OSX iPhoto App: Sharing Library Between Two Users

Despite the limitations of the new Photos app I am considering migrating our iPhoto/Aperture library to it so that I can take advantage of the iCloud Photo Sharing facility. However the library, which is stored on a suitably formatted ext HDD attached to our iMac, is shared between two Apple IDs, mine and my wife's. This enables us to add photos via either Apple ID and view the entire library on all our devices (we both have iPhones and iPads as well as sharing an iMac and MacBook Pro).
How do we continue to share a joint library using the Photos app and iCloud Photo Library? Trying to keep two libraries in sync is too much hassle and would also require both of us to buy additional iCloud storage. We need a solution that enables both of us to view and add pictures to the library on all devices but only requires one of us to buy additional storage space to store it.

brown_sm wrote:
I recently bought my parents a new MacBook Pro (they switched from Windows). I was able to get all of their songs over and into my dad's iTunes library. My mom and dad each have separate accounts on the MBP, but they'd both like to be able to see (and listen to) the same iTunes library, not at the same time, obviously.
Is that possible? If so how?
the easy way is to use itunes sharing. start itunes in your dad's account and enable sharing in itunes preferences->sharing. then other users including your mother will be able to listen to the songs from your dad's itunes library but ONLY while your dad is logged in. so in order for this to work both of them should be logged in at the same time. to make that possible enable fast user switching in system preferences->accounts->login options. However, this is not terribly convenient.
it's possibly (but surprisingly tricky) to use the same itunes library without having both users logged in at the same time.
Is it enough to point my mom's iTunes to the same folder? Do I need to put special permissions on that iTunes folder while logged into my dad's account?
yes. not just permissions. you need to put inherited ACLs on your dads Music folder to give both of them read+write access to all current and future files in it. so log in as your dad and run the following terminal command (copy and paste please)
chmod -R +a "username allow delete,chown,list,search,add_file,\
addsubdirectory,delete_child,file_inherit,directoryinherit" ~/Music
instead of username put the short user name of your dad's account. it's the same as the name of his home directory in /Users. then repeat the command with your mother's username instead of your dad's. after that log out of your dad's account, log into your mom's account and point her itunes library to his itunes library. to do that start itunes while holding option.

Similar Messages

Sharing iPhoto Library between Two User Accounts

Is there any way to fully share a single iPhoto library between two user accounts on one machine (iMac 2.0GHz dual core Intel, 10.5.1, iPhoto '08), without using an external drive (because I don't have one)? By share, I mean each user has full rights and priveledges to the entire library, regardless of who uploaded the pics. Holding down the option key on iPhoto startup does not work because my wife can't access the pics I loaded even though she's pointing to the shared library in a shared folder.

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. then:
Quit iPhoto in both accounts
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions. *You could also use a dmg*.
(Some people have had success putting the library in the Users/ Shared folder. If you do this make sure the file permissions are set to allow read/write access to everyone. But that's unlikely to work on 10.5 because of the way that the permissions have changed with the new OS.)
In each account in turn: Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting dialogue, select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new library location. 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

Hello there - how can I share my iTunes library between two users on the same computer? I put the library in a shared folder between both and have selected this library on both as well, but when I update iTunes with music etc it only appears on one?

Hello there - how can I share my iTunes library between two users on the same computer? I put the library in a shared folder between both and have selected this library on both as well, but when I update iTunes with music etc it only appears on one?

Thank you Joe - I tried this but it's only showing a teensy amount of music - the stuff on the second users account as opposed to the giagntic library on the 'main' account. I actually went to a Genius Bar and they said that apple doesn't really want you to share music between accounts - parents don't want to hear their kids music etc. Which seemed strange, but it might be the case sadly Thanks anyway!

Share a library between two users on the same mac?

It is possible to share a library between two users on the same mac?

It's doable. As it's been pointed out Aperture has no provisions for file locking so you can't have two users accessing the library at the same time. This includes having one user having the library open only for browsing. Aperture doesn't have a +Read Only+ mode, when it opens the library, even if you make no changes to any images, the library will be written to.
This also means you can't have one user open the library and then stop using Aperture but still have the library open and then have another copy of Aperture open on the library.
Of course if you have two copies of Aperture running even they are on different libraries you'll be in violation of the license and you'll have bigger problems to worry about then a toasted library.

Sharing iCal between two users

Problem: Need to know how to share calendar (and address book) between two users. We both have iphones that we'd like to sync to so we'll have 'home' calendar. It seems like it should be an easy process but so far, no luck.

Right, seems the answer is 'Not really'. You can publish an ical calendar - but that is read only.
Which is really quite terrible. Not what we expect from an apple solution.
2 adults with 2 iphones can share one life and one mac - why can't we build a shared calendar?
BUT.........
There is an alternative that isn't TOOOO hard to set up.
Google calendars will sync with ical, so if you both have gmail addresses you can create a calendar you can share in iCal.
It's a bit faffy but not too taxing
1 open your gmail and set up a calendar
2. look under My calendars/settings
/share this calendar
and add the gmail address of your sharee
select "make changes"
this means they can add to it when they accept the invitation.
3. go to the first tab and select
/calendar details
look for
/Calendar Address: ICAL
copy this address and mail it to the new user.
when they log in they can then use that ical url to add to their calendar list.
Phew...
This may not be the exact way to do it, and some steps may be superflous - but i now have a shared calendar between 2 people's ical diaries on one mac and visible on two separate iphones as a google calendar (the iphone ical however will only update when you sync)
Boo:
1. having to use googlecal to set up or edit events - iCal will treat the shared calendar as 'read only'
2. iphone ical not updating automatically - you need to use the calendar in google to see if any new dates have been added since your last sync
Yay:
1. as its google - it will ACTIVELY share any new events on your iphone - at least in the google calendar (see 2)
So - all in all, a flawed 'pc-style' workaround sticking out conspicuously in an otherwise 'apple standard' experience.
At the moment it seems google calendars are a better bet than ical - this will not do.
Apple! Deal with it please - shared calendars between users first - then you can worry about 'push' updating later.

Sharing iPhoto library between two user accounts on the same Mac

My wife and I each have an iPad and we share the same iMac. We each have our own user account on the iMac. She syncs with her account, and I sync with mine. This works fine in general, but we store all our photos within iPhoto on my account. She is therefore unable to sync the photos to her iPad. The same is true with the music that we keep on the iTunes in my user account.
Is there a way for her to sync so that the photos and music sync with her iPad also?

I have used a program called iPhoto Library Manager (http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/) for years and it has worked like a charm. The program handles all of the permission/subfolder aspects transparently. Our iPhoto library is stored in my wife's default location, but I have seamless read-write access to it. When I open iPhoto, I see the same thing she does, and I have complete control.
To answer your question about music, there are a couple of approaches. If you turn on Sharing in iTunes, and your wife's iTunes is set to look for shared libraries, she'll be able to have complete access to play anything in your iTunes library (as long as you have iTunes open). I believe she also has rights to copy files from your iTunes library into hers.
That's great for playback on a Mac, but what you can't do is sync an iPod/iPad/iPhone with someone else's shared library, so here's how I do it:
1) My iTunes library is our "primary" library, located in my Public folder (where other users have read-access).
2) In my wife's iTunes, library, I hit keystroke Apple-O to add content to her library, and navigated over to my iTunes Library in my public folder to select it. Once I did this, her iTunes library looked like mine.
3) The key thing is that under her iTunes Advanced Preferences, I ensure that "Copy content to iTunes library" is deselected. Otherwise, it would make a copy of my entire library on her side, and that would chew up a ton of disk space.
Note that I don't think it's entirely necessary to have the iTunes library in the Public folder. It could stay in the default location as long as you changes your music folder to have read-access by other users. I moved mine before I knew any better.
When I add new content to my library that my wife wants, we hit Apple-O from her side and add it to her library. This setup is kludgy, but a) both users can sync the music to iDevices and b) it doesn't require having two copies of everything. Note that unlike the iPhoto Library Manager solution, this is a static thing. You have to manually update the "satellite" library to keep it up to date with the main one.
I'm not in front of my Mac, so some of my notations may not be completely accurate.
Good Luck!

How do i share iPhoto library between two user accounts

I need to share my iphoto pictures between two accounts on the same computer

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.

Sharing Photos between two users

How do I set up a shared situation where my husband and I can both see our iPhoto pics when we are logged into our own accounts. B/c right now we can only see the pics in my account and not his.
Thanks.

KL2
There are two ways to share, depending on 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.
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. then:
Quit iPhoto in both accounts
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions. You could also use a dmg.
(Some people have had success putting the library in the Users/ Shared folder. If you do this make sure the file permissions are set to allow read/write access to everyone.)
In each account in turn: Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting dialogue, select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new library location. 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

When sharing photos between two users, if one user uploads new photos, only he can view them. Any help on this issue?

My iPhoto library is in Shared Folders so both users can access and edit the pictures. However, if one users uploads new photos, for some reason these become only available to him and the other user cannot even view them.
All permissions have been set so that both users have them on the shared folders. For some reason, when creating a folder, the permissions are not kept....
Please help.

The same thing has started happening to us since upgrading to iPhoto 11 and Lion. If I import photos from my camera, then my partner can see thumbnails of those photo, but cannot click them to see them sull size. Similarly if my partner imports photos.
We have used a shared iPhoto library stored in Users/Shared/Photos for several years and everything has been fine until now.
I am backing up now and will then check and repair the library permissions. I'll post back the results.

How to share iTunes library between two users on the same Mac

We have recently bought a Macbook Pro and have successfully transferred the old PC information onto the Mac. But, the iTunes library from the PC has now just gone into the old user acct. I am now confused as to which iTunes user name I connect my devices? Is there a way to merge these two iTunes through the user accts?
Thanks,
I feel like I learning about computers all over again!

It's doable. As it's been pointed out Aperture has no provisions for file locking so you can't have two users accessing the library at the same time. This includes having one user having the library open only for browsing. Aperture doesn't have a +Read Only+ mode, when it opens the library, even if you make no changes to any images, the library will be written to.
This also means you can't have one user open the library and then stop using Aperture but still have the library open and then have another copy of Aperture open on the library.
Of course if you have two copies of Aperture running even they are on different libraries you'll be in violation of the license and you'll have bigger problems to worry about then a toasted library.

Sharing files between two users on one computer

I have two user accounts on my Macbook so that I can use two different .Mac accounts. I want to be able to access files from both users accounts. Is there a way to do this without having to copy files into the "Public" or "Shared" folders?

You could create a new folder at the root "/" level. Put the file in there. More than likely each of you will have to modify permissions after editing the file.
OR you could put the file on an external drive.

Sharing one music library between two users on a mac

I want to set my wife up as a separate user on my mac and share my music file with her so we no longer mix up our iPhone apps. I don't want a second copy on my hard drive. I've tried one method on here HT1203 but it makes a second copy and fills up my hard drive. I do not want to share the whole media library just the music. There must be an easy way to use two iPhones with separate user ids on one Mac so we don't mix up our apps. I would have though that the great Apple would have just sorted this out when you plug in a different device.

First, back up your computer in case it does things you don't like. I'm not testing this on my computer.
You'll have to deactivate iTunes managing your music (deselect in preferences having iTunes organize your music and copying it to your media folder when adding to iTunes). Do the same for iTunes in her account.
Go to your iTunes folder and drag the music folder in Media to the Shared Users folder at the top level of the drive. You may also need to get info on the music folder and change permissions on it and all enclosing items so she has permission to use it too.
It is just possible your copies of iTunes may track all the moves. It would be good if it does. I know I have manage music disabled on my computer and iTunes is good at tracking when I move things around in Finder, unlike when iTunes is totally terrible at tracking when you let it manage music. If it doesn't track then you may have to face rebuilding your libraries using the music in the new location.
You will have to come to an agreement in deleting music. Fortunately in the manually manage mode you are using if you delete a track in your iTunes it will not delete the actual file. You have to manually delete it in Finder which is good because she may still be using the file.
If one of you renames the file, it will affect both. Haven't tried this but in theory you would each retain your individual ratings and last played.
Let us know if it works.
Edit: Found this; compare with my concept piece above:
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 - relocating iTunes' media folder to a shared area but leaving separate library files - extra tip at https://discussions.apple.com/message/17331189

How do I move an iPhoto library between two users (secondary user to admin user) on the same mac?

Hi there,
I accidentally created a second profile for myself on a mac some time ago in a migration and am now starting to move all my files from the second profile to the admin profile.
I want to move my iphoto library from the secondary user to the admin user but I don't know which file to move.
Is it as simple as copying the iphoto library in the pictures directory to the shared users drive and then copying that file over to pictures directory in the admin profile?
What if there already is an iphoto library under the admin user? Should I uninstall iphoto, then copy the file over and then install iphoto?
What is the best way of doing this?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Philip

Is it as simple as copying the iphoto library in the pictures directory to the shared users drive and then copying that file over to pictures directory in the admin profile?
Yes.
What if there already is an iphoto library under the admin user?
Are there photos in this Library? If not, overwrite it. If there are then you'll need to rename one of the libraries to prevent overwriting. Then you can use iPhoto Library Manager to merge them
Should I uninstall iphoto, then copy the file over and then install iphoto?
No.
Regards
TD

Sharing iTunes library between two users on the same Mac

I recently bought my parents a new MacBook Pro (they switched from Windows). I was able to get all of their songs over and into my dad's iTunes library. My mom and dad each have separate accounts on the MBP, but they'd both like to be able to see (and listen to) the same iTunes library, not at the same time, obviously.
Is that possible? If so how? Is it enough to point my mom's iTunes to the same folder? Do I need to put special permissions on that iTunes folder while logged into my dad's account?

brown_sm wrote:
I recently bought my parents a new MacBook Pro (they switched from Windows). I was able to get all of their songs over and into my dad's iTunes library. My mom and dad each have separate accounts on the MBP, but they'd both like to be able to see (and listen to) the same iTunes library, not at the same time, obviously.
Is that possible? If so how?
the easy way is to use itunes sharing. start itunes in your dad's account and enable sharing in itunes preferences->sharing. then other users including your mother will be able to listen to the songs from your dad's itunes library but ONLY while your dad is logged in. so in order for this to work both of them should be logged in at the same time. to make that possible enable fast user switching in system preferences->accounts->login options. However, this is not terribly convenient.
it's possibly (but surprisingly tricky) to use the same itunes library without having both users logged in at the same time.
Is it enough to point my mom's iTunes to the same folder? Do I need to put special permissions on that iTunes folder while logged into my dad's account?
yes. not just permissions. you need to put inherited ACLs on your dads Music folder to give both of them read+write access to all current and future files in it. so log in as your dad and run the following terminal command (copy and paste please)
chmod -R +a "username allow delete,chown,list,search,add_file,\
addsubdirectory,delete_child,file_inherit,directoryinherit" ~/Music
instead of username put the short user name of your dad's account. it's the same as the name of his home directory in /Users. then repeat the command with your mother's username instead of your dad's. after that log out of your dad's account, log into your mom's account and point her itunes library to his itunes library. to do that start itunes while holding option.

Problems using one music library between two users

I followed to a T the instructions listed under here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 . This was echoed by a Macworld help topic and after several attempts I was able to get the primary user account to recognise the new location of the music files in the Users/Shared folder. I then switched over to the other user account and again tried changing the location and still no luck.
I would like it that all the files are in one location but the two different user accounts for my wife and I maintain separate playlists and ratings so that she can sync her new nano and I can sync my older iPod photo separately.
I tried the alias deal, but it does not keep separate listings and playlists and because I synced my ipod photo first it only shows her nano as a playlist.
Please help, I'm at my wit's end.

Under her account I then started iTunes to do the same. I pointed the app to where the files could be found, but it never populates her library with the songs.
That's normal. Resetting the location of the iTunes Music folder in the iTunes preferences, by itself, only sets where future purchases and imports go. In and of itself it won't reset where iTunes looks for tracks already present. What you need to do now is use the Add To Library command in iTunes and select the iTunes Music library in it's new location. That will then get the tracks into iTunes.
Note for the future that iTunes has no "folder watching" feature, so any new tracks you add from one account will have to be manually added in the other. There is a third-party utility called Hazel that says it can watch a folder and add new content to iTunes automatically, but I haven't tried it myself.

OSX iPhoto App: Sharing Library Between Two Users

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