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How can I access my iphoto library after installing Catalina?

I installed Catalina and cannot now get access to my photographs and videos on iPhoto - disastrous! Can anyone tell me how?

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 30, 2019 8:07 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 30, 2019 8:56 AM

iPhoto uses 32-bit code, that cannot run on Catalina, and there will be no update for iPhoto. It has been replaced in 2015 by Photos for Mac. If you follow the procedure described by Nile, you can open your iPhoto Libraries in Photos for Mac. This is described in more detail here: Updating from iPhoto to Photos for macOS – Apple Support


And here you can see, what the migrated iPhoto Library will look like in Photos: content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture


The procedure will work, if you have been using iPhoto '11 or iPhoto '09. If your iPhoto Libraries are older, you have to prepare them on a Mac with an older system version, that will allow you to run the iPhoto Library upgrader tool: Using the iPhoto Library Upgrader tool - Apple Support

It is not possible to prepare older libraries for the migration to Photos on Catalina. This should have been done years ago, when iPhoto '11 came out.


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 30, 2019 8:56 AM in response to jmbcph

iPhoto uses 32-bit code, that cannot run on Catalina, and there will be no update for iPhoto. It has been replaced in 2015 by Photos for Mac. If you follow the procedure described by Nile, you can open your iPhoto Libraries in Photos for Mac. This is described in more detail here: Updating from iPhoto to Photos for macOS – Apple Support


And here you can see, what the migrated iPhoto Library will look like in Photos: content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture


The procedure will work, if you have been using iPhoto '11 or iPhoto '09. If your iPhoto Libraries are older, you have to prepare them on a Mac with an older system version, that will allow you to run the iPhoto Library upgrader tool: Using the iPhoto Library Upgrader tool - Apple Support

It is not possible to prepare older libraries for the migration to Photos on Catalina. This should have been done years ago, when iPhoto '11 came out.


How can I access my iphoto library after installing Catalina?

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