Sep 29, 2011 Sharing an iPhoto or iTunes library between two users is a common request, but Apple doesn't make this easy. How Do I Share iPhoto and iTunes Libraries Between Two Users? IPhoto has many options for sharing images with other people. What the program doesn't offer is an easy way to give multiple users or multiple Macs full access to an entire iPhoto library. 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. Oct 28, 2019 How to use Photos and iCloud Photo Library with multiple Macs. Launch Photos on your Mac. Click Photos in the menu bar. Select Preferences (or do this quicker by pressing ⌘,). Source: iMore. Click on the iCloud tab. Source: iMore. Check off the box for iCloud Photos. You can also check off the box. Mar 27, 2014 The older versions had a shared photos feature that worked across your local network (or beyond, with certain tweaks like Share Tool). New iPhoto dropped that. So if you can go back to the older version, do so. But be aware that it's likely your iPhoto library has been converted, so it may not work with the old iPhoto.
Sep 29, 2011 Sharing an iPhoto or iTunes library between two users is a common request, but Apple doesn’t make this easy. Home Sharing will distribute purchased media but does not allow you to manage a single. 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.
I use dropbox to share my iTunes database (located on a Western Digital Sharespace NAS) between my Mac Mini and my wife’s MacBook. I tried it with iPhoto, but the performance was terrible. A colleague said that I could simply put the iPhoto library file on the NAS and run both as referenced libraries (where the files are not copied to the iPhoto folder when imported), since putting the file on the NAS was the same as putting it in the dropbox folder. I just couldn’t run iPhoto at the same time on each machine. I did that, opened iPhoto up separately on my Mac Mini, then on her macbook, and everything seemed fine. Now, I have a folder on my Mac Mini desktop labeled “1”, and it has 3006 .jpg files in it. Where did this folder come from? I don’t remember seeing it there before I removed my iPhoto library from the dropbox folder and put it onto the NAS.
— Ian Cooke
I've had a multi-Mac household pretty much since college, rocking a laptop and desktop in addition to miscellaneous iOS devices throughout the years. Dropbox and iCloud sync made most of the pains of using several Macs disappear, but iPhoto was always a problem. My laptop is tiny! My iPhoto library, not so much.
Thankfully, Photos for Mac — paired with iCloud Photo Library's Optimize Storage feature — makes working with and syncing multiple Macs a breeze. Here's how you can do it.
How to use Photos and iCloud Photo Library with multiple Macs
Here's a quick, simple breakdown on setting up your Macs to support Photos and iCloud Photo Library.
I recommend starting with your biggest iPhoto library; it'll usually be on your desktop Mac. When you open Photos for the first time, your library should import automatically; if it prompts you to create a new library, your Photos library may be stored in another location on your Mac, and you may need to manually open it.
Once you've imported your biggest library on your Mac, make sure iCloud Photo Library is turned on and syncing. You can do this by following these steps:
- Launch Photos on your Mac.
- Click Photos in the menu bar.
Select Preferences (or do this quicker by pressing ⌘,).
Source: iMore
Click on the iCloud tab.
Source: iMore
Check off the box for iCloud Photos.
- You can also check off the box for Download Originals to this Mac if you have the space.
- You can check off Optimize Mac Storage to save space on your Mac by only saving a percentage of images and video locally — the rest will be thumbnails that you can click on to download when you want to.
Source: iMore
Now, open your other Mac, and launch Photos. If you have an iPhoto library on that secondary Mac, follow the same steps as above — import your library, then turn on iCloud Photo Library. If you have duplicates of the same photo on each computer, iCloud should automatically resolve those conflicts when it syncs, providing you with just one version of your photos when the sync process finishes.
If you don't have an iPhoto library on your secondary Mac, create a new library in Photos and turn on iCloud Photo Library. If you want to save storage space on this secondary Mac, make sure Optimize Mac Storage is selected: This will save a certain percentage of images and video locally to your device, while providing thumbnails of all the others for you to download at your leisure.
After you've set up all your Macs with Photos and the sync process has finished, you're now good to go. From here on out, any time you add photos, they'll sync to every computer you've set up with Photos.
What syncs, what doesn't sync
Photos for Mac syncs a lot more than just your original photos and videos. According to a support document on Apple.com, here's what else you should expect to see sync:
- All folders and albums
- Smart Albums
- Keywords
- Memories
- Searchable keywords
- Key photo selections
There are a few things iCloud Photo Library won't sync, however. Here's Apple's list:
- Books, cards, calendars, and slideshows
- Keyword shortcuts
- Unused keywords
- Last imported album on the Mac in question
- Names and faces in the People album
For those not using iCloud Photo Library
If you've chosen not to enable iCloud Photo Library, Apple still offers you free syncing of your last 1000 photos via My Photo Stream, which doesn't count toward your iCloud disk space.
This will sync and download images you've imported or taken on other devices, but you won't have the option to optimize your storage or sync your albums.
Octoober 2019: Updated for macOS Catalina.
Serenity Caldwell contributed to an earlier version of this guide.
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