? MANY thanks…
Note: these photos are only saved to my Mac not the iCloud
I just upgraded to Monterey. Now when I import new photos and try to share them to messenger or facebook, it isn't showing me any of the new photos. Anybody have any ideas? I'm looking in photos and haven't had a problem before.
Great video :)
Thanks a lot! Do you know if you can di the same if you only have exported all the pictures from an old gallery as Master Photos?
Thanks @Torbjørn Høstmark Borge! I think you should be able to.
Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
@@Learnwithjoel Thanks :).Of course, I already subscribe :)
How do you move an ipad photo library into a mac? Finder iPad sync doesn't allow all photos to be moved from iPad to Mac, it only wants to override the iPad photo library, and import the camera roll from the iPad. All you did in this video is merge photo libraries which pre existed on your mac. How do I get the photo library out of the iPad onto the mac?
All you need to do is give the computer a few minutes to index the changes that have just been made so it recognizes the import as having been done., just like every other drop of data input into your computer. The more complex the file and metadata attached to it, and photos are larger and require more relationships, ie date, place, faces..., the longer it may take to fully index. Its pretty basic.
I don't disagree with that logic and simplicity of indexing the files @Calvin Jones. However if I can start off with a brand new Apple Photos library, with no photos in it, and import 20 pictures from an SD card multiple times and it does not recognize them as duplicates, and still come back a day later with the same results, I would say there's some type of bug within Apple Photos and the findings of duplicates.
It doesn't happen to all, but I've had it happen more times than not.
Thanks so much for watching!
If you would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and SUPER THANKS!
It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!
If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
This is exactly what I needed. Thank you!
You're very welcome @Jackie Wynn!
Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Wow, great news! I had no idea. This is helpful, thanks.
Right @Brandon Price! There's always little tweaks that Apple seems to do that fly under the radar!
Thanks so much for watching! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
Why didn't i think about this? I've been looking for this all say today. Google Photos only wants to sync the main library and this is a great way to merge an old library into the system default. Thank you for making this video.
Happy to help @Gabriel Alaka!
Thanks so much for watching! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
i keep trying to view and it shuts off video and say error
Sorry to hear that @Elaine & John!
I would say maybe your computer needs a reboot or perhaps try a different browser? I hope you're able to eventually watch it!
I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
i still experience this until now. too many duplicates already
I suspect those 20 images are slightly corrupted. Use another photo editor to re-save them before importing.
Good call @Tom Lang! There's for sure something funky. I repaired the library after the fact and still the same issue. I should export into a different app and then back into that library and see if it's a file issue or a library issue.
Thanks for the insight and continued support!
Guys, I need help! so, Idk why but I can't import photos from WhatsApp or any other websites and I cant send images from my mac to Instagram or any other websites. it keeps on showing "cannot import file"
Hey @وسيم!
I'm not too familiar with WhatsApp. I also haven't seen too many sending images from Mac to instagram.
I have two theories/troubleshooting ideas...
1. Are you using iCloud Photos? If you are, do you have the settings set to "optimize the device storage"? If you do, the photo may not be fully downloaded when trying to upload and that may be a reason your getting the "cannot import file".
2. Double check your format settings on your iPhone for the Camera. Navigate to: Settings > Camera > Formats. If you have it set to "High Efficiency", try changing it to "Most compatible". This will only effect new photos going forward, but this changes the pictures to be .jpegs instead of the .HEIF/HEVC formats that are not as popular yet.
Not sure if these are the issues, but worth a shot to try.
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Lots of not-duplicates meaning I gotta import everything then deal with it later. Need something that can remove dupes within apple’s library file. I’m thinking to let my iPhone do it in batches. Glad I got the 1TB. Still, this is all quite stupid. Apple needs to get that feature into Mac OS
Thank you!
You're very welcome @skkrawczyk!
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hey joel i imported a photo library to my main photo library & all the imports reverted back there original rotation & all the tags are missing? i thought importing would be just that import the copies as is. but maybe my version is broken because its doing the same thing as if i just dropped a photo full of phoots in the library. do you know how to import the library as is? changes & all. also thanks man your the only guy that covers the important mac stuff.
Great question @RazorBackRoar
I know Apple says specifically that Keywords do not transfer through the import process. I'll link their support article below where they have this in the fine print:
Import photos from another library in Photos on Mac
support.apple.com/en-us/HT209528
What's weird and counter intuitive is that you can manually export a photo from Apple Photos and include the keyword, Title and caption, but you can't when you do the whole library? Doesn't make sense to me.
So now that I think about it, that may be a last resort...exporting all photos from the library and then bringing them into the other Library? A lot of manual process, but it may or may not be worth it.
When you say that imports reverted back their original rotation, what do you mean by that? From my understanding is when you import/merge two libraries together it brings the photos over as is and any edits that were made in addition to album organization. I believe that is all it does in my experience.
Now there may be a third party app like Power Photos or something that may have the ability to export/import keywords, but I'm not 100% sure as I often don't use keywords anymore.
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thank younman
I'm not using Monterey but saw your original video th-cam.com/video/7Zvn5mMBxlI/w-d-xo.html first. I imported a library as the video stated, and now have a ton on duplicates. Not really a merge a I would expect, more like a copy ... of everything. Did I miss something or is that the was it's suppose to work?
Great question @Bob Clarke!
In theory it should merge and not create duplicates. But reality of what really happens vs what should happen is completely different. I personally don't trust Apple Photos as being a good option for recognizing duplicate photos. I have had so many inconsistencies with it being inaccurate, it's frustrating! It's hit or miss.
I have created another video on this topic because it has been so frustrating. I'll link below incase you haven't watched it.
HOW TO DELETE DUPLICATE PHOTOS in Apple Photos - IN DEPTH review of software to FIX your Duplicates!
th-cam.com/video/VpQ5kDc3BvQ/w-d-xo.html
I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!
⚠️In MacOS Ventura. Use Duplicate-Merge function with caution. In principal, it allows you to quickly scrub thru duplicates, then merge the duplicates where you end up with one single highest-resolution photo, with the most Metadata (if available). At time of writing I can confirm this is unreliable. I tested before doing a massive ‘batch merge’ and discovered several photos where the lower resolution photo was retained and the higher resolution was deleted. Not permanently, went to Deleted Items which is recoverable. Just to say, tread carefully. As Joel mentions things do not always work as expected.