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.

• Set Up Photo Library Mac

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.

If a new family member or even a new office co-worker is going to use your Macintosh, you can create a new user account for them. Having separate user accounts means each person who uses the Mac can each have their own settings, like iCloud account information. 2017-12-2  If you do not want to use iCloud Photo Library on your Mac for your main Photos Library, you could create a second Photos Library on an external drive and use this library to download the photos from iCloud Photo Library to your Mac. Only one of your libraries can sync with iCloud.

Follow these steps to designate a System Photo Library:

1. Quit Photos.
2. Hold down the Option key and open Photos. One of the photo libraries is already designated as YourLibraryName (System Photo Library).
3. Choose the library you want to designate as the System Photo Library.
4. After Photos opens the library, choose Photos > Preferences from the menu bar.
5. Click the General tab.
6. 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:

Find music by lyrics. 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.

2020-4-5  In this article we will explain how to set up your Mac so you can dual-boot two versions of macOS, but first you might like to know the benefits that this offers. How to create a second Mac. Discover ways to back up your Photos or iPhoto Library and how to combine two of the methods to create an archival backup system. Discover ways to back up your Photos or iPhoto Library and how to combine two of the methods to create an archival backup system. How to Back Up iCloud Photo Library to a Mac. Now you can move easily from one photo library to another and open the one you want by double-clicking it; How to create a new Photo library on Mac? Creating a new library is easy. If Photos is open, you’ll need to quit and reopen to create a new library: Hold down the Option key; Double-click on.

1. Standard User Accounts on a Mac Creating a standard user account for each family member is a great way to share your Mac. Each user account gets its own home folder for storing documents, its own set of user preferences, its own music library, Safari bookmarks, Messages account, Contacts, and Photos library.
2. 2020-4-3  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.

• 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.

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:

• 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.

Set Up Photo Library Mac

• Recover data deleted, formatted or lost on Mac;
• Restore files from hard drive and external storage devices;
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• Fully supported latest macOS 10.15 Catalina;