Sharing iPhoto library between 2 accounts

I share the same MacBook, which has now run out of HD space, with one other person. Each of us has their own iPhoto library when we really only need one master library that each of us can use. Is there a way to: 1) consolidate both libraries into one master library and, 2) allow both accounts to use that library to edit, change, etc. photos & videos from that library? Is it possible to have the library living on an external HD attached to an AEBS and still be accessible when needed? Finally, how does this impact on syncing photos with my iPhone? Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

Is there a way to: 1) consolidate both libraries into one master library
Yes. You can use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager ($20) to do this. Or, if you have Aperture 3.3 and iPhoto 11 (v9.3) you can do it with Aperture.
2) allow both accounts to use that library to edit, change, etc. photos & videos from that library?
Yes, and the easiest way is to have it on an External Disk set to ignore file permissions. (See Below)
Is it possible to have the library living on an external HD attached to an AEBS and still be accessible when needed?
Yes but: Is this a wireless connection? If so, viewing will be fine. But if you're trying to edit the Library (that is, make albums, move photos around, keyword, make books or slideshows etc.) or edit individual photos in it via Wireless be very careful. Dropouts are a common fact of wireless networking, and should one occur while the app is writing to the database then your Library will be damaged. Simply, I would not do this with my Libraries.
It will work perfectly well with a wired connection.
Finally, how does this impact on syncing photos with my iPhone?
Not at all.
How to set up sharing:
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 (Note: we're seeing increasing reports of permissions issues with this set up)
(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.

Similar Messages

Sharing iPhoto Library between Two Accounts

I've read many threads on this topic and have some limited understanding.
My situation is same as many others, I wish to have one person (me) to have full control over the library and like the other accounts on the iMac to have "read" privileges of the "master" iPhoto library only. But I would like them to be able to "copy" photos from the "Master" library to their own library for editing or using in class projects.
At the moment I moved the Library to the Shared Folder and enabled sharing. However I ran into the "Disk is locked" problem and the other accounts can't access the "Master" library in the "Shared Folder".
I looked at the "Media" account suggested by Terence Devlin but I think that means the other accounts will see the shared photos but can't use any of the iPhoto features such as viewing by Event.
Is there a way to setup iPhoto so each account can view both the "Master" library while inside iPhoto, with all the Sorting features working, and have their own local library setup where photos from the Master can be copied over and then manipulated?
Can this be done if setup on external hard drive?
If iPhoto can't do it, is there a third party software that allows this to be done? That is view/copy from Master library into local library?
Message was edited by: iMacaroon

I wish to have one person (me) to have full control over the library and like the other accounts on the iMac to have "read" privileges of the "master" iPhoto library only. But I would like them to be able to "copy" photos from the "Master" library to their own library for editing or using in class projects.
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. To use a photo in their own account they can simply drag the pic from the shared Library to their own inside the iPhoto Window.
I looked at the "Media" account suggested by Terence Devlin but I think that means the other accounts will see the shared photos but can't use any of the iPhoto features such as viewing by Event.
It doesn’t mean that. Viewers will be able to see the Events, Albums and so on. To use a photo in their own account they can simply drag the pic from the shared Library to their own inside the iPhoto Window.
If the other users have no ability to add or edit the Library there is no point whatever in using the Media Account.
Is there a way to setup iPhoto so each account can view both the "Master" library while inside iPhoto, with all the Sorting features working, and have their own local library setup where photos from the Master can be copied over and then manipulated?
See above.
Can this be done if setup on external hard drive?
This will allow users to manipulate the Library, so you won’t be the sole owner.
There are no third party apps that can share the Library.
Regards
TD

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

Sharing iPhoto Library between users

Is there an easy way to share one single iPhoto Library between 2 different users on the same Mac? My girlfriend and I want to be able to access all our pictures from our separate user screens without having to have all the photos saved twice and using twice as much space. I tried having a central Library and making our separate Libraries an alias link to the main one, but this doesn't work. Any ideas?

The optimal way (and Apple's recommended method) is to have the library on an external HD whose ownership has been set to be ignored . That way both users can add, edit, create slideshows, etc. that both users will have access to. Also the external HD can be used to backup other important files. Also you need to have the library backed up so you could back it up from the external HD to the Shared folder on your boot drive. But both users can't operate it from the Shared folder due to permissions issues.
OR, create a disk image of a size that will hold the library with room for expansion over time and put the library in it and the disk image in the Shared folder. Then have each user set that disk image to be mounted (System Preferences/Accounts/Login Items) automatically when the user logs in. It will act as an external HD with the library in it. Personally, I recommend the external HD with backing up the library to the Shared folder with a backup application like Synk Standard that can do incremental backups after each use of the library.
Here's Apple's document on that: iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.≤br>
Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

Share iPhoto Library between two account

I’m am new in MAC world and I want to share pictures between two account in my iMAC. Rather than have the iphoto library on my account I was wondering if it's possible to share iphoto library with account of my wife.

Hi There,
I was told to follow a different course to share my iPhoto Library. I put it in the Shared Folder and changed the permissions to read right for everyone. Now all account holders can access the iPhoto library in the Share folder.
There's a problem though when User A logs in and accesses the iPhoto library a warning comes up that says 'You don't have permission to access some files. Would you like to repair the permissions' If ou click on 'Repair' User A now has full access.
When User B tries to access the iPhoto library they get the same message. Once permissions are repaired again, they have full access to the library. When User C tries, same thing again.
When User A goes back again to use the iPhoto library they must repair the permissions all over again. How can this be avoided. When I attempt to change the permissions on the iPhoto Library to Read and Write for everyone the file becomes locked and inaccessible.

Share 1 iPhoto library between 2 accounts on one Mac ?

The simple answer should be to place the to-be-shared iPhoto library in the shared folder with both accounts having read-write access. Since only one account will be open at a time there should be no transaction management issues. Unfortunately, "should" and "are" aren't the same in this caser.
Only the original iPhoto account/application is able to edit the content of the library but both can see it. So it seems that there is some additional hidden (?) iPhoto file tied to the iPhoto application ? I've looked at the content of the iPhoto Package but nothing obvious (recently changed date for example) pops out.
Is this trivial functionality really not available or am I just missing something obvious ?
(As an aside, for iTunes I did see the suggestiuon of putting the whole iTunes folder in the shared space and aliasing the iTunes application to the accounts that needed access on the same machine to get the desired functionality in iTunes. I'm tempted to do the same with iPhoto, moving the originally owning iPhoto app over to the shared space and aliasing a copy into each of the two accounts.)
Thanks,
-Sven

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.
If you are asked to repair permissions you do this by holding down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild.
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 iPhoto library between a Mac and a PC

Anyone have any tips on this one?
My wife and I would like to share the iPhoto library between her PC laptop and my Mac Pro. What's the best way to go about this?
Would it be best to put the library up on the wireless drive attached to the Airport Extreme wireless and share that way. I would format the drive for PC so it would be readable from both computers.
Option 2 is to put the iPhoto library on an external PC formatted drive and and then physically attach it to whatever computer is using the library.
I know there are probably problems that come with these methods and possibly that it wouldn't work at all. Not sure exactly. Thought I'd check in before I opened a huge can-o-worms.
Thanks!

1. iPhoto has no cross-platform capabilities whatsoever.
2. Putting the iPhoto Library on a disk formatted for PC is a frequent cause of problems. Folks report issue with updating the Library, keywords, accessing the pics in other apps and so on.
3. Using iPhoto on a wireless connection is also not recommended. Connection dropouts are a fact of life on wireless (even very brief ones.) If one occurs while iPhoto is writing to the Library then the Library will be corrupted.
4. If you look inside the iPhoto Library Folder you can see how that Library is organised: there are various files, which are the Library itself and some ancillary files. Then you have three core folders
Originals are the photos as they were downloaded from your camera or scanner.
(ii) Modified contains edited pics, shots that you have cropped, rotated or changed in any way.
(iii) Data holds the thumbnails the the app needs to show you the photos in the iPhoto Window.
Remember: iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.
Browsing through the Library folder with another app - for instance, whatever you use to view the pics on the Windows machine - can alter the structure of the Library. Another recipe for disaster.
What you can do:
1. Use an app that has a cross platform capability such as Microsoft’s Expression
2. Run a *Referenced Library*:
Simply go to iPhoto Menu -> Preferences -> Advanced and uncheck 'Copy Files to the iPhoto Library on Import'.
Now iPhoto will not copy the files, but rather simply reference them on your HD. To do this it will create an alias in the Originals Folder that points to your file. It will still create a thumbnail and, if you modify the pics, a Modified version within the iPhoto Library Folder.
However, you need to be aware of a number of potential pitfalls using this system.
1. Import and deleting pics are more complex procedures
2. You cannot move or rename the files on your system or iPhoto will lose track of them on systems prior to 10.5 and iPhoto 08. Even with the later versions issues can still arise if you move the referenced files to new volumes or between volumes.
3. Most importantly, migrating to a new disk or computer can be much more complex.
I don’t recommend it but this will allow you to share the Original files (though not the edited versions.)
Regards
TD

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!

IPhoto not properly sharing same library between different accounts

I have my iPhoto library installed on a 4GB thunderbird external hard drive, brand LaCie in case that matters. I made sure to select the drive and adjust the permissions as recommended in the Apple tech support article - basically you have to select the option to "ignore ownership on this drive" which I did. I also made sure to indicate that both user accounts could read and write to this drive.
Now, I'm trying to make it so that my wife and I, who each have our own accounts on the same iMac, can share the same iPhoto library and import to the same iPhoto library. The problems seem to be occurring mostly on my wife's side. These are as follows:
1) Many times when she loads up iPhoto, it starts off with the default iPhoto library in her directory and we have to keep manually selecting the iPhoto library on the external hard drive.
2) Some of the pictures in the library viewed through her account have wrong thumbnails - that is to say, pictures within a given event show one set of thumbnails but when clicking you get completely different pictures. The same problem is not seen with the same pictures viewed in my account.
3) When syncing iOS devices through her account, iTunes sometimes fails to see the correct iPhoto library, requiring us to again go into iPhoto and select the correct library on the external hard drive.
I would really appreciate some feedback as to how to fix these problems. I thought I did everything correctly but placing the library file on a shared external hard drive and fixing the permissions, but still this problem is ongoing. How can I get iPhoto to only use the library on the external HD as default in her account as well as mine? And how to fix the thumbnail problem?

I would trash the cache and the plist files in the affected account.
The cache file is here
/Users/Your Name/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Library/Caches
Try trash the com.apple.iPhoto.plist file from the HD/Users/ Your Name / library / preferences folder.
(On 10.7 or later: Hold the option (or alt) key while clicking on the Go menu in Finder to access the User Library)
(Remember you'll need to reset your User options afterwards. These include minor settings like the window colour and so on. Note: If you've moved your library you'll need to point iPhoto at it again.)
What's the plist file?
For new users: Every application on your Mac has an accompanying plist file. It records certain User choices. For instance, in your favourite Word Processor it remembers your choice of Default Font, on your Web Browser is remembers things like your choice of Home Page. It even recalls what windows you had open last if your app allows you to pick up from where you left off last. The iPhoto plist file remembers things like the location of the Library, your choice of background colour, whether you are running a Referenced or Managed Library, what preferences you have for autosplitting events and so on. Trashing the plist file forces the app to generate a new one on the next launch, and this restores things to the Factory Defaults. Hence, if you've changed any of these things you'll need to reset them. If you haven't, then no bother. Trashing the plist file is Mac troubleshooting 101.

Sharing iTunes library between two accounts on a single iMac

My wife and I are using the same iMac but through 2 separate accounts, which is quite neat to separate files, preferences, etc.
We have 'ripped' our home CD collection into the iTunes library of my account, and I am now looking for a way for my wife to belisten to the same music on the same computer from her own account.
I have tried the 'Share' functionality in iTunes, but this seems to open access to the library to other iMacs on the networkd, which we don't need.
Any pointers?
tx,
AH
PS Same request for iPhoto, question posted there

This should help:
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
Note that when it says "publicly accessible location", it needs to be a place where everyone has read and write access. The most common such place is the Shared folder in the Users folder.

Best setup for sharing iphoto itunes between 3 accounts?

Changed my family PC for a Mac and am having a lot of sharing issues (in XP everyone could see and change each others stuff - bad security but good for family type stuff)
I have 1 admin account (mine), wife (not admin), kid (managed with parental controls)
I moved 5k+ photos, 10k+ songs to my account. I want to be able to have the wife and I be able to do anything to the photos and songs and the kid to only read the pic and songs. I also want all 3 to have the same playlists, etc.
Should I "share" my iphoto library and itunes folder or move them to public or move them to shared (not sure what the diff between public and shared is) or maybe I should have set up a Family account?

I've used the following technique with iTunes. It's not exactly what you describe, but it may start you down the right path.
1) Make a separate partition for your sharing stuff. I call mine "Multimedia".
2) Move your iTunes songs there using iTunes.
3) Copy your iTunes directory from your Music directory there, I change the name to iTunesDB to prevent confusion.
4) Delete your iTunes directory (after making a backup of course)
5) Make a symbolic link using Terminal
a) Start Utilities > Terminal
b) Type "cd Music" to move to your Music folder
c) Type "ln -s /Volumes/Multimedia/iTunesDB iTunes" where you put the name of your partition where I have the string "Multimedia".
You can control who can do what with access control. This severely restricts your kid, presumably what you want to do. If it were not for that, you could just turn off ownership in your Multimedia partition. Access control takes some maintenance in this setting.
You can use the "ln" command in Unix mode to do more powerful workarounds. I think that will be needed for iPhoto, who doesn't seem to like aliases or symbolic links. If you leave out the "-s" string you can make a "hard link" between two files. Such a link doesn't work for folders, but it is indistinguishable by all programs. If you use this to make two accounts share the same Library.iPhoto file, it will fool iPhoto. However, deleting the file, as iPhoto sometimes does after "upgrading" deletes both of them. As with all Unix stuff, use with caution and make sure you have backups.

Sharing iPhoto Library between users on the same Mac

I recently switched to using iPhoto ('11) instead of Picasa on our iMac. My wife and use the iMac but with each our own accounts. When I first set it up, I put the library in our Shared folder on the Mac with the proper permissions, and both of us could access the library without any problems (as long as one of us remembered to quit iPhoto when we were done so the other can access the library). But now, my wife no longer can open the library. But not only that -- when launching iPhoto from her account, a warning display pops up saying the library cannot be accessed because it is locked or do not have permission to open. When you click "OK," iPhoto simply quits. No option to select a new library or create a new one.
I have no problems launching iPhoto under my account, and I've double-checked permissions on the Shared folder and the iPhoto library itself (we both have admin rights, anyway).
Has anyone experienced this scenario? Any help would be appreciated!
thanks!
MG

Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Use the option to check and repair Library permissions.

Any best practices sharing iPhoto library between iMac and MacBook Pro

I have my iPhoto library on my iMac, but I would also like to view and edit keywords, etc on my MacBook Pro.
Any suggestions on how to do this?

Larry
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. On the other machine enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. Your Library will appear in the other source pane.
Remember iPhoto must be running on both machies 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 ion both machines.
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions
On each machine 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 machines 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

How to automatically sync a shared itunes library between all accounts?

Hi Guys
I have my itunes library on a separate drive in my desktop computer. My account points on this desktop to this library. I have another account on my laptop, set to automount this drive. iTunes on the laptop points to this library also. Both have admin rights to the iTunes library drive. I can add music or files from either account.
In order to sync what each account sees in iTunes, the iTunes Library file and the xml file in each accounts' iTunes folder needs to be the same in both accounts.
This is a pain whenever I have added to the library, eg downloaded a podcast, or ripped a CD. I know I can either manually drag the added files into the window of the iTunes that needs updating, or I can copy the iTunes Library file and the xml file from the most recently modified iTunes, or I can export the added playlist from the newer iTunes then add it to the older iTunes. All of these manual methods are not ideal.
Now, my question is, has anyone achieved an automated way of doing this with the minimum degree of fuss? I'm thinking along the lines of Automator perhaps, or using a backup program on either computer to sync the library files say every night. Or is there another way. Or is my method of sharing one library not the best way. (I know I can use iTunes sharing, but it means I can't modify the library from all accounts.)
Any comments?
Thanks
Michael

have you done a consolidate in iTunes?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iTunesMac/5.0/en/670.html

Sharing iPhoto library between MacBooks

I have bulk of my photos stored in Macbook #1. Recently I have loaded photos onto Macbook #2. How do I get photos from #2 transferred to #1 so that all photos are stored on the drive of #1? I want to do this so that I can managed all the photos in iPhoto albums and folders system.

You have to first import them into iphoto on system #1 and if the iphoto option to copy them to the iphoto library is still checked those pictures will all be copied to system #1.
Then on system #2 you have to point iphoto to use the iphoto library on system #1. You do that by having the systems networked over your LAN (they need to be able to see and talk/communicate, file share, with each other over your LAN) and when starting iphoto on system #2 hold down the option key and a dialog box will come up asking you which iphoto library you want to use. You have to browse the LAN to system #1 and select the iphoto library in your username pictures folder.
But what will happen is if on system #2 you start iphoto without first having system #1 on or without system #2 being able to access system #1 iphoto will then create a default library with no picture in it or use the original iphoto library on system #2. And if that happens then you need to point it back to the library on system #1.

Sharing iPhoto library between 2 accounts

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for