Sharing the exactly the same files between users.

Hello everybody,
Hi I'm a newb, first post and first Apple ever! I am loving the iMac. Anyways, I have had it for a few weeks and have learned a thing or two. Alright so I have 3 users on this computer (me, sister, & guest) and I am wanting to share music files between them all. Yes I know how to use the shared folder, but that would create triple the amount of songs and take up triple the amount of space, right? So what I am wondering is if there is a way to share just the music files with the three users? Not sure if that was to clear but any help would be great. Thanks.
20" iMac Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.6) 1.5G of Ram, ATI Radeon X1600/256MB VRAM, JBL Creature speakers, Wireless Mice & Keyboard.

Actually, you only use the sharing preferences in iTunes if you want to share your music with multiple computers across a network---which is why it requires you to turn off your firewalls.
If you want to share your music with multiple users of the same computer, the best is still to move the folder "iTunes Music" from your "iTunes" folder to your shared folder. Remember to just move the folder labelled "iTunes Music" and nothing else (specially not the "Library.xml" file).
After moving the folder, you have to go to your iTunes preferences/Advanced and click on the General tab. From there you have to change your "iTunes Music folder location" to the location of the shared folder where you moved your music. Repeat this process for every user on their own iTunes preferences.
And no, it does not create duplicate files of your library, so there is no additional hard disk space wasted. You will merely be "relocating" the music folder to the shared one.
Hope this clears it up for you.

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How do I share files between users on the same Macbook pro?

I have created different users on my new Macbookpro, but I can't seem to share files between two users. Help how do I share files between users on one laptop? eg. a pdf file that I want to grab from my user x and use it on user y, thanks. By the way I have already tries going into system preferences, sharing folder, then turning on file sharing and that didnt work. thanks

From the Help Menu using the search criteria Drop Box

How do you share photos on the same computer between users???

Hello,
I would like to know how to share photos on the same computer between users...
My wife and I have different user accounts on our iMac and I can't figure out how to share photos.
I tried everything as told by Apple but it seems you can only share photos on your iMac with a network. If that is what I understand...
I just want to have all the photos on my user account and when my wife is on her user account I want her to be able to view the photos.
Again, we are only using one iMac.
Thank you for your help in advance...

For iPhoto 09 (version 8.0.2) and later:
What you mean by 'share'.
If you want the other user to be able to see the pics, but not add to, change or alter your library, then enable Sharing in your iPhoto (Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other account. In that account, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. Your Library will appear in the other source pane.
Any user can drag a pic from the Shared Library to their own in the iPhoto Window.
Remember iPhoto must be running in both accounts for this to work.
If you want the other user to have the same access to the library as you: to be able to add, edit, organise, keyword etc.
Quit iPhoto in both accounts. Move the Library to the Users / Shared Folder
(You can also use an external HD set to ignore permissions, a Disk Image or even partition your Hard Disk.)
In each account in turn: Double click on the Library to open it. (You may be asked to repair the Library Permissions.) From that point on, this will be the default library location. Both accounts will have full access to the library, in fact, both accounts will 'own' it.
However, there is a catch with this system and it is a significant one. iPhoto is not a multi-user app., it does not have the code to negotiate two users simultaneously writing to the database, and trying will cause db corruption. So only one user at a time, and back up, back up back up.
Regards
TD

Sharing files between users and macs

My husband and I share an iMac. I have a MBA for traveling and my husband a PC laptop (though he rarely uses for private stuff). We both have iPhones.
We are looking for a way to:
- Share our photos (we don't use iPhoto) and some files. We would like to have this in one shared folder, that we can access from both accounts in the iMac, the MBA and ideally (though not a must) the PC and iPhones. We would both need to have admin rights to edit documents, etc.
- Have access to all the information in my account on the iMac from the MBA. Ideally, same thing for his and the PC.
- Have access to all the data remotely when traveling.
- Have all the data backed up locally (we already have a cloud backup, but we'd like to have a local backup too as it's easier and quicker to access)
We have read a lot about configuration, NAS, time capsule... but we get more and more confused, as we are obviously no tech experts.
Dropbox is not our preferred choice. We already have a cloud backup system. We'd rather have the files stored and accessed locally for everyday use.
Using a NAS to store shared folders and backup the rest sounds good, but they either seem very complicated to set up, or they have mixed reviews in terms of stability, especially to access files remotely.
Timecapsule seems easier and more straightforward, but I'm not sure it would solve the "sharing files between users and macs with admin rights"? It seems to be more focused on backing up the main drive and then providing access to the backed up files. (Though I might be completely mistaken!)
We just can't manage to have one shared folder between both accounts in the iMac. We need to grant admin rights document by document. We don't manage to make it work automatically so we both have one folder to access with full rights for all the contents inside it. And this seems to me like something that should easily be done...?
Any help, advice, proposals... would be greatly appreciated!!!

Move any file you want to the other user to access to the Shared Folder. Anything you put in that folder is available to all users.
The shared folder is here:
Macintosh HD > Users > Shared

Best way to share files between users?

New to the Mac World and trying to set things up for all our users. We have 5 (2adults,3kids) and I'm keen to be able to share some files with other members of my family and would like to know the easiest way in doing this.
A couple of things to note;
- The two adults are the admin's
- Would like to share some photos between users (family photos are usually organised by my wife so I don't get to see them)
- I'd like to let my kids view some of my videos that I've downloaded but not all of them
Appreciate your time guys!
Cheers

Please try this first. If you want to share certain files between users like pictures or music or even documents, apple has provided an easy way to do so. The first step is to decide what to share. For this example I will do pictures. Open up Finder and go to the Macintosh HD, then click on "Users". Here you will see a list of the users. Your account will look like a house instead of a folder because it is the account in use. Click on your account and then right click (secondary click) on the pictures folder.
NOTE: From this point on you can do the same thing to any folder, such as music, documents, etc. or any file, such as a specific document in your documents folder. But I will keep explaining pictures.
After right clicking on the pictures folder, a new window will open up. Near the bottom you will see "Sharing & Permissions:" This is where you decide which users can access your folders/files and whether they can just read them or read and write them. For example, if you want your wife and kids to have access to your iphoto library, just press the "+" button and add each one of them. Under "Privilege" you had better give your wife the ability to "Read & Write" or you may get in trouble . By doing this, any pictures she adds, deletes, or edits will be added, deleted, or edited in your iphoto too (and vice versa). Lets say you don't want your kids to have editing abilities, then you just give them the "Read Only" privilege. They can look at all the pictures, but they cannot change, add, or delete them.
When your wife opens iPhoto for the first time, it will ask which library she wants to use. (If not, you can do it through the menu bar). Make sure you choose the iPhoto library under YOUR user account, not your wife's (it's empty). It will no longer have a little red minus sign next to it. That is the last time it will ask. Every time your wife opens her iPhoto, it will use that library. Same for the kiddos.
Again, you can do this with any folder or file. This is how Apple intended users to share content without duplicating files or using external hard drives. This way each user has their own icloud account but can access the families shared content.
Hope this helps! Good luck!

How do i share files between users

I would like to know how to share documents (files) between users on my iMac. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Choose Go to Folder from the Finder’s Go menu, provide /Users/Shared/ as the path, and drag them there.
(117100)

How do I share files between users on the same machine?

I tried using /Users/shared to share files between myself (Admin user) and another user on the machine (Standard user). Whenever I put a file or a folder into said directory permissions are 755 for directories and 644 for files, my umask is 0022. The files and directories belong to my user and the group staff. This means I can read and write and others can read. If I do the same using the other users account. Permissions are 700 and 600 respectively. (Owner is the other user and group is staff.) Strangely the other users umask is 0022, too.
The result is, that all directories and files I create with my account (Admin user) are readable to every other user on the machine, whereas all directories and files the other user (Standard user) creates are not readable for anyone else. I can easily rectify this using the Terminal and chmod and/or chown, but it is a pain having to do this, since I also need to forcefully restart the Finder App for it to notice the changed permissions.
Ideally I'd like all directories in /Users/Shared to have permissions 777 and all files 666 no matter which user created, copied or moved them to said location. I think this could possibly be done using applescript and shellscripting and the folder action hook. So far my attempts to find such a script on the net or/and write it myself have failed. I'd be grateful for any hints how I:
a) write and setup such a script
b) accomplish what I try to do (share files and folders on the same machine) in another possibly more Mac way
Kind regards
David

The following AppleScript will recursively descend the directory tree and change the items to your modes:
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px; height: 340px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFDDFF;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
repeat with some_item in these_items
ProcessStuff from some_item
end repeat
end adding folder items to
to ProcessStuff from SomeItem
processes items contained in SomeItem, recursively descending the directory tree
parameters - SomeItem [mixed]: an item containing the items to process
returns nothing
set SomeItem to SomeItem as text
set FileInfo to (info for SomeItem as alias)
if (folder of FileInfo) and not (package folder of FileInfo) then -- a folder (not a package)
do shell script "chmod 666 " & quoted form of POSIX path of SomeItem
-- do shell script "chown root:staff " & quoted form of POSIX path of SomeItem user name "me" password "mypassword" with administrator privileges
try -- to get items in the folder
tell application "Finder" to set SubFolder to (items of folder SomeItem)
on error
return {}
end try
repeat with SubItem in SubFolder -- process the sub items
ProcessStuff from SubItem
end repeat
else -- a file
do shell script "chmod 777 " & quoted form of POSIX path of SomeItem
-- do shell script "chown root:staff " & quoted form of POSIX path of SomeItem user name "me" password "mypassword" with administrator privileges
end if
return
end ProcessStuff
</pre>
You shouldn't need to change the ownership, so I commented out the chown shell script since this would need to be run as a super user. You can run a shell script with administrator privileges, but in order to be used by a standard user you will need to provide the appropriate user name and password in the script, which might not be a good idea - note that the folder action script will need to be attached in all accounts that you want to change the permissions, which means that it would need to be accessible to those accounts.

Sharing folders/files between users on same imac Intel

Hello,
Hoping the Gods of OSX can help me. I'm a recent convert from PC to iMac Intel. My wife and I both use the imac so we set up two different users (both have admin priv). I was able to network the imac and our PC together and pull stuff off the PC onto the mac (music videos, documents).
The Question:
We want to be able to share alot of stuff between the two users. for instance, If I were to login then connect my Digital camera and import in iPhoto then fast switch to my wife's account I want to be able to see those photos that were just imported. What are the steps (if any) to make folders synced/shared.
If anyone can help it would be appriciated.

The easiest way is to put the files you wish to share between users in the Shared folder (this is the Shared folder located in the Users folder.) All files placed there can be accessed by all users.
If you want to go a step further it's possible to set up multiple-user iTunes and iPhoto libraries:
Share iPhoto Library with Multiple Users
Share iTunes Library

Share files from the Library/Application Support folder between user accounts?

I am using Mac OS 10.10.2, and am having trouble with allowing my son's user account to see his Minecraft files which are on my user account (User/Library/Application Support/Minecraft) how do I make it so that Minecraft will find and use these files rather than the empty folder on his own user account?
thanks!

Thank you! I should have thought of that. So, what I actually did was go into finder, "get info" on the Minecraft folder, and check the "share folder" box in the info window. I was then able to open his saved worlds on his account, and doing it this way will mean any changes to them can be accessed from my account as well.
Thanks again!

Help with Sharing iPhoto 9.5.1 library between users on same computer

Hi,
I have upgraded operating systems to Maverick on my macbookpro which also upgraded iphoto to 9.5.1. Previously in IPhoto I could choose to share the library in each of three user accounts. The third account was used only for gathering photos to make books, calendars etc. There does not appear to be a way to do this now. How do I share libraries on the same computer without creating a library on a separate device?
So frustrating....I was right in the middle of creating a book.
Thanks for any help.

That particular feature has been discontinued with iPhoto 9.5.1. However, you can use iCloud to share photos via Shared Photo Streams. Each user account will need their own iCloud account and each user can create Shared Photo Streams to be shared with the other accounts. The photos in the SFSs can be downloaded by any account with access to the stream.
Anbother option would be to create a Dropbox account and when the 2 accouts come across photos to be used in a project they can export the original file to the Dropbox in the account so they can be downloaded into the 3rd account and imported into the project library.
If you have an external HD you could put the project library on it and access it from each of the other 2 accounts. Project photos could be added to that library directly by the other 2 accounts by exporting to the desktop and importing into the projects library with an easy library switch. Or one can use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager to copy selected albums between libraries.
OT

Easiest Way to Share Files Between Users? -- Public, Shared, Drop Box.. .

We have five family members (and so five user accounts) using our Mac. What is the easiest way to copy files between / share files with / ... files from one user to the other?
Shared ... Public ... Drop Box ...
I do this so infrequently that I forget -- or have never figure it out properly.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks!

The Shared folder is fine, but anything a user puts there will be read-only to all other users. If other users want to be able to edit such a file they can make a copy of it and edit the copy. If you want all users to be able to edit one of your files without them having to make a copy of it first, you must change the file permissions to allow that.
There are a few ways to have new files automatically set so that others can write to them. Storing such files on an external hard drive on which file/folder ownership is set to be ignored is one way. You can also use ACLs - see this page for an example.

Sharing files between users

Hi
I have 2 users set as as Admin on my iMac, myself and my wife. iTunes and iPhoto are both used by my wife under her login. Is there an easy way for me to use the iphoto and itunes files under my login, ie can they be shared so both can view the pictures or listen to the music when logged in to their own account? Also, if I use Time Machine to backup the computer, will it back up everything on the computer, or just the files used by the person who is logged in, ie, if I og in and TM Backup, will it include the itunes library as well as all the pictures which are under my wifes login.
thanks

It doesn't help with the OP's first question....
mpphoto wrote:
Is there an easy way for me to use the iphoto and itunes files under my login, ie can they be shared so both can view the pictures or listen to the music when logged in to their own account?
Thanks for picking up on and covering the TM question.

Sharing music files between users while maintaining ratings

I have two users on my MacBook Pro which I use every day. One is my normal "home" user I use when at home. The other is my "work" user which I use at work (I'm a software developer, so I have a separate environment for that).
All of my new music gets downloaded/copied to my "home" user.
To get the music into iTunes on my "work" user, I've taken a couple steps:
1) I made an alias of my "Music" folder under the iTunes library in my "home" user and moved it to a more publically accessable location "/".
2) In my "work" user, I've opened the preferences, gone to the "Advanced" tab, unchecked "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding a library," and changed my iTunes Media folder location to the /Music alias.
This works great. However, I've taken the time to rate all of the songs under my "home" user, and I'd really like those ratings to show up for my "work" user.
There is 1 solution which is to copy the "iTunes Library.itl" and "iTunes Library.xml" files from my "home" user to my "work" user. However, this is cumbersome.
Is there some way I can make the ratings just show up/sync? Ideally, adding music under "home" would also automatically show up under "work," too.
Thanks.

andylow wrote:
Thanks for your response.
I do understand that what I want to do is not possible with iTunes if I can't get both users to use the same library file.
Both users can access the same iTunes library file.
However, it can only be accessed by one user at a time. (you can't have iTunes open on your home machine and work machine at the same time).
Hold Option and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library... and select the iTunes folde in the you moved to a more publicly accessible location.
That's all you need to do.
Make sure you quit iTunes when you want to access the library while on the other computer.

Sharing Parallels and Quickbook files between users

Hello all.
My account (admin) has parallels(w/XP) installed and running Quickbooks on it.
I would like to have another user access them (and the needed data files) on her user account.
How can I do this without giving her access to all the other stuff on my account?
Thanks in advance,
Mr Baby Man (no, not that one)
PS Maybe wrong forum, but can I have Parallels and Quickbooks (running on XP) use my fonts from my Mac (Office 2008)?

It's a good idea not to work as an admin user... That aside,
Parallels is probably installed in the usual location in the Applications folder (if not, that's where you want it). Simply copying the virtual machine to /Users/Shared should make it accessible to all users. You can also select the icon for the VM, press command-I, and go to the bottom and set permissions for accessing the VM (i.e., set who's allowed to "open" it).
As far as the fonts question, Windows will recognize any TrueType and Adobe Type 1 fonts, just copy the files over. Non-TrueType non-Type 1 Mac fonts won't work without using a commercial font design application to convert them.

Sharing files between user accounts without permissions issues

I have two user accounts on my iMac and need to make files available to both accounts, back and forth, without having to worry about permissions issues. Files need to be read and edited from both accounts. I posted previously about this and was told to place the files in Users/Shared. I've done this but it hasn't accomplished what I need.
I created a document in one account and saved it to Users/Shared, but when I opened the document from the other account and tried to edit it, I was told that I didn't have permission to edit and that I needed to duplicate the file. How can I avoid having to set permissions for files that I need to edit from both user accounts?

Or not.
I butt up against this lunacy frquently.
I have just created a file saved to my external NAS - no problem - tried to save my edits - now don't have permission to do so. Again - checked - custom access - again. Ridiculous.
Why can Apple not sort out this fundamental problem - if I create a file and put it on my network where I WANT IT - the OS should not then prevent me from accessing it.
I spend hours, regularly, trying to sort this out. Apple OS is a joke.
And to be kept being told - do this, do that, use terminal, reset passwords is ridiculous.
Sorry for the rant.
But this is the limit.
Mike

Sharing the exactly the same files between users.

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