Why is it important that the source library not have iCloud Photo Library on?

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BaliMac Author

Level 1

27 points

Why is it important that the source library not have iCloud Photo Library on?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Nov 22, 2021 6:24 PM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

196,989 points

Nov 22, 2021 11:24 PM in response to léonie

Added: PowerPhotos (https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/) , the great companion for Photos, is currently still the better tool to merge libraries.

We can select albums in one library and merge them into a different library, while preserving the structure of the library and most metadata, including the keywords and keep the originals paired with the edited versions.

However, even PowerPhotos will give error messages, if the library is an incomplete iCloud Photos Library - we will see a list of missing photos, that have to be downloaded from iCloud, before they can be copied to another library.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

196,989 points

Nov 22, 2021 10:58 PM in response to BaliMac

It is an inconvenient and annoying limitation, but it is is the way Apple has implemented the import from another library.

I guess, because it is easier to import from a library, where all photos are stored locally and do not need to be downloaded from iCloud. If your library is syncing with iCloud Photos, some of the most recent photos may still be needing to be downloaded from iCloud, even if we are not using "Optimise Mac Storage".

it is very limiting, that we can only import directly from libraries, that are not syncing with iCloud. It makes it harder to archive new photos, that we synced from our iPhone and iPad to the Mac and need to add to our archive libraries.

You may want to send a feature request to Apple to remove this restriction. You can use the feedback form in the Help menu of Photos:

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Answer 3

BaliMac Author

Level 1

27 points

Nov 25, 2021 4:04 AM in response to léonie

Thanks Lèonie, very helpful, I will be sending a feature request to Apple, as you suggest, this difficulty with multiple libraries has gone on altogether too long. I am a PowerPhotos user and was an iPhoto Library Manager user before that and still Apple has not solved the issue.

I had three libraries in macOS Monterey and was hopeful that the current Import function allowing review would work for me so after merging two earlier libraries successfully I thought to then import the resulting library

into the system created Photo Library photolibrary in the Pictures folder but I could not review my Photo Library 3 because the Photo app stated it needed to be repaired. I successfully ran the repair process but got the same message.

Back to PowerPhotos I'm afraid.

It's such a small yet powerful tool I just can't understand why Apple could not incorporate some of its features into the Photos app.

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Why is it important that the source library not have iCloud Photo Library on?

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