Let’s face it when using apps from different places they don’t always communicate well with each other. For those of us who like using Lightroom for photo editing, the task of moving your photos after editing can be tedious. First, they need to be exported, and then after that, you still need to upload them into the Photos app if you want access to them across your devices.
Export photos in a selected format. In the Photos app on your Mac, select the item you want to export. Choose File Export Export number Photos. Click the Photo Kind pop-up menu and choose the file type for the exported photos. JPEG creates small-size files suitable for use with websites. In addition to moving your multi-gigabyte iTunes library to an external drive, a significant amount of Mac storage space can be freed up by moving your photo libraries onto a separate drive. If you take a lot of pictures with a DSLR camera or your iOS devices and import them in Photos, you’ll fairly quickly run out of free space on most Macs. How to transfer your iPhone or Mac Photo library to an external drive. By AppleInsider Staff Wednesday, January 31, 2018, 04:40 pm PT (07:40 pm ET) Storing an entire collection of photographs in.
There is an easier way, it just requires jumping through a few hoops at first. Using Automator you can create a workflow that will upload your photos for you, and we have the details for you here!
How Lightroom switchers can move to Photos for Mac
If you switched to Lightroom a while ago but now want to make the move to Photos, your best bet is to load your Lightroom folders and files directly into Photos. Just note down where they’re stored on your hard drive, and then import away.
How to prepare for setting up Lightroom photos to sync
Before you can jump through the hoops required to set up an automated export of your Lightroom photos to your iCloud Photo Library, you’ll need to prepare a few things. These steps will simply ensure that, once you’ve started, you’ll be able to create the Automator rule without having to stop and set something up. You’ll need to set up a folder in finder, create an export preset for Lightroom, and enable your iCloud Photo Library.
Create a folder in Finder
First things first, you’ll want to create a new folder in Finder. This is the folder where all of the photos you want to sync from Lightroom will be exported to. If you’ve already got a folder for this, you can use the existing one.
- Open Finder on your Mac.
- Use Control + click to open the menu.
- Click new folder to create a folder for your Lightroom exports.
- Name your folder accordingly.
Create a Lightroom export preset
Next, you’ll want to create a preset for exporting your Lightroom photos. This makes it easy to ensure that all of your files are exported to the correct location and in the correct format.
- Open Lightroom on your Mac.
- Select export from the File menu.
- Set the export location to the folder you created specifically for syncing from Lightroom.
- Set the format to .jpg.
- Click add.
Enable iCloud Photo Library in Photos on your Mac
Export Pictures From Mac To External Drive
- Launch the Photos app on your Mac.
- Click on the Photos app menu in the Menu bar in the upper left corner of the screen.
- Select Preferences from the drop down menu.
- Click on the iCloud tab.
- Tick the box to enable iCloud Photo Library.
How to use Automator to export Lightroom photos to Photos for Mac
- Launch Automator on your Mac. You can find it by typing Automator into the Search field on your Mac.
- Click on New Document in the bottom left corner of the Automator window.
- Select Folder Action.
- Click on Choose.
- Select the folder you have designated to send your Lightroom photos to into the workflow panel to create the first action in the workflow at the top of the screen.
- Double-click on Get Specified Finder Items in the sub-menu bar second from the left.
- Click Add and choose the folder you created earlier.
- Click Add.
- Double-click on Get Folder Contents in the sub-menu bar to add it as the second action in the workflow.
- Click on Photos in the main sidebar on the far left.
- Double-click on Import Files into Photos to add it as the third action in the workflow.
You should now test the Automator rule to make sure it works correctly. Click on Run in the upper right corner of the Automator window. If the actions are listed correctly, you’ll see a note in your log that the workflow is completed. If not, repeat the steps above, making sure to have three actions in your workflow. You’ll probably get an arrow, but you’ll also get the notification that a photo has been imported into Photos.
- Click on File in the Automator App menu in the Menu bar.
- click on Save in the drop-down menu. You could also hit the Command + S keyboard shortcut to save the rule.
- Select a folder to save the action in if you haven’t already.
Questions?
Do you still have questions about syncing your Lightroom photos to your iCloud Photo Library? Have you used this method to make sure your edited photos are accessible on your other devices? Let us know about it in the comments!
Updated May 2019: Took into account macOS Mojave.
Photos for Mac
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Your Photos library holds all your photos, albums, slideshows, and print projects. If your library is large, and you want to free up storage space on your Mac, turn on iCloud Photo Library and use Optimize Mac Storage, or move your library to an external drive.
Before you start, be sure to back up your library.
Prepare your drive
You can store your library on an external storage device, such as a USB or Thunderbolt drive formatted as APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).1 Find out how to check the format of your external storage device.
To prevent data loss, Apple doesn’t recommend storing photo libraries on external storage devices like SD cards and USB flash drives, or drives that are shared on a network.
Move your Photos library to an external storage device
- Quit Photos.
- In the Finder, go to the external drive where you want to store your library.
- In another Finder window, find your library. The default location is Users > [username] > Pictures, and it’s named Photos Library.
- Drag your library to its new location on the external drive. If you see an error, select your external drive’s icon in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info. If the information under Sharing & Permissions isn’t visible, click , then make sure the ‘Ignore ownership on this volume’ checkbox is selected. If it’s not selected, click to unlock it, enter an administrator name and password, then select the checkbox.2
- After the move is finished, double-click Photos Library in its new location to open it.
- If you use iCloud Photo Library, designate this library as the System Photo Library.
Delete original library to save space
After you open your library from its new location and make sure that it works as expected, you can delete the library from its original location.
In a Finder window, go back to your Pictures folder (or whichever folder you copied your library from) and move Photos Library to the trash. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash to delete the library and reclaim disk space.
Open another Photos library
Copy Photos To External Drive Mac
If you have multiple libraries, here’s how to open a different one:
- Quit Photos.
- Press and hold the Option key while you open Photos.
- Select the library that you want to open, then click Choose Library.
Photos uses this library until you open a different one.
Learn more
If you have a permissions issue with your library, you might be able to resolve the issue by using the Photos library repair tool.
1. You can’t move your library to a disk that’s used for Time Machine backups.
2. If the volume isn’t formatted APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled), or has been used for Time Machine backups but hasn’t been erased, this checkbox will either not be present, or won’t be selectable after unlocking. Erase and reformat the drive for this option to be available.
