How can I merge two macOS Photos libraries?

November 1, 2017 10:54 AM

I'd like to merge two macOS Photos libraries into one, with the ability to weed out duplicates during the process.

I just sold an old Mac and moved its Photos library onto another Mac with its own existing Photos library. Now I want to merge these two libraries into a single one.

PowerPhotos advertises itself as being able to merge libraries, but in practice it has a non-intuitive interface, and when you dig into its spotty documentation you see misspelled caveats like "this is sligtly tricky."

What's a better solution? Thanks!

(I've backed up both Photos libraries to an external drive in case everything goes completely sideways.)

posted by bassomatic to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

I just imported the second library into the first and then deduped afterwards using a (totally worth it) Duplicate Photo Fixer Pro. Is there a reason you don't want to two step this?
posted by jessamyn at 11:08 AM on November 1, 2017

Response by poster: Can totally two-step it and merge libraries before de-duping! But how did you import the first library into the second? (Hope it's okay to threadsit and answer specific Qs.)
posted by bassomatic at 11:19 AM on November 1, 2017

https://www.macworld.com/article/2909654/software-photography/how-to-import-merge-and-consolidate-your-libraries-in-photos-for-os-x.html
posted by humboldt32 at 11:29 AM on November 1, 2017

Yeah I think I did this using iPhoto so my step-by-step is probably not useful but the link humboldt32 offers seems like it will work.
posted by jessamyn at 1:33 PM on November 1, 2017

Response by poster: Wrapping this one up: I ended up using PowerPhotos and succeeded in merging my two libraries through a bit of trial and error. It worked, but if any developers are reading this - there's a real opportunity for someone to create a better way of doing it!
posted by bassomatic at 2:29 PM on November 12, 2017