10 Things You Are Missing Out On If You are Not Using the Photos App
If you aren't using the Photos app, check out these 10 reasons to give it a try. Often when someone avoids using an app like Photos it is because of misconceptions or not realizing that the app has evolved since they last tried it.
Want to know more about how to use Photos on your Mac? Check out this MacMost course!
Comments: 27 Responses to “10 Things You Are Missing Out On If You are Not Using the Photos App”
Jerry Morris
4 months ago
Currently I have 14,000 photos in 1 Library. I have created Albums that relate to events. It is almost impossible to find a single picture in the library go delete. Is there a way to delete a picture in the Library by selecting the picture in an Album?
Jerry: Yes. If you select a photo in an album, look in the Image menu. You'll see both a Remove command (Delete key) and a Delete command (Command+Delete). Remove removes from the album, but Delete will delete from your library.
Jim Esher
4 months ago
I have metadata selected so I can see the name of the photo. It's visible in the main library but when I move a photo into an album the name does not move with it. Is there a way to turn on metadata in the albums
Jim: If you see titles in the Library, you should see them in albums as well. Maybe you are viewing the album in Square mode? Try Option+T.
Paul Jansen
4 months ago
I have a couple of questions:
1. I have 15 years of digital camera photos to import, will Photos handle this?
2. I am reluctant to have photos stored only inside Photos - I want to have an independent backup of all the image files that is platform independent.
3. Is it possible to have shared albums linked to Family sharing?
Paul: 1. 15 years? Is that 50 photos or 500,000 photos?
2. OK. That will take a lot of extra work (and storage) as you'll need to put your photos in two places. Or, you could just occasionally export all of your photos to an external drive.
3. Check out https://macmost.com/how-to-use-the-new-icloud-shared-photo-library.html
Paul Jansen
4 months ago
Gary:
1. 60,000 photos and 5,000 videos. Getting on for 500GB in all. Can Photos handle this?
2. Photos are the only digital asset that cannot be rebuilt form other records so I am rather paranoid about having multiple independent backups (currently on two computers and 3 external hard drives...)
Paul Jansen
4 months ago
Gary: Are items in photos stored in their native format or some proprietary format?
Paul: Maybe consider only putting photos in your Photos library? I'll bet most of the space is from those 5,000 videos. Photos can handle it as long as you have a nice big and fast internal drive. 60,000 photos isn't that much, but 5,000 videos is a lot. Photos are stored as their original files and you can export the original files any time you like. You can also use Photos in a mode where it merely links to the photo files and doesn't store them in the library. But then you can't use those with iCloud.
Liz
4 months ago
Am I doing something wrong? I have my photos synced to the cloud but on my MacBook Pro it eats all my available space as all are saved locally as well as on the cloud. Is there some way to stop that I haven’t found?
Liz: In Photos, go to Photos, Settings. Then under iCloud, turn on "Optimize Mac Storage." It may take a while (maybe overnight) for you to get some space back.
Derek Handforth
4 months ago
I have 30K photos on my Mac and have my settings to optimise storage. Therefore the masters are on iCloud not the Mac. I backup my Mac using TimeMachine. Will this backup all my photos or just the ones that happen to be on my Mac at that time. If not how do I backup my entire library?
Derek: It will only back up the ones present. Turn off Optimize to back up them all. Or, maybe just export them as a one-time thing to an external drive if you like.
Jerry Aubertin
4 months ago
Gary, having problems with syncing my iMac to iCloud share on devices all my other devices iPhones iPads are set up but when I try setting up iMac, when I click on iCloud I get a message," iCloud features for photos are only available in the systems photo library. Please help I would like this option to share my photos across all my devices Jerry.
Jerry: Do you have more than one library? If so, you have to be using your System Library to use iCloud Photos. If you only have one, or would like to make the current library your System Library, go to Photos, Settings, General.
Barbara Hooper
4 months ago
I have several photo libraries that are basically duplicates of the photo library that Apple Photos uses. Can I delete them? if so, how do I do that?
Barbara: How did they get there? Are you sure they are duplicates with the same photos? Make sure you are 100% they are duplicates and you won't lose anything by deleting them. They are just files like any other and you can drag them to the trash.
Mark Flannery
4 months ago
If I take a photo with my iPhone, is it automatically stored in iCloud and the Photos app? If yes, is there any reason to retain it in the iPhone Camera app?
Mark: Photos are not "in" your Camera app. They are in the Photos app. You take a photo and it automatically is added to your Photos library. If your Photos library is using iCloud, then the library is in iCloud.
MarkH
4 months ago
I'm confused by iCloud Photos and statements that I can store more photos on iCloud than on my local drive. This is backwards: Apple iCloud is a miserly 5GB and I have 250GB locally plus external backup drives with TBs of storage. I've never found much use for iCloud. I store a file or two there but Spotlight won't find the file by name even when I'm staring right at it! (I'd screenshot this.) My free Google drive has about 9GB stored on it which I download occasionally to clear it out.
Mark: iCloud storage is only 5GB at the starting (free) level. You can buy up to 2TB of storage, which is what I have. I have enough storage on my Mac Studio to not need to Optimize my Photos library, but I use this option for my smaller MacBook Air and it is automatically on for my iPhone and iPad which don't have nearly enough space. Being able to see all of my photos across all of my devices at all times is amazing.
MarkH
4 months ago
Gary, if you had to stop paying the $120 per year to maintain that library, how do you save or backup all your photos to an independent source? Where do your pictures go if they are in the iCloud? Do they stay locked behind the paywall until you re-up the subscription again? Do they get backed up inside the giant ApplePhotos Library.photoslibrary file?
MarkH: Your pictures remain if you stop paying, but you can't add anymore until you clear off space. So you have time to download them. You can download them all in a variety of ways, such as simply turning off Optimize in Photos.
Jason Gold
4 months ago
Gary -- Agree completely that the last item you mention is perhaps the very best part of the Apple ecosystem. I often settle arguments with friends when out to dinner as to when and where was the last time (or first time) we had dinner together. I quickly pull up photos after a quick search for the friend's face. Sometimes I'll pull up prior visits at the restaurant we are dining at (I usually take few shots when we are our to dinner).
Jason Gold
4 months ago
Gary -- When viewing an existing photo I also sometimes use the mini-map in the info pane to confirm where a picture was taken; not just the geographic location but even the name of, for example, the restaurant. Really useful and cool feature.
margaret parkes
3 months ago
Hi Gary, I have all my photos on Photos on my Mac and would like to put some, but not all, on the cloud to be able to access them from mu oPad or phone. Is there some way to put them in a folder which can then be stored in iCloud?
Want to know more about how to use Photos on your Mac?
Currently I have 14,000 photos in 1 Library. I have created Albums that relate to events. It is almost impossible to find a single picture in the library go delete. Is there a way to delete a picture in the Library by selecting the picture in an Album?
Jerry: Yes. If you select a photo in an album, look in the Image menu. You'll see both a Remove command (Delete key) and a Delete command (Command+Delete). Remove removes from the album, but Delete will delete from your library.
I have metadata selected so I can see the name of the photo. It's visible in the main library but when I move a photo into an album the name does not move with it. Is there a way to turn on metadata in the albums
Jim: If you see titles in the Library, you should see them in albums as well. Maybe you are viewing the album in Square mode? Try Option+T.
I have a couple of questions:
1. I have 15 years of digital camera photos to import, will Photos handle this?
2. I am reluctant to have photos stored only inside Photos - I want to have an independent backup of all the image files that is platform independent.
3. Is it possible to have shared albums linked to Family sharing?
Paul: 1. 15 years? Is that 50 photos or 500,000 photos?
2. OK. That will take a lot of extra work (and storage) as you'll need to put your photos in two places. Or, you could just occasionally export all of your photos to an external drive.
3. Check out https://macmost.com/how-to-use-the-new-icloud-shared-photo-library.html
Gary:
1. 60,000 photos and 5,000 videos. Getting on for 500GB in all. Can Photos handle this?
2. Photos are the only digital asset that cannot be rebuilt form other records so I am rather paranoid about having multiple independent backups (currently on two computers and 3 external hard drives...)
Gary: Are items in photos stored in their native format or some proprietary format?
Paul: Maybe consider only putting photos in your Photos library? I'll bet most of the space is from those 5,000 videos. Photos can handle it as long as you have a nice big and fast internal drive. 60,000 photos isn't that much, but 5,000 videos is a lot. Photos are stored as their original files and you can export the original files any time you like. You can also use Photos in a mode where it merely links to the photo files and doesn't store them in the library. But then you can't use those with iCloud.
Am I doing something wrong? I have my photos synced to the cloud but on my MacBook Pro it eats all my available space as all are saved locally as well as on the cloud. Is there some way to stop that I haven’t found?
Liz: In Photos, go to Photos, Settings. Then under iCloud, turn on "Optimize Mac Storage." It may take a while (maybe overnight) for you to get some space back.
I have 30K photos on my Mac and have my settings to optimise storage. Therefore the masters are on iCloud not the Mac. I backup my Mac using TimeMachine. Will this backup all my photos or just the ones that happen to be on my Mac at that time. If not how do I backup my entire library?
Derek: It will only back up the ones present. Turn off Optimize to back up them all. Or, maybe just export them as a one-time thing to an external drive if you like.
Gary, having problems with syncing my iMac to iCloud share on devices all my other devices iPhones iPads are set up but when I try setting up iMac, when I click on iCloud I get a message," iCloud features for photos are only available in the systems photo library. Please help I would like this option to share my photos across all my devices Jerry.
Jerry: Do you have more than one library? If so, you have to be using your System Library to use iCloud Photos. If you only have one, or would like to make the current library your System Library, go to Photos, Settings, General.
I have several photo libraries that are basically duplicates of the photo library that Apple Photos uses. Can I delete them? if so, how do I do that?
Barbara: How did they get there? Are you sure they are duplicates with the same photos? Make sure you are 100% they are duplicates and you won't lose anything by deleting them. They are just files like any other and you can drag them to the trash.
If I take a photo with my iPhone, is it automatically stored in iCloud and the Photos app? If yes, is there any reason to retain it in the iPhone Camera app?
Mark: Photos are not "in" your Camera app. They are in the Photos app. You take a photo and it automatically is added to your Photos library. If your Photos library is using iCloud, then the library is in iCloud.
I'm confused by iCloud Photos and statements that I can store more photos on iCloud than on my local drive. This is backwards: Apple iCloud is a miserly 5GB and I have 250GB locally plus external backup drives with TBs of storage. I've never found much use for iCloud. I store a file or two there but Spotlight won't find the file by name even when I'm staring right at it! (I'd screenshot this.) My free Google drive has about 9GB stored on it which I download occasionally to clear it out.
Mark: iCloud storage is only 5GB at the starting (free) level. You can buy up to 2TB of storage, which is what I have. I have enough storage on my Mac Studio to not need to Optimize my Photos library, but I use this option for my smaller MacBook Air and it is automatically on for my iPhone and iPad which don't have nearly enough space. Being able to see all of my photos across all of my devices at all times is amazing.
Gary, if you had to stop paying the $120 per year to maintain that library, how do you save or backup all your photos to an independent source? Where do your pictures go if they are in the iCloud? Do they stay locked behind the paywall until you re-up the subscription again? Do they get backed up inside the giant ApplePhotos Library.photoslibrary file?
MarkH: Your pictures remain if you stop paying, but you can't add anymore until you clear off space. So you have time to download them. You can download them all in a variety of ways, such as simply turning off Optimize in Photos.
Gary -- Agree completely that the last item you mention is perhaps the very best part of the Apple ecosystem. I often settle arguments with friends when out to dinner as to when and where was the last time (or first time) we had dinner together. I quickly pull up photos after a quick search for the friend's face. Sometimes I'll pull up prior visits at the restaurant we are dining at (I usually take few shots when we are our to dinner).
Gary -- When viewing an existing photo I also sometimes use the mini-map in the info pane to confirm where a picture was taken; not just the geographic location but even the name of, for example, the restaurant. Really useful and cool feature.
Hi Gary, I have all my photos on Photos on my Mac and would like to put some, but not all, on the cloud to be able to access them from mu oPad or phone. Is there some way to put them in a folder which can then be stored in iCloud?
Margaret: Answering that depends on the "why." Why do you want to put some but not all of your photos in iCloud?