Syncing IPhoto Library with two users

Im a switcher so if this question is somewhat basic that is the reason why. My wife and I share the same Macbook but we have created two separate accounts on the same machine. As such, we each have our own iPhoto library. Is there a way that we can make sure that each of our iPhoto libraries contain the same pictures as the others. We are finding that when we upload new picture to iPhoto, we haven't found a way to transfer these same pictures from one account to the other.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

The only way to get two libraries to be the same is to use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager to merge the two libraries into one and then share that one library.
The optimal way to share a single library between two users on a Mac is to have that library on an external HD whose ownership is set to be ignored as described in the Apple article: iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users
As the article indicates an alternative way would be to create a disk image (dmg) large enough to hold the library and leave room for expansion, put your merged library in the disk image and move it to the Shared folder on the Mac. Have each user set their System/Account preference to have that disk image mounted when they log in. That way it will automatically appear on the desktop like an external HD would. You would have to point your iPhoto application to that library by launching iPhoto with the Option key depressed and, when asked, select Choose Library.
In either case be sure the external HD or the disk image is mounted before you launch iPhoto.
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.
Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

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HT1198 Can you share your iphoto library with two users? and can they use there own apple id for photo stream?

My wife and i have two iphones and one mac mini, we basically want to share our photos and music but also have our individual settings, so I have set up two user accounts, i have managed to share itunes successfully however iphoto'11 will not seem to let us both use it without it needing 'repairing'? any help out there?

You'll need to put the Library on an external disk or Disk Image set to ignore owner ship and permissions.
Regards
TD

Sharing one library with two user accounts.

I want to share one iTunes library with two user accounts on the same iMac.
I've followed the tutorial where you move the iTunes Music folder to a shared location HD/Shared/iTunes and then pointed both iTunes to that location via the advanced menu, but only the admin account has the music. The other user account iTunes shows nothing.
Also, I've now moved the music folder back to my area on the HD (not shared any more) and now the iTunes music folder shows all the album folders where before I guess they were hidden. Why and how do I get it back to how it was...?
All we're trying to do is share one mac. My wife and I have our own log in user accounts, but want to have the same music and iPhotos accessible on our own set-ups.
Thanks for any help.

Out of interest I got this to work.
I made a folder called 'All Music' and put all the album folders in it.
Moved this folder to User/Shared/ and then clicked on the file, and Get Info.
In Get Info added my wife to Sharing & Permissions as Read & Write.
In iTunes / Advanced found the folder on my user account, and then did the same on my wife's account and hit add to library.
I hope this was the right way to do it..... It seems to have worked.

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

How to share administrator iPhoto library with other users on same iMac?

How to share administrator iPhoto library with other users on same iMac?

This is the part I'm referring to:
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.
The library stays in the Pictures folder for this.

Combine iPhoto library with two sessions.

On my new iMac, I made tree sessions and would like to combine the iPhoto library with two, non Admin sessions.
Is this possible?
Thanks

Do you mean merge libraries?
If you have Aperture 3.3 or later and iPhoto 9.3 or later you can merge libraries with Aperture.
Otherwise the only way to merge Libraries is with the paid ($20) version of iPhoto Library Manager

How do you sync iTunes library for two user accounts?

Hello
I have a MacBook with two user accounts - myself and my wife.
I have to do this because we both have iPhones and we need to keep our sync-ing separate or we would just keep overwriting each others preferences.
I have an iTunes library and so does my wife.
Problem...
I recently imported some songs using my account that my wife wants on her iTunes. When I logged out of my account and went into hers the songs I imported were not there!!
Question...
How do you marry and update the libraries of both accounts so no matter which iTunes library you access (my account or hers) you have all the available songs in both?
I have tried trawling through some of the zillion posts here, but the prospect of spending hours and hours was just too much to contemplate!!!!
So if i've asked a question that has already been asked and dealt with please forgive me - or better still if you know where the needle would be in this haystack a link would be very much appreciated!
Many Thanks in Anticipation.
Mr Totsy

Hi ffiti
I have done a bit of cleaning up on my Mac (OCD!) and made a bit of an ar*e of things - can you help?
I went into my wife's account and wiped all iTunes files and stored songs.
This was done because some songs were on my iTunes library and some were not on hers - so I just wiped the lot off and started again...I know it gets even better...
I then went into my user account and wiped off everything there too...
I went on the Apple website and downloaded the latest iTunes 11.0.4 I think and reinstalled an empty library from scratch - that way I will be only filling one library full of songs - I also took the media file out of the shared folder and reset it back to its default position
I went to sync my iPhone and now it tells me I can only sync one device with one library - so how do I sync my phone without it deleting everything and replacing it with nothing?!!!!
I doesn't matter how great Apple products are they just can't account for human idiocy !!!
Regards,
Mr Totsy

Share iphoto library with 2 users

Just updated to Lion v10.7 and I'm also running the latest version of iPhoto v9.1.5.
I have 2 user accounts on the same mac min, with the iPhoto library located under users/shared folder.
Assuming you only open one instance of iPhoto, all seems fine. However you import your images and then close the application, then move over to the other user account, open iPhoto and again all seems fine.... but no
Portrait photos can be view and opened. Good...
Landscape photos can be seen as thumb nails, but you get ! when trying to view the image.
Why does this happen and can this be fixed?
Sorry if this has been posted in the past, but its been bugging me for some time!

Honestly, I don't know. Some folks need to do it once. Others occassionally. Some everytime and I've never figured out why.
Ultimate solution, move the library to a disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and set to ignore permissions
Regards
TD

Can I sync iphoto library between two Mac's?

I have two Macs (an iMac and a Macbook Pro) and want to sync the iPhoto (6.0.6) library between the two so whenever I change one the other is updated. I thought about using iDisk but my library is apx 5gb. I am new to Macs- is there a utility built into OSX 10.4.9 or hopefully some freeware or very-cheap ware... preferably automated. Thank you very much.

brettjbyers
No you cannot sync an iPhoto library between two macs. If you do you will corrupt the iPhoto Library file. iPhoto is a consumer level app, and this feature is not supported.
What you can do is share the photos but not the library. Each machine will need to have it's own library file.
The easiest way to do it this is to enable sharing (in the iPhoto Preferences) on both machines (one sharing the library, the other looking for the share). When you do this the shared library will appear in the Source (or left-hand) pane and pics can be dragged from that to the library in the other machine.
Regards
TD

How do I share one Iphoto library with other User accounts on the same iMac

I have created a shared Iphoto Library. When I add this to one of the user accounts, it copies all the pictures instead of sharing the same library. The result is that it uses memory.
Is it possible to create a shared library that is shared by all the users without actually copy all the pictures to each users Iphoto library?

Hi MikaelK,
SHARING IPHOTO LIBRARIES
Sharing libraries between users on the same local network
You can also share a library on the same machine between users the same way.
Sharing libraries between users on the same machine...
-both users must have sharing enabled in their iPhoto Preferences
-both users must be logged in and have iPhoto running
-Remember that you can only view the other library. You can't edit the photos or play the saved slideshows or view the made books or burn them to CD or DVD. The books and slideshows will show up as an album. You can play that album as an "on the fly" slideshow. You can drag images from the sharing library to your library in the source column to import them to your library. You can then edit, add to albums, books, slideshow, etc.
Sharing links from Apple....
Sharing your photos between computers
About shared photos
Turning off photo sharing
Looking for shared photos
SHARING ONE IPHOTO LIBRARY BETWEEN USERS ON SAME MACHINE
You can try one of these three methods:
1- Use iPhoto Library Manager-the paid version
The documentation page will give instructions on how it is done.
2- Sharing one iPhoto library between several users on one machine
3- Share an iPhoto Library in tiger Using ACL's
4- I have also read about ShareAlike
There is no other info on the site about how it works.
I strongly urge anyone wanting to try any of the methods for sharing one iPhoto Library folder among more than one user to backup all iPhoto Library folders before attemptin anything.

Sharing the same library with two users

Hi,
I want to share my iTunes library with another user on our iMac.
I followed the steps as discribed in iTunes: How to share music between different user accounts on a single computer but this is not working.
The folder is made public, and when I browse in finder al movies and music files can be found.
Does someone have any tips on sorting this one out?
Many thanks,
Timo

Correct, iTunes does not add files automatically. The point of the Shared folder is so they can be read by another user and get around file permissions issues of a specific user account, but iTunes will not add them to another user's library.
Things may start to get complicated at this point. When your wife adds one of those files to her library iTunes will want to make a copy of the file in her media folder. I think you can get around this by using preferences to set her media folder to be the shared media folder the way you did for your library. Old material will not be relocated unless she chooses to "organize" her media to this location too. That's okay for now, but you will be back here with questions when the day comes you decide you want to relocate all your iTunes things to an external drive.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660 More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391 iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847

Iphoto Question - Sharing the one iPhoto Library by two Users

My wife and I have separate User Areas on the one computer. We would both like access to the same iPhoto Library. I have ticked Sharing photos, put the iPhoto Library in Shared Folder and also put it in Public Folder. The file is marked as restricted access! Is there an answer other than to put a copy of the same iPhoto Library in each users program?
iMac intel Mac OS X (10.4.7)

My solution requires either a partitioned disk OR an external disk. If you've had your computer for any length of time without partitioning, you don't want to do it now. However, if you have any plans for an external drive...
Simply move the library to the external drive. Use GetInfo to ensure that the drive is set for "Ignore Permissions." Delete the library from it's original location (but don't empty the trash just yet).
Open iPhoto. It will ask for help in locating the drive. Direct it to the location on the external drive. If everything is OK, empty the trash. Then log off and log on as your wife. Delete her (presumably empty) drive and fire up iPhoto. Direct iPhoto to the location on the external drive.
You will both have EQUAL access to the library.

Shared iTunes Library with two users

I am trying to have my system permit me to share one library between two users. My Mac acts as a Music Server for my house audio system through Airport Express and it also plays music locally through the computer speakers. In order to do this, I need to run two users simulatnaneous - one for the music server and one for local use - itunes runs on both user accounts simultaneously playing to the Airport Express and the local speakers. Trouble is that each user needs its own library. If I add a song locally, the server does not get it, and if I put a song on the server, I dont get it locally. Any thoughts?

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!

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!

Syncing iPhoto library on two computers

My wife wants to have access to her VERY LARGE iPhoto '08 library on two computers - the desktop (her preferred) and the laptop (when the boys are doing homework on the desktop).
Rather than try to share the same library (i.e., networked drive), I set up the two to sync the library. Using +Folders Synchronizer 3.6.2+ (which is able to read and sync the package contents), I have the two libraries syncing so there is a duplicate of her library on both computers (also provides a bit of a backup).
The sync seems to be working well - EXCEPT the changes are not showing up in the iPhoto viewer. In other words...
...she added pictures to iPhoto on the desktop and then synced the laptop.
...Looking inside the iPhoto library (show package contents...) on the laptop and the new pictures were copied to the laptop.
...HOWEVER, when she opens iPhoto on the laptop they don't show up in the window.
I'm sure I'm missing something brainless. I thought it might be that the library needed to be updated but can't figure out how?
Any ideas? Thanks.

Danktuft:
If you have an external HD connected to the Mac then it's a very easy thing to do. See Apple's KB document on iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users. Trying to get a library in the Shared folder to accept two different users is difficult. There is a site describing how to do that using Access Control Lists in Tiger: Share an iPhoto Library in Tiger Using ACL's. It may not work if you upgrade to Leopard at a later date. By far the easiest way is the external HD method.
Happy New Year
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto 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), 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 08 libraries 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.

Syncing IPhoto Library with two users

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