Hey folks.
Today I'm gonna teach you how to merge multiple photo libraries together.
That's coming up next on Tech Talk America.
Hey folks, and welcome to the class.
There are technically four ways that you can merge multiple
photo libraries together.
Three of those methods don't require any additional software, but they do require
a ridiculous number of steps to complete.
And even if you follow all of those steps perfectly, you can still end up
with duplicate photos, duplicate albums, and a whole bunch of other tech issues.
The other method involves a third party app that will merge everything
together with a simple setup, maintain all of your photo edits,
album structure, metadata, and at the same time, weed out duplicates.
Capiiche?
The name of the app is Power Photos.
You can't get it in the App store, but there is a direct link in the
video description, and if you use coupon code TechTalk10, when checking
out, you can save yourself 10%.
It should be noted that this app does way more than just merge
multiple libraries together.
If you'd like to learn about some of its other capabilities, check out
my video called Goodbye Junk Photos.
When you open up Power Photos, you're going to want to start by clicking this
button at the top center of the app.
Here on the side, you can see I have two photo libraries we're about to merge.
If you don't see one of your libraries appear in this list, click the plus
symbol at the top left and then select.
Add library, then direct it to that location.
If you have any old iPhoto or Aperture libraries that need to be
converted power photos does that too.
Just go to file and click migrate iPhoto Libraries.
And just to be clear, even though that menu item says iPhoto, it
also converts Aperture libraries.
Power Photos has two options when it comes to merging multiple photo libraries.
You can merge it into an existing library or create a brand new
one with the contents of both.
This next step is critical that you get right, so PLEASE pay attention!
If you are running low on hard drive space, you should merge into a new
library on an external hard drive.
It doesn't have to live on that external hard drive forever.
You can always move it back to your local hard.
After you delete the old libraries and reclaim the freed space.
For this example, I'm just gonna keep things simple and merge my second
library into my default library, which are both located on my internal drive.
When it comes to all of the other settings, don't touch any of them.
Trust me, they're perfect the way they are.
If you are on a laptop, I recommend that you plug into
a power source for this next.
Now let's click preview here at the top right, and at this point you might
wanna grab a cup of coffee because, especially if you're on an older Mac or
if you've just got a ton of photos, this process can take a while to complete.
When it's done, I can see a preview of the final library and also review any of the
photos that were flagged as duplicates.
Before we click Merge, I want to explain one of the things that
Power Photos does in the background, which will save you buckets of.
Let's say I have two albums with the same name, but one album has
more photos in it than the other.
Not only does Power Photos know NOT to duplicate that album, but it also takes
any photos that are missing from my first album and adds them to the merged album.
After you click "merge," Power Photos will proceed with importing
everything into the merged library.
This can take a while to complete, especially for larger libraries,
but it will happily run in the background while you do other things.
So in this example, I just merged my other library into my default library, which
is already syncing with iCloud photos.
In this case, photos will start to automatically upload the
new merged photos into iCloud.
This may take some time to complete, but you will know it's
done when you go into the library.
Scroll all the way to the bottom.
And it should say, Last updated with a date and timestamp.
Once it's finished syncing, your new merged content should start to appear on
any other devices that are syncing with iCloud photos such as your iPhone or iPad.
At the beginning of this video, I mentioned that you could merge
your libraries into an existing library or create a new one.
If you went with that second option, there is one last step that you need to take.
If you want your new library to sync with iCloud, open up the new merged
library and then go into preferences.
Then under the general tab, click use as system library.
You'll then get this pop up confirming that you want your new merged library
to start to communicate with iCloud.
Sounds good to me.
Let's click okay.
Now, click the iCloud tab and turn on iCloud photos.
Before we go, I wanna take two seconds to tell you about my next video.
I'm going to teach you my favorite way to create a type of slideshow
that is perfect for something that is gonna be displayed on a monitor at an
event, but is not the main attraction.
For example, if you're about to have a wedding and you're gonna
have an area where people can sign a guest book, this would be perfect
to display on a monitor next to it.
It's also perfect for events like memorial services, reunions,
birthdays, anniversaries, church events, fundraisers, etc.
So stay tuned.
If you have any additional questions that I did not answer in this video,
you can email Power photos directly at Support@FatCatSoftware.com.
Another option is if you'd ever like to work with me one on one,
you can book a session with me on my website TechTalkAmerica.com.
If you enjoyed this video, and would like to support my YouTube channel,
please consider clicking the new super thanks button that allows
you to leave a little tip of your choosing, even if it's as little as $2.
Every little bit helps.
Thank you so much for watching everyone.
This is David A.
Cox with Tech Talk America.
Class Dismissed.
By the way, if I sound a little congested.
Yes!
I'm getting over a cold.
And no, it's not Covid!