How To Share Iphoto Library On Two Macs

08.04.2020
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How To Share Iphoto Library On Two Macs 4,4/5 3393 votes
  1. How To Share Iphoto Library On Two Macs Download
  2. How To Share Iphoto Library On Two Macs Free
  3. How To Share Iphoto Library On Two Macs Drive

I want to share a single iPhoto library between two Mac computers. I would like to store the iPhoto library on the network because both Macs may not be connected at the same time.

Sep 16, 2015  The new Photos app, which was released in OS X 10.10.3, has basically replaced iPhoto, although the latter will still run and work perfectly fine if you already had it installed on your computer. When you first opened Photos, it should have autom. Merge two iPhoto libraries If you already have different iPhoto libraries on two Macs, you’ll need to begin by merging the libraries from your two Macs; the best tool for this is Fat Cat. How do I share iPhoto libraries between two Macs? I would ideally like to have one iPhoto library to share between two different Mac laptops. Is there some way I can set it up so that the same library can be shared, edited, and updated? Or if not, is there a way I can see the other Mac's iPhoto.

After reading the article Save Space On Your Mac By Storing iPhoto & iTunes Libraries Remotely Save Space On Your Mac By Storing iPhoto & iTunes Libraries RemotelyWith my head held low with shame, I publicly admitted last week that I'm a digital hoarder. My once blazingly fast Mac is now left with just 100GB of a 1TB drive left. I've already.. Read More on MakeUseOf, there is a comment there by Pierre and answer by James saying it’s not possible to for two Macs to use the same iPhoto library concurrently. Is there a way to get around this?

The other thing is, the office is all Windows apart from these two Macs, so I also need recommendations on network solution as the iPhoto library won’t open when on a non-mac formatted network share file system (I.e Windows Server).

Any suggestions?
Thanks

  1. The main problem is that iPhoto is purely client-sided. There is no 'server' or 'database' back-end therefor there is no safe way to use it on multiple systems simultaneously.
    Yes, if both Macs are running the same iPhoto version and the Library is stored on a central storage (e.g. external disk or a server) then both clients can use the same iPhoto Library in turns ~ I wouldn't recommend doing at the same time.

    Then you hit the already mentioned problems of it being a OS X only application and being 'unique'.
    On Windows you will never truly be able to use all the (meta)data you store within iPhoto. Basically you can only use the actual photos. And yes, this means you can access the iPhoto Library using Windows - it's actually just a file and folder structure. It is some 'magic' within OS X that makes it look like a single large library file.

    As for the storage:
    I don't recommend anything other than HFS+. iPhoto stores certain (meta)data in a way only HFS+ supports it. On NTFS or FAT32 you will get regular problems and errors, rarely data loss.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168
    So if you attempt to do this at all it should be a Mac playing AFP and SMB server for both systems.

    In your case I would start looking into a cross-platform Digital Asset Management.
    I don't have any experience or knowledge of some of the freeware options here. For payed options there would be Canto and Celum. But they both start in the four-digits as far as I remember.
    http://www.canto.com/
    http://www.celum.com/

  2. iPhoto '11 (version 9) library's volume is unsupported
    http://floppydonkeyste.blogspot.fr/2011/09/iphoto-11-version-9-librarys-volume-is.html

  3. Apple actually have a support article on this topic at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1198. In a nutshell, you can move the iPhoto Library to a file server, but as you rightly mention in your question, access from both Macs at once could lead to unpredictable results. You _could_ use a Windows server, but Windows machines still won't be able to access the photos as the library uses a proprietary format.

    In terms of alternatives, it would help to have some context so we can make suggestions. What are you trying to achieve? How big are the libraries? Does everyone need access to the photos, or only a few users? Does everyone need to be able to upload photos, or just one or two people? Are the photos for viewing only/downloading/something else?

    • Hello Oron,

      Thanks for your reply. I did come across that article. Putting the iPhoto library on a network share, does not work, like you said because the file system is of a different format.

      The context:
      - Two Mac laptops
      - Wanting to share the same iPhoto library and meta data added to the photo's
      - Both users will need to access and be able add photo's and meta data to the library
      - Library to be used to assist with creating content with Pages for Mac http://www.apple.com/mac/pages/ (so viewing, downloading and adding to applications)
      - Library to be accessed by a select few people only in a network
      - If possible, have photo and meta data access from Windows machines as well
      - Libraries currently would store around 10000 photo's+ (estimate)
      - Apparently to import images to Pages for Mac, they images need to be in a iPhoto library - I am yet to try drag and drop

      Thanks.

OP clearly stated he was interested in the new Apple's Photos app - not iPhoto. I'm not at all sure this trick would work with Photos app (being more tightly bound to the iCloud service). Also your solution does not explain what will happen to their two 'iTunes accounts' (i.e. ICloud accounts) if they share the same Photos library on the Mac drive. Copying photos from one Mac to another If you want to copy photos from a library on one Mac to a different library on another Mac, you can do that with two basic steps. First, follow the instructions in Accessing an iPhoto library on another Mac so that one of your Macs has access to both libraries. Jan 31, 2017  Feature Request: iCloud Photo Library support for multiple Apple IDs. Than managing two iCloud Photo Libraries. Library management for users who would like to.

If you have a Mac with iLife ’11 in every room connected by a wireless or wired network, you can share your iPhoto library, including all photo albums and keepsakes, with other computers in the same network. To share your iPhoto library with other Macs on a network that are also running the current version of iPhoto, follow these steps:

How To Share Iphoto Library On Two Macs Download

  1. Choose iPhoto→Preferences and then click the Sharing tab.

  2. Select the Share My Photos check box.

  3. Select the Share Entire Library option to include everything (including all albums and keepsakes), or select the Share Selected Albums option and then choose albums and keepsakes to share.

  4. Enter the name of the iPhoto library in the Shared Name field.

    The shared library appears with this name in the Shares section of the iPhoto Source pane on other Macs on the network.

  5. Add a password if you want to restrict access to the shared library.

    Pick a password that you don’t mind sharing with other users; for example, your name is a good password because you want to share it with people you know. Your ATM PIN is not a good password because you should keep it secure. The password restricts access to only those people who know it.

  6. Click the OK button.

To turn off sharing your iPhoto library, deselect the Share My Photos check box in the Sharing pane.

Below are quick steps to convert Audio and Videos to iTunes supported formats. Add videos to the iTunes Video Converter. Click the “Add Video” button or “Add from folder” icon on the main interface to import movie, music or home video after downloading and installing this Mac Video Converter. Add movie to itunes.

Before turning off sharing for your library, first notify anyone sharing the library to eject the shared library. Otherwise, iPhoto displays a warning dialog that allows you to continue (and break off the connection to the shared library) or to leave sharing turned on for the moment.

How To Share Iphoto Library On Two Macs Free

You can access the shared library from other Macs on the network that are running the current version of iPhoto by following these steps:

Share photo library between macs

How To Share Iphoto Library On Two Macs Drive

  1. Choose iPhoto→Preferences and then click the Sharing tab.

  2. Select the Look for Shared Photos check box.

    The shared libraries appear in the Shares section of the Source pane. After the shared library loads, you can browse its contents. You can also click the triangle next to the shared library in the Source pane to see albums in the shared library.

  3. To unload the shared library, click the tiny Eject button that appears to the right of the shared library name in the Source pane.