One of the cooler hidden features of Photos (and iPhoto before it) is the ability to create more than one photo library. You can make one for your home photos, work photos, photos from a different camera, or those racy photos you don’t want the kids tripping over.
It’s pretty simple, but not totally intuitive – there’s no menu item to select to create a new library.
Follow our recipe to create as many different libraries as you like for separate but equal Photos access.
Ingredients:
- iMac, Macbook Air, MacBook Pro
- Settings App
Directions:
To create a new library for your photos, launch Photos, but instead of just clicking on it and waiting for the app to launch, hold down the Option key while you click the Photos icon. You’ll get a special dialog box that will show you the System Photo Library, if you haven’t created a new one yet, and any new photo libraries you actually have created, all in one list.
To create a new photo library, click on the Create New.. button, and then name your new library something useful to help you remember. The default is Photos Library 2, and that’s a pretty awful way to tell it apart from the main Photos Library.
When you name the new library, you can save it in the Pictures folder like the default, or anywhere else on your Mac, including and external hard drive.
Now, when you want to switch libraries, all you need to do is hold the Option key down when you launch. It’s pretty simple. When you create a new Photos library, you’ll see a brand new screen, like below, that will work just the same as your other Photos library installation.
Via: OS X Daily
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
15 responses to “How to create entirely separate photo libraries in Photos”
Is there a way to get these photos to sync in their own album via icloud?
I’m gonna assume no, but you might want to check on apple.com just to make sure.
Is there a good way to merge the libraries?
Probably the best way is to export all your images from all libraries to a folder on your Mac, then import into the main System Photo Library.
Can you move some photos from the original library to the new library?
Yes, if you’re willing to export from the original library and re-import to the new one.
where is the ‘Options’ key??
on the left and right side of your Space bar just outside the Command keys
u mean the ‘Alt’ key?
yes that’s the one
Can i add a new library and place it on an external drive? USB or wifi accessed? I expect sucha a library to be be available when the disc is available of course!
Can you use one library with iCloud Photo Library and one without? My current library is way outside the limitations set for iCloud storage (no interest in paying for additional storage on a monthly basis) so if I could move the default images to a new library that is not used on iCloud Photo Library then I could turn it on for the default library and use those features. Then just move the images to the non-iCloud Photo library… Kind of like manually doing what the old iPhotos library and photo stream did anyway.
I was wondering the same thing. I would rather they be in one library and have a way to simply select that certain items don’t go to the cloud. but i’ll take putting them in a library that isn’t syncing
Yea I was hoping for a non-syncing folder as well. Maybe an added feature in an update
I can’t sort by image number.