What Is The Library Folder On A Mac

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.

Folder

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

Mar 29, 2019 How to Find the Library Folder on a Mac - Showing the Library Folder Permanently Make sure that your Mac is up to date. Click a blank space in the Finder window. Right-click the window. Click Show View Options. Check the 'Show Library Folder' box. Access Hidden Library Menu Option On Mac. Left-click your mouse anywhere on the screen of your Mac. This will reveal the Go Option in the top menu bar of your Mac. Next, click on the Go option in the top menu-bar of your Mac. While you are still on the Go option, press and hold the Option. May 01, 2019 In macOS, the library folder is used to store user account settings, preference files, app support files, caches, and other important data that allows your Mac to function as it should. The Clips folder is where you can save your own Live Clips, independent of the Live Set where they are used. To save a Clip just drag it onto the Clips folder in the User Library (or any other folder). If you have created a number of sub-folders, just hold the Clip for a few seconds on the Clip folder, and this will unfold showing the nested. The network library, /Network/Library would store settings shared by all computers in a network domain - if a network domain admin set one up, which nobody does anymore; The system library, /System/Library, stores the base settings, resources, etc that come with OS X. In theory, you shouldn't change anything in here.

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.

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.

Move your Photos library to an external storage device

What Is The Library Folder On Mac Os X

  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

Access mac itunes library from iphone. 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:

What Is The Library Folder On A Mac Computer

  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.

Library Folder On Mac

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.