WHERE ARE MY PHOTOS? Understanding Photo Libraries and knowing where your pictures live on the Mac!

Is your hard drive on your Mac full? Are you running out of space? Maybe your Photos Library is too big! This tutorial goes through what Photo Libraries are and how to create and move them from computers to external hard drives.
00:00 | Welcome Back!
00:36 | What and where are Libraries?
02:40 | How to create a New Photo Library
#iCloud #Apple #Photos #iPad #iPhone #Mac #Applephotos #libraries #joelfeld #learnwithjoel
If you have a video suggestion, let's chat!
/ learnwithjoel
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[@michaelzwiener8962]

Thank you for that great video! After about 30 years with Windows I switched to Apple about two weeks ago and everything feels new (and great). This video helps me.a lot about Photos. I really appreciate it. :-)

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Michael Zwiener! Welcome to the Apple Family! I'm thrilled this video helped, and I hope future videos will be just as helpful! Thanks for watching and I appreciate your support!

[@Capt-Cran]

Exactly ... I just switched ... a loyal PC for many years ... Apple is INCREDIBLE once you learn the eco-system ... I wouldn't even consider using a PC going forward ... what an amazing experience of the great hardware, software, and eco-system ... if a person objectively tries Apple ... you will be convinced ... it has changed my digital life!!

[@radensj]

Joel Feld: Thank you for this instructions and training! I have understood this concept on the fringes, but you have given me confidence to proceed. Like other commenters, I took notes. I have the problems you described. 250 GB SSD which is so full I cannot even do a time machine. You have given me something useful to do during the pandemic. BTW: I appreciate you style; some "instructors" waste time with attempted humor, music, intro credits. You get straight to business, with good sound, good lighting and clear demonstrations of what you're doing.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Wow, Thank you so much John for your kind words. This is the exact reason why I do this. Technology changes so much and so fast, it's hard to keep up and I personally know that the internet is filled with great content and some that can be misleading. I hope to provide excellent content that is helpful to users. Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support! If you ever have any questions, never hesitate to comment and reach out!

[@Emily-bm9xj]

Thanks Joel! Your explanation is useful to get the idea of this and I'm grateful for the help in trying to make sense of this. This detailed explanation is helpful in light of Apple always pretending its products are easy, simple and intuitive, when they are not. There's a lot of room for mistakes here which could cost people losing all of their precious photos if they don't understand what they're doing, so shame that they aren't explaining all the detail of it, and grateful that you are. Hope I can get the hang of it!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm so happy to help @Emily and I totally agree! Technology in general can be challenging as it's so fast paced and changes so quickly! Hang in there and it will catch on. You just have to keep using it and dedicate time to accomplish your goals! 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!

[@JB-vk4hk]

Thanks for making this video. I thought I had lost 10 years of photos, after I worked through the freakout phase I found this vidoe and then found my pictures. Thank you so much!

[@hkunomi334]

Thank you Joel for your wonderful helpful clearly presented video teaching us how to understand Photos in Mac much better. There are lots of people out there very confused, muddled and have their Photos Library mucked-up.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @hkunomi! Thanks so much for the kind words! I really appreciate it. It's comments like that which motivate me to create more content to help others! Thanks so much for watching and I really appreciate the support!

[@hrshbht]

Hey... super thanks for demystifying the "PHOTOS" ... the best part - you were to the point without fillers. Keep it up bro!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @hrshbht! 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!

[@youtubedigest]

Finally found the explanation I have been looking for. Thank You.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Mahieddine L! I'm so happy my video was able to help! Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@meeluanistyn1644]

At last, a clear, detailed walk-through of Photos - thank you!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks so much for the kind words @Meeluanistyn! I appreciate you so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! Also if you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@brettburgeson3836]

Excellent explanation! Coming from Windows I've been very frustrated not understanding where my photos were being kept. My frustration is finally solved. Thank you.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm so happy to hear that @Brett Burgeson! File management can be completely frustrating in both worlds of Apple and Windows! I'm glad this video was helpful! Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@morningcoffee2227]

Perfect video.. People with Microsoft Windows mindset will definitely have hard time understanding Mac ‘Photos’ concept. You are prompt and on-point to explain all things!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks so much! Totally! I have used many photo editing/management software on both Mac and windows, and hands down Mac Photos offers a lot out of the box for the average person dabbling in photos. It's a great all-in-one solution for someone getting started! Thanks for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@miranaradivojevic469]

Great overview. Thank you for explaining this in a user friendly way.

[@FJMAY]

Your videos are the best, I have watched many videos by other people and there was always something that didn't work for me. Your description of where my photos are kept in Photos has solved all my problems. Thank you.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Happy to hear my content has been helpful for you @Frank May! I appreciate the continued support!

[@pamelasullivan1243]

Really helpful. Kept stopping and taking notes as some really useful information on there....thank you

[@Learnwithjoel]

I’m so happy you enjoyed it and are able to learn! Thanks for watching and I appreciate your support!

[@huzlfinance]

Binge watched all your videos. Love it. Thanks so much.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks @HUZLFitness for watching! I appreciate the support more than you know!

[@DannyDD1979]

Thanks man, this vid was super helpful! Cheers from Canada!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks so much! I'm happy it helped! Thanks for watching and subscribe and share for more content!

[@scottboettcher1344]

So glad I saw this. I'm about ready to fire up my new Mac Studio, and plan to use an external HD to consolidate all the photos I have on my MBP, iPhone, 2015 iMac, 2007 iMac, and my iCloud account. Won't be dragging ANYTHING to the trash at first, but your tutorial gave me an understandable roadmap. Much Thanks, and wish me luck!

[@landwirtschaft2116]

Thanks for explaining that very much in point. Was very helpful to quickly refresh my memory! 🙂

[@salmapavon543]

this helped me understand a lot more, appreciate it!

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome! Thanks so much for watching!

[@phillipimsdahl3563]

Thank you it is just what I was searching for. A little fast for this old man but will just rewatch a few times and figure it out. I wish I could just create a new library and then drag and drop the photos from one to the other.

[@LC-bp3vb]

Joel …. I love you man. This video is the answer to a maidens pray. I now get it and can sort my Mac photos and videos out and get them off my Mac . I feel like I’ve been stumbling around in the dark and you just turned on the lights💡. Thanks a million. 👏👏 👍🏾🤣🤣🥳🥳🎉💃🏽💃🏽

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hey @LC! I'm so happy this content was able to help you! It's reasons and comments like this that make the time spent all worth while and I validation of why I do this in the first place! 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!

[@nikitabassineniona7419]

Hi. Thank to you. You cannot imagine how long I have been looking to get this feature right on my mac. Thank you.

[@alvarorivera7372]

The best video on the web about this topic. Really knowledgeable, and crystal clear explanation. Amazing content

[@Learnwithjoel]

WOW. Thanks! Your positive feedback and comments are so greatly appreciated! I do my best to create content that focused, and clear to understand. Thanks for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@alvarorivera7372]

@@Learnwithjoel thanks to you. You have a new subscriber 👌🏻

[@snekava]

@@Learnwithjoel Is there any way to merge two separate libraries into one larger library?

[@Learnwithjoel]

YES! Just finished this video! Hopefully it will answer your question! kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYvZn2ijgqeroqs

[@Learnwithjoel]

@@snekava Check out this video on merging libraries if you haven't already! Thanks for the continued support! How to MERGE and COMBINE Apple Photos LIBRARIES - EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW! kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYvZn2ijgqeroqs

[@unclec11]

fantastic explanation of how to use Photo Libraries! Exactly what I was looking for. Will have to check the rest of you videos to see if have anything on large music collections and iTunes(Apple Music).

[@Learnwithjoel]

I so happy to. know this was exactly what you're looking for @Charles Crothers! It feels good to know my content is helping others! Apple Music is on my list of video topics. It surprisingly is very similar to Apple Photos. You have the ability to have Apple Music import all of your audio files into a library and it's stored in the "Music" folder within the main Music folder on a Mac by default. Stay tuned and again 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!

[@Mags0O7]

Thank you so much. Was looking for help with this for weeks 😀

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @maggie z! So happy this was helpful and thank you so much for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@marcomark8]

Excellent video. Simple and easy to understand.

[@johnpurcellpurcell5207]

Terrific! Very instructive! I enjoyed learning. It went very fast,and so I may need to rewatch it,but it is very helpful. Thank you. And we like Chicago too!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @John purcell Purcell and I love Chicago too! Whenever you're watching video on KZbin, know that you can adjust the playback speed by clicking the little gear in the bottom right! It's very helpful! 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!

[@salaridi8379]

Dude where have you been you made my life so much easier…thanks

[@michaelchow8944]

You helped me fix my photo library. Thanks!

[@Learnwithjoel]

So happy I was able to help you fix your photo library @Michael Chow! Thanks for the continued support! I appreciate it!

[@hugochka]

Thank you. Amazing video!

[@ThePrettymosquito]

You saved my day! You would think after using a mac for years that I would still lose my pictures. yup, that was me this morning.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm so happy to be able to help you @April Maloney! Yikes, well hopefully you're able to find your photos! Thank you for the continued support! I’m glad this video was helpful! If you learned something new and want to support my channel, click 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!

[@davidjohn9006]

Definitely useful demo/info... learnt something new 👍🏽

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks @David John! I so glad it was helpful! Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@spiicyliime22]

omg thank you so much! I recently migrated my Photos from my old MacBook to my new one and it took allllll day and deleted the user account I had on here (don't worry, I found the Deleted Users folder and easily transferred my stuff to my current User account), BUT I opened Photos today (because I need to find a nice photo of my Grandmother for her upcoming funeral 🤧) and my Photos was completely EMPTY! I took a deep breath and searched my question online and didn't find anything useful to help, then tried here! First video I watched was useless, but decided to give this suggested video a try. Within the first 3 minutes, you fixed my problem! I apparently have multiple photo libraries... I selected the one I had open when I did the migration last week and all my photos and organized folders were there in Photos!! Phew 😃🥵😭

[@jorgecastilleja5356]

Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm so happy it was useful for you @Jorge Castilleja! 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!

[@DavidTurner11]

Windows user trying to cleanup my Father's MacBook. This video helped immensely. Thank you!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm very happy to hear that @DavidTurner11! 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!

[@Lee-AnneJ]

Thank you so much for this video. Now I feel confident at finally unpacking my new iMac and setting it up! I had been deleting photo's like crazy trying to make room since the new iMac's only come with 256GB now :(

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm happy to hear the excitement @Lee-AnneJ! Getting a new Mac can be a good feeling and getting photos organized can feel even better! Don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@ob3444]

This was brilliant! Thank you thank you thank you!!!

[@kevinivesoctavo4219]

This is really helpful! Thank you!

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Kevin Ives Octavo! Thanks so much for watching and the continued support! I appreciate it!

[@icantexplainmyfeetjuliecon3522]

nice pace and clearly presented.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you so much for watching! I appreciate the support!

[@petercastell4450]

An informative video thank you Joel, you spoke about moving photos to an external hard drive to free up storage space, I recently did that moving around 6000 photos expecting them to be displayed as they appear on my MacBook but the icons are smaller I have not been able to display them larger but worse they have been stored randomly not in date order as on the computer just numbered 1-5,871

[@obuyWw]

this is very well explained, thanks

[@simone-tp3fy]

great video thanks really much!!!

[@sonimoretti]

SOOOO HELPFUL !!! Thank YOUUUU

[@Learnwithjoel]

So happy to be helpful! Thanks for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@schadlarry]

Very nice explanation. I always thought my Photos library file was much larger than it needed to be. I might try organizing future photos in LR folders and have Photos just reference them and be able to open with either program. The only downside is I had an automatic daily backup with the photos library file and time machine.

[@johnty52]

Thanks Joel, that taught me something useful

[@Learnwithjoel]

You’re very welcome! Happy to be able to help! Thanks for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@hugosantesteban2681]

Perfect Explanation . . . I have a question, if I want to do a backup of folders and albums (and smart albums) to a folder that is not in sync just to have an offline copy (inside the mac, or USB drive). From where do I need to copy the album/folder and have no resolution lost in the destination. I want to keep the album structure that I built in photos of course

[@bresmith843]

thanks this was so helpful

[@vedrankovac8821]

Great video, love the tutorial!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks so much @Vedran Kovač for the kind words and continued support! I appreciate it!

[@stephaniestone5807]

Hi there! Thanks for this info! I was wondering if you move the library to an external hard drive does it maintain any albums or folders you had saved? Also, would this make it inaccessible on other devices from the cloud?

[@bonnieschwenke2256]

W0W !!! I will have to watch this video a couple times. It sounds perfect (I think) for a future project I have of scanning VERY old photos into the computer and then creating some type of presentation with descriptions to give to my extended family. I imagine this project will take me months to complete. Creating a second library to import all the scanned photos into sounds like a good way to keep my scanned photos in one place over time without cluttering up my original library. Any tutorial on the best way to go about a photos project like this would be very much appreciated.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I've done exactly what you're looking to do!

[@bonnieschwenke2256]

@@Learnwithjoel I would be very interested in your ideas on how to go about this project.

[@davet3530]

Thank you so much. I think this is just the information that I need. I’m about to change from a 3TB iMac to a smaller 1 Tb Mac Book and I have been worrying of how to deal with the large photo libraries I currently have. Now I know how to link the photo library and use a separate hard drive. Question please ……. I’ve got to also figure out how to deal with my Lightroom Catalogue is it a similar process , ie move photos to a separate disk then re establish the link from within LR ? Maybe you have a video on that ?

[@carlosprovyrivera8522]

Excellent overview appreciate you taking the time to put this together. Two quick questions: 1) do you recommend using the optimize space feature i.e. keeping the higher resolution photo in the cloud and the lower one on your desktop and 2) what are some tips and tricks to be able to split a large library into smaller more manageable ones? Keep up the excellent work!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you so much! I appreciate the kind words, support and encouragement! Question 1: My personal preference is to optimize space especially on a mobile device. I don't see a huge issue personally waiting a few seconds to download the high resolution photo to my device when I need it. Although there are some times that I am impatient and wish a video would load faster, the pros outweigh the cons for me. I have way too many photos to keep all originals on my iPhone or iPad. Now on a computer however, IF you have the hard drive space to accommodate the growing library, then yes i would for sure always have the high res downloaded. I do this only to have a secondary backup to an external drive. Question 2: I can only answer this by giving an example of what did about a year or so ago. I had my one and only iCloud Photo library which held about 47,000 photos. Many were very similar, some were duplicates and many were just bad blurry photos. I got to the point where I needed to free up storage and get things organized. It took time. Lots of time. I chipped away using smart albums. Smart albums allowed me to narrow down the search of photos in smaller chunks and then I can actually delete the photo from there (unlike a regular album). I also started to go through every photo and put them into albums and created a smart album to show me every photo that was NOT in an album which then let me know how many photos I had left to go through. Once you narrow down all the good photos, the question of making separate libraries is now the next step. Depending on the size of the library and available hard drive space, I personally would duplicate the library and then delete the photos I don't want. Or the only other option really is to export/drag the photos out of one library into a folder in the finder and then import/drag into a new photos library. Just make sure you keep your System Library straight and don't change it unless you want to start syncing unexpected photos!

[@carlosprovyrivera8522]

@@Learnwithjoel Wow - thank you for taking the time to provide such a complete and well thought out response! It is sincerely appreciated. As you suggest, I am now in the process of culling through all my photos and deleting which ones I no longer need. As you pointed out they were many that I do work terrible photos or things like how many photos do I really need of the Eiffel Tower. 😀 Once I have this down to a manageable level then I will have the room to keep all the high resolution photos on my iMac. Again thank you so much for the time. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

[@anitalyons6151]

A few years ago I started making a new photo library at the beginning of each year, to keep my photos in manageable chunks. Can there be a problem with making too many smaller photo libraries?

[@arezooghadirzadeh4835]

Thanks, this vid was helpful! Cheers from Iran!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Cheers! Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support! I'm happy it was helpful!

[@jimxtrm]

Well presented! Thanks!

[@Learnwithjoel]

So happy it was helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@mitchdeamon696]

Thank you so much! Was able to create a new library on my external HDD so I'll never have to use space on my mac again!!

[@sulai6i]

Thanx you from Qatar .. it was really helpful , it make me understand

[@Learnwithjoel]

So happy it was helpful! Thanks for watching and I appreciate support!

[@erikvandervennet5068]

Hello Joel, in the mean time I watched some other courses (merging libraries) and there I saw the importance of "the system library" and there is the solution for my Imovie problem, make the wanted library and define it as the system one. So all problems solved 👍

[@CalvinWongHKG]

thanks for sharing !!

[@sassysoul3764]

The first thing I learned 12 years ago when I starting using a Mac for my photography, was to NEVER, NEVER EVER use iPhotos and Apple Photo. And I stick to my rule. Now my non-tech Mom has photos in the photo library and I am not able to remember exactly where in the belly of the Mac the individual jpg files are located. So that I can place them on an external drive that can be read my mac and PC. Yes you an go into the library choose select all and export to folder. However you do not get the individual folder structures. You need to create the folder/album on the external drive and in the folder library go into each individual folder/album, choose select all and export to the specific folder on the external drive. She has 215 of those individual folders sorted just they way they need to be. Talking about taking a lot of time. How when you go into the "belly of the Mac" those individual picture files exist in their folder structure. From there, you just select all, copy and paste. Google search and KZbin does not have the information I have long forgotten how to access. Thanks for letting me vent. 🙂

[@m.asman.]

Terima kasih. Saya baru dalam Apple dan video ini sangat membantu untuk saya memahami berkenaan Photos. Terima kasih sekali lagi...

[@nilanjanmandal7834]

Really helpful video!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate that a lot @Nilanjan Mandal! 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! Also if you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@johnsmetzer4030]

Thanks for a great tutorial video. I learned a lot. I really never a real grasp on Photos Library and pictures folder

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @John Smetzer! I'm happy this was helpful! 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!

[@MrAndrewdog68]

Thank You Cheers !

[@Learnwithjoel]

Cheers to you too @Andy Browne! 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!

[@andrreslopez]

You are f saving my life! Thanks

[@Learnwithjoel]

Happy to help @Andres Lopez! Thank you for your continued support! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please support my channel, by clicking 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!

[@MiuArtStudioUK]

Thank you so much, this is very helpful! I have over 20 thousand photos needed to be sorted! the pain point as an artist 😅

[@Learnwithjoel]

I can relate to the struggle @Miu Art Studio (U.K.) :-) I'm happy this was helpful for you! Thank you 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! 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!

[@AverageZoeBlogs]

That was so helpful, thank you! New subscriber here 👍🏽

[@Learnwithjoel]

So happy this was helpful! Thanks for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@mrbee15]

Thank you for this video. I just got my first mac recently and was trying to wrap my head around this. Question - If I want to "export" a specific photo out of my libraries file to my desktop or something - is this possible? Thanks in advance.

[@SimcredibleProduction]

Thank you so much for this video! Totally understand Photos app now and finally get why deleting a bunch of photos in the app didn’t give me extra space.

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Nicoliola light! I"m happy this video helped! 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!

[@kueilanma88]

thank you!

[@toniswanson5256]

Agree Alex Davidson…absolutely

[@SuperBarca1984]

thank you very much liked and subscribed

[@benchristinakolars7230]

Thank you for straight forward instructions that are easy to understand. I moved my iPhotos library to easy store external HD. The problem is now the photos aren’t attached on my computer or on the hard drive…. I checked on iCloud and they are still connected on there. Can you help me fix my problem? I want to keep them on iCloud and also work from hard drive to free up space on my Mac.

[@arqmcemvideo]

Thanks you!

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Marco Fernandes! 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!

[@nid.4842]

Thanks for the helpful video. Just two questions. I'm have my current mac photos library on an external hard drive and I am using an El Capitan MBP. 1) If I upgrade my laptop in the future to another mac, will my external library work on a newer Mac OS like Big Sur? 2) Is it possible to have my current mac photos library open on a PC? Thanks again.

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome! Thanks for watching! I appreciate it more than you know! In the grand scheme of things, running OSX 10.6 El Capitan is probably considered pretty old...You currently wouldn't be able to run the latest version of Apple Photos. Long story short, yes your current external photo library would work, however I would try to gradually upgrade your current Mac to the latest OSX for that computer. What i've seen happen a handful of times is that when the computer and photo library get so far behind, they can often have trouble upgrading directly from, lets say 10.6 OSX to 10.15 OSX. So I always say upgrade slowly...go to 10.10, then maybe 10.12 and gradually to what your current computer can do if possible. No matter what, the Photos library will have to make a big leap to get upgraded, but new versions of Apple Photos come with each Mac OSX, so that's really what needs to be upgraded. Hope that makes sense! As far as your second question is concerned, it's two variables. One is how is your external drive formatted? Usually right out of the box an external is set to ExFat or Fat32 meaning that it's compatible with both Windows and Macs. However if it's formatted as Mac OSX Journaled, it will only work on a Mac. The other thing is that Apple Photos Libraries are containers, meaning that it's meant to be accessed through Apple's specific software. Even on the Mac, you have to right click on the library and choose "Show Package Contents" to actually dive in and find your pictures. I DON'T RECOMMEND DOING THIS UNLESS YOU REALLY HAVE A PURPOSE! Secondly, even if your drive is formatted for both Windows and Mac, I wouldn't use the Windows PC to try to access the Photo library because of the reason above. Hope this helps!

[@gurlerium]

BEAUTİFUL TUTORIAL. EVEN 5 YRS OLD KİD UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU EXPLAINED. THNX MATE

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @Gurler Türker! 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!

[@lesbradley3903]

Thanks for the good information. Is there a way to have a view of pictures in the Originals folder (from using “show package contents“) of the Photos library that can sort the pictures by name, location, date taken, and the like? If I want to copy an original photo from that location to work on in another app, I find it really difficult to find a file or a sequence of files because of the way Photos organizes them. My photos are spread across a number of folders named with letters of the alphabet. Can “exporting“ files from within Photos be as efficient as making a copy of the original? It seems more cumbersome and possibly slower than moving the original files.

[@marciaazev19]

Thanks!

[@Learnwithjoel]

THANK YOU so much @Marcia Azevedo! Your support is so greatly appreciated!

[@ritamustikasari]

Regards from Majenang. Thank you for the explanation. Now I understand the PHOTOS.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hope all is well and safe in Majenang @Candella Natadisastra! That looks to be right near Singapore and Australia? Looks beautiful there! I'm so happy this was helpful! Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@ritamustikasari]

@@Learnwithjoel wow I got respond. I live in a countryside. We are a farmer of butterfly pea flower. If you are around, I love to serve you a cup of blue tea pick fresh from the garden. Majenang is a sub district in Cilacap District of Central Java Province. The Java Island is main island in Indonesia where the capital of Jakarta is located. Yes you can say we are between Singapore and Australia.

[@joannelau4817]

Well said .. can u talk about organizing the photos in the library too ?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks for watching! I did a video a while back talking about the organization of albums and such, but much more content is coming! You can check out that other one in the playlist here: kzbin.info/aero/PLfKIWTYhy-JkLMyP4UzgCTHWqD-Nj-Akh

[@WhataPlant]

very helpful

[@Learnwithjoel]

So happy to help! Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@stabilman2848]

Thank you for a very useful video! A question though, can you link the second library to your icloud as well and access the content contained within on other devices? If that's so, will that mean that you have choose which library to open for instance on your iPhone as well?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Stabilman! Unfortunately not. Each library is linked and associated to one Apple ID/iCloud account. You can have a Photos library on multiple devices, but they can only like to one main library. This would be a nice option in the future though! Thanks for watching! I appreciate the support!

[@a17641]

@@Learnwithjoel Hi Joel does that mean once the old pictures moved to the external drive, it will no longer to hold in the iCloud?

[@MartaniPanganSehat]

I've learnt a lot from ur vid. Thank you. Now I understand about Library Photo and ready to try it out. Well I've done it before save some Library but not sure I've done it right. Well let see. Regards from Majenang.

[@Learnwithjoel]

So happy to hear my content is helpful! Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support! Hope all is safe and well is Majenang!

[@capelight52]

Well Well Done!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @Francis Rosselli! 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!

[@amagique]

Very insightful, thanks Joel! 1. how can open libraries (stored in my hard drive) if one day I don't have Mac anymore (or Mac with the compatible version)? 2. how can I export all my folder/albums structure in "traditional folders" in the Finder or external hard drive?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Fantastic question @Aga M! 1: Apple Photo Libraries are proprietary to Mac, so you will only be able to open the Library on an Apple Computer. However, you do have options.... If you don't use iCloud Photos or want to keep everything in a traditional file structure, when you open up photos, go into the preferences and uncheck the option that says "Copy items to the Photo Library". This will allow you to literally organize and manage all of your photos in folders and Apple Photos just references the files. So if the get moved or deleted out of the folders, it will break that connection. These folders can be stored just as any other pictures would be and can be accessed on Mac or Windows. 2: I think there are some improvements Apple could do with Exporting options, but If you were to just select "all photos" from within the Library, you could export, but that's going to put them all into one big folder. It does give you an option to sub categorize it by what they call "Moments" but it doesn't give you a lot of control. My best advice would be to organize in Folders/Albums within Apple Photos and export each album into a folder. This way you can work in small chunks and kinda keep track of your progress. I'll link a helpful support article below from Apple in regards to exporting. Export photos, videos, slideshows, and memories from Photos on Mac support.apple.com/sr-rs/guide/photos/pht6e157c5f/mac 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!

[@DFMMei]

Subscribed. Good sh*t man thanks for the breakdown.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you for the support @Barry Mango! I’m glad this video was helpful! If you learned something new and want to support my channel, click THANKS below on the video! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, please share it along!

[@OliVer-zr1ne]

You are good teacher

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @Oli Ver! 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!

[@rapaent]

Thank you for this awesome tutorial! I have a question; How can I add some selected photos from one Apple Photo Library to another Apple Photo Library? There are times that I don't want to merge all. Thanks again!! 👍😊

[@richardmardex3014]

Very well done presentation. I don't use Photos, but I'm trying to help a beginning photographer that does. We are having issues finding images after editing in order to resize for online viewing. I'm unsure that this video shows how to do that. Any help you might have would be appreciated! Also wondering if there is a way to make the CC captions smaller?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Richard Mardex! So this particular video would specifically be designed more relocating a large Apple Photos library and understanding the file structure about it. What software is being used for editing the photos? When you say resize for online viewing, what are you trying to resize? The file size? The resolution? Depending what you're trying to do, the Preview App that is on the Mac has some very basic tools that allow you to resize photos. Open a photo in the Finder and then within Preview go to: Tools > Adjust Size. I do have other videos related to editing, but it's primarily focused on Apple Photos. I will link below for reference: PHOTO EDITING using APPLE PHOTOS in BIG SUR! IN-DEPTH OVERVIEW of EVERYTHING! kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6iYiH-la7N7g5Y ADVANCED EDITING in APPLE PHOTOS - A look at how EXTENSIONS & BRUSHES can ENHANCE your PHOTOS! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGmleoaPpJxsndU As far as changing the size of the Closed Captions, I'm not aware of anyway to do that. That would for sure be a question for Goole Support! I hope that helps! 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!

[@Dnair416]

Amazing video. Learned a lot. Can you please let me know how to fix the compatibility issues when importing photos?

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm so happy the video was helpful for you @darshan nair! What compatibility issues are you having when importing photos? 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!

[@colinesplin8964]

Joel, great video...thank you! Is there a way to choose a Photo Library when taking a picture on my iPhone? For example, i take a lot of pictures for work and it would be great to keep those photos separate from my normal everyday photos without ever having to sort through them one-by-one. I'm guessing this isn't possible, but though it was worth asking anyway.

[@zrohit]

What are .photosasset files? thanks

[@mohammedsalman383]

Hey I have question if I create a photo library and save it in external hard drive, so when ever I take a picture in my iPhone will the pictures get stream to my photo library automatically whenever I plug in my external hard drive or do I need to it manually copy paste into photo library. I have turned on photostream in my iPhone it’s under same iCloud account.

[@rambleonrose2993]

Thank you for this informative video. Your photography skills are ok point, and the video is smooth and easy to understand. So, if our MacBook is getting full, and we want to do a bulk move, would you suggest moving the systems library, or instead copying the entire thing onto hard drive and then deleting? Is there a good way to view your photos saved on external hard drives that were saved using older versions of photos or iPhoto? I am working on a MacBook Pro from 2012 which has lower amount of memory 128 and attempting to get almost 256 worth of photos off of an iPhone 7 Plus onto a new external hard drive that is 2 TB. I’d also like to get all of the files from iCloud using the MacBook to external hard drive so as to start fresh on my devices while keeping the back ups for future use. Thank you kindly for any advice you may have. -Jada

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks so much for watching @Wild Rose Tea! It sounds like you may have a handful of photo libraries? Are you looking to merge all of them together or keep them separate? The photos on the iPhone 7 Plus, are they in iCloud, or only on the phone? I think sometimes in this situation, if you're looking to start fresh and just kinda start over, I would create a new iCloud Systems Photo library located on your external hard drive and slowly start to import and gather all of your photos from all other locations and devices and merge into this "main" library on your external. This will for sure free up space on your laptop and you can then optimize iCloud photos on your iPhone and you have your main library on your 2TB external that holds all originals and syncs to the cloud. Here's a recent video discussing the moving of Photos Libraries kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXLVnICojsqbiJo Here's another recent video about merging libraries that also may help! kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYvZn2ijgqeroqs Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@rambleonrose2993]

@@Learnwithjoel Thank you for your quick response! I am really grateful to have found your channel. That is about right. I appreciate your help and am looking forward to watching those tomorrow.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Never hesitate to reach out!

[@GeorgeGogoladzeGG]

hi Joel, Thanks for your Videos, really useful and thanks again. I combined all of my photos and have only 1 library (100 GB) and I have transferred it to external hard drive. now I have part of this photos in Iphone and part on an Icloud. I'm lost here, how it will synchronize after? Do i need to create new library and forget about this System library? what you recommend? If I delete some photos in iPhone or iPad, do it delete in system library (when I connect it to MBP)? I'm little bit lost here, have 4 apple devices and different size of pictures storage on them. I think I'm not alone in this uncertainty. thanks in advance. Gio

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you for your continued support! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please support my channel, by clicking 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!

[@subsequentmusic]

Nice video, thanks.. Any experience with using a disk station/NAS as location of MacOS Photos archives file?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hey @subsequentmusic! I have a little bit of experience with Synology NAS. I currently have a 20TB Synology DS918+ that I use for archiving videos, older photo libraries and other miscellaneous files. Overall it is pretty useful in my opinion. It's nice not to have to plug in a drive, but depending on network speeds and such, it can be slower. Because this particular model does not traditionally plug in via USB to mount, I bought a ethernet to USB-C connection and just hardwire it sometimes to copy files really quickly. I also use it for Time Machine, but again, super slow sometimes. Probably more of a networking issue. As far as photo archives, for sure I would encourage to backup the files someplace. I do have Apple Photo Libraries located on there, however I do not keep my current on that syncs with iCloud Photos, as in previous attempts, I always seemed to get an error message with syncing. My guess is that Apple doesn't like the System Library that syncs with iCloud to be in a different cloud storage, but I could be wrong. I also haven't tried that in a while. 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!

[@prherman]

Joel: Helpful video as I am new to Mac OS. I will be setting up a new M1 Mac Mini within the week. I have photos scattered in several external hard drives from PCs and IPhone library that hasn’t been synced in ages (thousands of photos). Any suggestion as to best workflow to get pics from various sources onto an external SSD that will always be attached to the M1 Mac. Internal drive will only be 256GB but external SSD will be 2TB. Probably have about 300 GB of photos so I can’t load them first onto the Mac and then move them to the SSD. Would like to have transfer be from external source to the SSD with Photos App Library pointing to the SSD when I launch it. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @prherman! Thanks so much for watching and welcome to the Mac Family! You're probably in the same situation that tons of people are in, so don't worry! I would recommend by creating a Photos library on your external and slowly import all of the photos to that location. If your Mac already has one locally, you can just drag it to copy to your external drive. As you drag new photos in from various locations, assuming the files are completely identical, Photos should recognize duplicates for you and solve that issue if it becomes one. Other than that, It will just take time tracking all the photos down. I would recommend that once you've copied into the Photos library that you move the photos to a "Done" folder for your own sanity. Do you plan on using iCloud Photos?

[@irwinspector2395]

Joel-thank you for your reply

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome! Never hesitate to reach out! Thanks again for watching!

[@pjos11]

Great video. I was expecting that you would mention about iCloud and how that works with two libraries. Maybe for a new video?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks @Pjos11! I have another video that is a little more specific to iCloud and the relationship to Apple Photos where I think I answered that question...I link below for reference. Understanding iCLOUD PHOTOS - Syncing iPhones, iPads, and Apple Computers IN-DEPTH kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2q8m5eYnZaEbpo But long story short, even though you can have multiple Apple Photo libraries, you are only able to have one sync to iCloud. This is known as the "System Library" and there is a preference for this within Apple Photos. 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!

[@jeffstauffacher]

Is it possible to have a mbp that has the photo library on an external drive in full resolution but also on the internal ssd in “optimized for space” setting for on the go viewing and working with the library? Not sure how to accomplish that as you can only have one system library, correct? My main goal is to have a local backup of my full resolution photos that is also backed up to time machine. My understanding is that time machine connected to an “optimized for storage” library would not back up full res photos. Any ideas or workarounds? Thanks and love your videos.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Jeff Stauffacher! This is a fantastic question! So i've actually played around with this exact concept and as of right now, Apple Photos for sure only wants one Library to be the system library per user account. I have even moved the system library to an external hard drive, created another user account on the Mac to see if the other user would see it differently and it for sure only wants to connect one per Apple ID.... I totally get what you're trying to do! For me I actually use my old laptop and i've dedicated it to my Apple iCloud Photos Library so that it's downloading the originals to that, and then I backup to an external through Time Machine. This is a good method if you have enough free space. The only other option I can think of is put your full resolution Photo Library on an external hard drive and then use another hard drive for Time Machine, and tell it to backup that as well. Not the most ideal solution as it can sometimes be a pain having so many things plugged in, but it could work. Hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@Jonny2won]

One more question, do you do the same for Capture 1 or Lightroom? And you have one Catalog and all your files in finder? Thank you!

[@leftyla]

This is super helpful!! Thank you so much! One question: will the multiple libraries sync with iCloud? or just the main one?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @lefyla! Great question! So if you're using iCloud Photos, it does only sync with one main library and it's known as the "System Library". You can still have as many libraries as you want, but only one syncs to the cloud and all of your other devices. Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@leftyla]

@@Learnwithjoel Thanks so much for answering my question! Great channel. I just subbed!