ICloud Photo Library on a Mac

While we're waiting for the new iCloud Photo Library to make it to OSX, I discovered an interesting way to get photos loaded on your Mac into your iCloud Photo Library.  The bad news is it won't handle videos yet.
Assuming you have all your photos in iPhoto, you must first set up a copy on your hard drive.  Select the photos you want to put in iCloud Photo Library in iPhoto, then choose Export from the File menu. In Kind, select Original to preserve the quality of your photos, then click Export and select the folder where you want to dump the photos.
Next, sign in to iCloud, click Photos (Beta), then click Upload.  Select all the photos you just exported and click Open.  After the upload completes, you should begin to see these photos on your other devices - iPad and iPhone - if you have set them to use the iCloud Photo Library.  After you finish the upload, you can then delete the exported photos to save space on your hard drive.

Your Mac will only show you the images in the Photo Streams. To see your iCloud Photo Library (Beta) use the Photos.app on the iCloud webpage.
https://www.icloud.com
or,if you want to upload to iCloud Photo Library (Beta), use
https://beta.icloud.com
When the Photos.app for Mac will have been released early next year, you will be able to browse iCloud Photo Library (Beta) from the Photos.app on your Mac.
See:  iCloud Photo Library beta FAQ

Similar Messages

  • How upload to iCloud photo library beta from mac

    How do I upload photos from imac (iPhoto) to iCloud photo library beta.

    I have bought 500 gb of data a month. However what is the point as I only have access to the photos I take on my phone. I have no option in the beta.icloud/photo app to upload my photos from my mac.. what am I missing?
    The option to upload should be there on the iCloud web page, but I don't see it.  That is what iCloud Help says:
    Add new photos or videos
    Log in to iCloud.com, then click Photos.
    Click Upload and select the photos or videos you want to add.
    Click Choose to upload them to your library.
    So, I am sure, the option to upload will be there soon. It must be an oversight. Send feedback to Apple: Apple - iPhoto - Feedback
    The still elusive "Photos.app" on your Mac is supposed to bring the ability to upload to iCloud Photo Library on the Macs. The release has been announced for "Early next year". For the time being, upload the photos you want in iCloud Photo Library to your devices (Photo Stream, Mail) and add them from there to the iCloud Photo Library.

  • ICloud photo library size

    Hi all,
    I just have a quick question regarding iCloud photo library size.
    What happens when the iCloud photo library is larger than the space on my iPhone?
    My iCloud photo library size is 4gb (I am still within the free 5gb) however, the space on my phone is under 4gb.
    All of my photos have been uploaded on the iCloud photo library beta for Mac/ Yosemite.
    I'm aware that there are 2 options within the iCloud - Photos menu which are "Optimise iPhone Storage" or "Download and Keep originals"
    Now I thought that regardless of which option you selected they would still store a local copy on your iPhone, but what happens when even the optimised versions take up more space than your phone can handle?
    Sorry if I'm being a bit slow here, I'm just slightly puzzled by this one.
    Thanks

    http://www.imore.com/what-you-need-k...ut-photos-os-x
    #macrumors
    One lesser-known feature of iCloud documents (I can't speak for Photos quite yet) is that storage on your iOS devices is dynamically managed - if a document hasn't been accessed from the iOS device in a long time, it will automatically be removed if space is needed (the way RAM is managed on a Mac) - all you have on the iOS device at that point is document metadata (title, etc.). If/when you need to access it again, it'll be re-downloaded. Note that it's different on a Mac - every iCloud document is cached on your Mac - I guess the assumption is that you have the space, and that accessing documents while working offline/off the grid is more important to someone who's using a laptop.
    I expect iCloud Photo Library will work similarly, if not identically: On iOS a thumbnail of everything, larger images of items that are actually opened and viewed. If available storage starts to dwindle, the higher-res versions of the least-frequently viewed items will be removed until they're called for again. On Mac, a complete cache of everything, at full resolution.

  • Disabling & Re-enabling iCloud Photo Library

    I had to disable iCloud Photo Library (as part of logging out of iCloud on my Mac) to troubleshoot an iCloud issue. When I logged back in to iCloud ad re-enabled iCloud Photo Library it says I don't have enough disk space to download the originals (300GB+). That's not true as all the originals already exist in the library. It was working find before I disabled iCloud Photo Library.
    My only option is to option is to optimize storage but as a result that will remove all the originals from my Mac.
    It seems Photos app doesn't check to see if the originals already exist before displaying this warning and therefore I can't proceed.
    Anyone know of a fix?

    For those also suffering with the same problem...
    I spoke to Apple. The only way to get around this is to select 'Optimise Mac Storage' and upload everything again! The originals will stay on your device even with the setting enabled providing the library is complete.
    Bottom line. If you sign out of iCloud or disable iCloud Photo Library on your Mac, you'll need to re-upload your photos.

  • Downloading photos from iCloud Photo Library

    Apple removed the iDevice iPhoto app and Camera Roll  ability to send photos to iTunes for transfer to my iMac, my iMac is too old by a couple months to use Airdrop, and one can only send 5 photos at a time thru email from the Camera Roll or the Photos app.
    I finally figured out that the iCloud Photo Library is now the only way to get the photos out of my iDevices and onto my (apparently outdated) iMac.
    I don't anticipate using my iDevices as my primary photo creator, so it is not my intention to permanently store photos in the iCloud Photo Library.  But occasionally, I don't have a real camera handy.
    Works fine.  Photos end up in the iCloud Library, I go into iCloud on my iMac and download the photos to my iMac download folder, move them to my photos disk, and delete them from the iCloud PL.
    Okay. all the blah blah blah is done, now my question to which I can find no answer:
    How can I stop the download from automatically opening Adobe Photoshop Elements (or any other viewer/editor) for every photo I download.?
    Gets pretty tedious when I download 100 photos and have to wait for them to load into PS before I can close PS and get on with moving the photos to their final resting place.

    In direct answer to your question: I don't connect to my iMac with the iDevices and use iPhoto because I stopped using iPhoto in 2007, long before iDevices came into my life and I've just never had a reason to open iPhoto again.  I also like having my photos in folders where I know where they are, and if I recall, importing photos to iPhoto from my own folders ended up placing a second copy in the bowels of iPhoto.  I didn't need duplicate copies.
    Until iOS 8 came along, I have been able to export photos thru the iPhoto iOS app via iTunes -- grabbing the folder under the "apps" tab "File Sharing" area in iTunes and placing it wherever I wished.  I seldom if ever used the iPad  for video, but if I did, it was to make a short iMovie and export it via iTunes File Sharing as well. The file sharing option is now gone for photos, although still remains (for the time being) for iMovie.
    It never occurred to me to look in iPhoto, so checked out your suggestion, and I do see that you are correct, and connecting my iDevices to my iMac with iPhoto open is assuredly a good way to get both photos and video exported to my own folders.
    However, with the iPhoto app File Sharing option gone from the iDevice environment, and no visible way to export my photos/videos to my iMac, as explained previously, I checked out the iCloud Photo Library (beta) option. As I have also stated, I log into iCloud on my iMac (https://www.icloud.com/#photos) and all my photos and videos are sitting there happily waiting for me to do what I will with them.  What I will, is to download them to my iMac and delete them from the iCloud Photo Library.
    The process works just fine, except that I do have to double-check that all of the selected items actually did download.  Often one or two little fellows have to be selected again and downloaded. 
    Although you have shown me an easier option which I will be using on those future rare occasions when I am without my "real" camera, my question still remains: how do I prevent my editing program (photos) and Quicktime (videos) from opening automatically when I download the respective items.
    Since you believe I cannot be using iCloud Photo Library on the Mac, you can't provide the answer I seek.
    But I sincerely thank you for providing me with the option I didn't even know existed. I may well turn off the ICloud Photo Library permanently and forget it.  However, it would be more handy if I am traveling, since Photo Stream all by itself only makes photos available to other devices where they can be placed in the Camera Roll as backup.
    Thanks again for the reply and the option.

  • ICloud Photo Library won't sync all photos

    I've enabled iCloud Photo Library on my Macs & iOS devices... and have noticed that all my photos are not being sync'ed to iCloud... and the ones in iCloud are not being sync'ed to all my devices. (I'm running Mac OS X 10.10.3 on the Macs and iOS 8.3 on the iPad/iPhone.)
    In my master Library on my iMac, I have 20,233 Photos and 344 Videos. According to the Photos app, all have been uploaded to iCloud.
    However, according to iCloud - only about half of those photos are uploaded.
    (I have plenty of storage on iCloud... I have paid for 200GB and am only using about 40GB.)
    On my Macbook - I started the Photos app with an empty photo library, and then turned on iCloud Photo Library. On that computer, it reports a different number of photos - 9,923 photos. And, it too is supposedly "updated completely"
    When I browse the Photos on an iOS device, it's about the same as the MacBook - but not exactly.
    Anyone have any ideas here? I would expect all the photos from the iMac to show up on all devices.
    Is there a log file somewhere I can examine to understand what is being uploaded and what isn't?
    Thanks!

    I managed to fix the problem articulated above. I think only photos that are copied into your Photos Library can be synced via iCloud. And, the approximately ~10,000 photos missing from iCloud were not in my Library.
    On the iMac Photos Library, I selected all the photos (Cmd-A) and choose File->Consolidate from the menu... and this popup emerges:
    I clicked "Copy" which apparently copies all the original images from my Pictures folder into the iCloud Library itself. Once this was done ... it uploaded missing files. Now - on all my devices I see the exact same number of photos and videos.

  • Photos for OS X stuck "uploading X items" to iCloud Photo Library

    21.5 iMac running OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 (all patches applied)
    200GB iCloud Storage with 171GB Free
    iPhone 5s running iOS 8.3
    When I enabled iCloud Photo Library on my Mac within the New Photos application it uploaded 12,182 out of the 15,125 photos successfully. All 12,182 photos are viewable in iCloud.com and on my iPhone. Photos is stuck "uploading 82 items". I have signed out and back into iCloud on my Mac, rebooted my Mac, rebooted my time capsule, disabled and then re-enable iCloud Photo Library, paused for a day then resumed and left my Mac running for days straight.
    iCloud Photo Library works perfectly on my iPhone. When I take a photo it's uploaded to iCloud.com, when it's deleted it's then removed from iCloud.com. Since the Photos application is stuck "uploading" it's not receiving any new photos shot with my iPhone.
    Any constructive comments, help or fixes are very welcome.
    Thank you

    Same here. plenty of storage on iCloud, yet I'm stuck with 500 photos uploaded out of 400 total.
    The OS X Photos app is not doing anything and has stopped uploading 2 days ago.
    Reboot doesn't help.
    Anyone else seeing this issue???

  • Aperture photos not syncing to iCloud Photo Library

    I have an iPhone 5 with iOS 8.1 and a recent MacBook Pro with Yosemite. I've done everything to turn on iCloud Photo Library and iCloud Drive and I have plenty of iCloud storage capacity.  However, the iCloud Photo Library is only showing unedited photos taken on the iPhone.  No photos stored in either iPhoto or Aperture on my Mac are showing up in the iCloud Photo Library.  I thought this was supposed to be the way you could store all your photos from any device in edited form.  Any ideas?  Thanks!

    I have iCloud Photo Library switched on in my iPhone 5 and iPad 4 and photos are still importing into Aperture in the Photo Stream Projects. It seems that as far as Aperture is concerned, nothing has changed. Running Yosemite 10.10.1 and iOS 8.1.1
    Yes, the mobile devices will still be streaming with My Photo Stream and Shared Photo Streams to all devices, also to iPhoto or Aperture.  The upload from the macs to the mobile devices will no longer work, however.
    If you enable "iCloud Photo Library (Beta)", "My Photo Stream" does no longer upload from Aperture or iPhoto. Try it please, and tell us, if it still works for you. There have been many reports, does Aperture can no longer upload to iOS8 devices, if they are using Cloud Photo Library (Beta).
    And iTunes Photo Sync will be disabled as well. So the web interface will be the only access to the iCloud photo library from your Mac. Your Mac will only show you the images in the Photo Streams. To see your iCloud Photo Library (Beta) use the Photos.app on the iCloud webpage.
    https://www.icloud.com
         or, if you want to upload to iCloud Photo Library (Beta), use
    https://beta.icloud.com

  • Upgraded OS: How Can I Get iCloud Photo Library or Photostream to Sync to a Dedicated Mac Folder?

    I'm totally frustrated and confused even after Googling. Hopefully someone can help me understand what it is Apple wants me to do.
    As of yesterday, when I took a photo or uploaded a photo to any of my devices, it would transmit via Photostream to all my other Apple devices (iPad, another iPhone, Windows PC, and MBP).
    Now I found it infinitely frustrating that while the photos would neatly deposit themselves in a specific Photostream folder on each device, even my PC has a dedicated Photostream folder provided by Apple's iCloud app for PC, there was no such folder or provision for Macs!
    In order to access my Photostream on my MBP, I either had to open Aperture or iPhoto, or go to iCloud.com and then import the photo.
    I upgraded to iOS8 on my primary phone to finally to take advantage of iCloud Photo Library and have the photos sent directly to my Mac's (running Yose) iCloud Drive folder --- or so I thought. Not only do I not get photos on my Mac's iCloud Drive Folder, it seems to have broken the link between my other devices!
    To add injury to insult, my Phone sent me a "Could not back up - iCloud Storage almost full" message. Considering I had 2GB of iCloud storage available, I was shocked to read the fine print on iCloud Photo Library ... it uses your iCloud's storage, unlike Photostream which is totally free. 
    Is there any way or program anyone has found to deliver a seamless and intelligent Photostream folder on a Mac that behaves seamlessly and intelligently as it does with Apple's PC iCloud App and iOS native Photostream?

    Csound1 wrote:
    PeterBreis0807 wrote:
    My take on what is supposed to happen is that the data is stored in Apple's iCloud server no matter how you put it there.
    That's correct but your 10.6.8 machine has no way to put it there unless you manually enter it on the website.
    That to sync data from iCal and Address Book in Snow Leopard to the iCloud server you must manually register and connect to the iCloud.com website which I have done.
    You can't sync from Address Book or iCal in Snow Leopard.
    PeterBreis0807 wrote:
    My take on what is supposed to happen is that the data is stored in Apple's iCloud server no matter how you put it there.
    That to sync data from iCal and Address Book in Snow Leopard to the iCloud server you must manually register and connect to the iCloud.com website which I have done.
    The syncing to the same data in Mountain Lion is done via the System Preferences > iCloud, which I have done.
    Supposedly that means the data on the iCloud server is then shared between the iPod Touch, SL and ML, but it is not.
    Because data entered on the SL machine never makes it from iCal or AB to iCloud or from iCloud to AB or iCal, the link breaks there.. You can use a 3rd party app (Soho) and use it instead of AB and iCal.
    But the problem exists on ML as well.
    I get only some Contacts and iCal events transferring.
    What you are seeing is probably from SL account which I use 95% of the time. Particularly my Address Book entries. I hardly entered any of those in ML, they virtually all come from SL and seem to have transferred previously. Possibly before the latest iOS updates, but I can't swear to that as I didn't check before/after.
    The vast majority of my Address Book entries appear in both iCloud.com and my iPod Touch, but not my latest changes.
    This is far from the "It just happens!" promised by Apple.
    Peter

  • Mac storage full during upload to iCloud Photo Library

    MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013)
    1.3 GHz Intel Core i5
    4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
    Intel HD Graphics 5000 1536 MB
    OS X 10.10.3
    I'm uploading my Photos Library to the iCloud Photo Library because I don't have enough space left in my Mac (around 7 GB left).
    When I started uploading, it went down to 3 GB, and now stopped uploading because Photos is telling me that "Your Mac Storage is full. This Mac is no longer updating because there is not enough space to store optimized versions of your photos and videos."
    I don't understand why it's taking up space when it's supposed to minimize space taken by my library.
    I have upgraded my iCloud Storage to 200GB, so there should be no problem with that (iPhoto Library is only ~120GB)
    Would appreciate any help!

    Hey benjfromlewes. Thanks for helping out!
    Something pretty neat seems to happening when Photos creates its library from iPhotos because my machine didn't have anything like enough storage to achieve this (I had about 15 Gig free, and my iPhotos library was about 100 Gig). I suspect that it Photos probably shares the images files with iPhoto in some way, but I don't know. Anyway – removing the iPhoto library did still fee up lots of space for me.
    I was thinking about deleting the old iPhoto Library, but then (like what you think) it seems that Photos and iPhoto are sharing files, even though they're separate. Because I only had 7 GB left when I updated to Photos and that created ~100 GB library, so it's impossible that I have an invisible extension.
    I can't wait to delete it though, but I think I'll wait until after uploading everything to the cloud--just to be extra sure.
    I'm don't know why Photos increases its storage requirement during the upload phase. Perhaps it has to keep all the original images locally until they are all uploaded, rather than removing the high quality images as it goes along. I've decided to keep the high resolution images locally anyway now: they're useful for printing and such.
    It's working again now, I deleted some movies and restarted. This increased my space to 5.5 GB. I've been monitoring it since and noticed that Photos brought it down to 4 GB, going up and down slightly from there. But it hasn't stopped since. Hoping it'll continue on like this and not require any more space.

  • Why aren't new photos I take showing up in new Photos for Mac? (They are in iCloud photo library)

    all software up to date.  did iPhoto to iCloud photo library transfer move and activated it both on phone and laptop.  (was in beta on phone even from weeks ago)
    only way to get photos on the laptop is to plug in usb and snyc manually.  i assume it's suppose to just be able to sync wirelessly just like  iPhoto did with photo stream?  at least from all I've read it will do that and a lot more.  thanks.

    Sorry no answers here but the exact same problem. New to MAC as well and the guys at the store told me the MAC should be seeing it no problem. Sorry you are having the issue but glad I am not the only one. If I find a solution somewhere else I will try to post it here for you.

  • Will all photos in iphoto on my mac be synced with icloud photo library?

    I enabled the "Icloud Photo Library" (beta) just now, and I have lots and lots of photos in "photos" in Iphoto.
    Will these be uploaded and backed up in that cloud? So if i would lose my computer, would they still be up there?
    If not, is this an option that will be created in some future?
    (Thats right, i don't know how to google)
    Thanks you!

    No photos from your Mac will be uploaded anywhere at this time. iPhoto does not use the iCloud photo library at all. It's only available on the photos app on your iOS device. When iPhoto is replaced with Photos for Mac, sometime in 2015, then we will know what features are available.
    But right now, if your computer is stolen you will lose everything.
    Most Simple Back Up:
    Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
    Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
    Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store

  • HT204486 I get an error that I must enable system library on the 2nd MAC when I attempt to turn on iCloud photo library.

    I am attempting to configure Photo on two macs. My MacMini has the System library and has uploaded all my picture to my iCloud photo library. I am configuring Photo on my MBP and when I enable iCloud photo library I get an error stating that the iCloud photo library can only have one system library assigned to it then the option becomes grayed out. End result...only one MAC can run Photo against the same library. Please assist.
    Thank You

    You'll have to reinstall iPhoto in order to get the themes linked back to the application. To do so you'll have to delete the current application and all files with "iPhoto" in the file name with either a .PKG or .BOM extension that reside in the HD/Library/Receipts folder and from the /var/db/receipts/  folder,
    Click to view full size
    Then install iPhoto from the disk it came on originally.
    OT

  • I turned off iCloud Photo Library and switched it back on, and now it says my photos won't fit on my Mac.

    I migrated my iPhoto Library to the new Photos app with no problem, and when it finished migrating, I switched on iCloud Photo Library, again with no problem. My entire photo library uploaded, and I chose to keep the originals stored on my Mac.
    This all went according to plan, but I just switched iCloud Photo Library off, and then on again, and now it says that the "full-resolution photos and videos stored in iCloud will not fit on this Mac." This is can't be the case, because the full-resolution files are already on my mac, that's where they came from before I even uploaded them to the cloud. It seems like it's trying to download them all again, without recognizing that the same photos that are in the cloud, are already on my Mac.
    Any advice on how I can solve this?

    You may not really be connected to your WiFi network.
    Your router may not have given your iPad a valid IP address. Go to Settings > Wifi > your network name and touch the ">" to the right to see the network details. If the IP address starts with 169 or is blank then your router didn't provide an IP address and you won't be able to access the Internet.
    Sometimes the fix can be as simple as restarting your router (remove power for 30 seconds and restart). Next, reset network settings on your iPad (Settings > General > Reset > Reset network settings) and then attempt to connect. In other cases it might be necessary to update the router's firmware with the latest from the manufacturer's support web pages.

  • Photos on my Mac are not visible on my iPhone despite having enabled iCloud photo library.

    I have iCloud Photo Library enabled on both my mac and my iphone.  I have ~17k photos on my mac - many of which were not taken on my iphone.  All 17k photos have been successfully uploaded to my iCloud Photo library (and are visible on icloud.com).  However, when I open the Photos app on my iphone, instead of being able to access all 17k photos, I can only see the 80 or so that I recently took on my iPhone.  The 80 photos on my phone are being uploaded to the iCloud photo library and are visible from my Mac - just not the other way around.
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    Any help is appreciated!

    Don't know if it will help or not, but you might try going to Control Panel>Programs & Features>Uninstall, then right-click on "iCloud" and choose Repair, restart your PC and try photo stream again.
    Also confirm that the photos are appearing in the my photo stream album on your phone (which will confirm that they are being added to photo stream).

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