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How to assign correct Photos library on Mac?

My wife will be using a MacBook Pro (MBP) that I previously was using. To facilitate the transfer, I signed out of my Apple ID on the MBP. My wife then signed into the same MBP using her Apple ID. The MBP now correctly links to her iCloud Drive, Messages, Notes, etc. But when she opens Photos, the app still points to my Photos library, not to hers.


How do we get the MBP to sync to her Photos library? Thanks.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.3

Posted on May 2, 2021 3:06 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 2, 2021 9:25 AM

Hi there,

I am pretty new to all Apple EcoSystem, so I might not be helpful but I needed a way to have my photos on my MacBook but not synced to iCloud (I have lots of photos and still testing MacBook and have only 5GB storage in iCloud) and at the same time I needed to have my iCloud synced as well because of photos taken with my iPhone.

The solution I found is to open Finder > select Pictures and there I created a second library.

"Photos Libraries" is the one I have connected to iCloud and the other one is the rest of my Photos. For now, the only discomfort is that I need to close Photos Application and open the wanted library via Finder > Pictures.


I hope that helps or at least gives you an idea of how to do it.


Martin

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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 2, 2021 9:25 AM in response to PommePourMoi

Hi there,

I am pretty new to all Apple EcoSystem, so I might not be helpful but I needed a way to have my photos on my MacBook but not synced to iCloud (I have lots of photos and still testing MacBook and have only 5GB storage in iCloud) and at the same time I needed to have my iCloud synced as well because of photos taken with my iPhone.

The solution I found is to open Finder > select Pictures and there I created a second library.

"Photos Libraries" is the one I have connected to iCloud and the other one is the rest of my Photos. For now, the only discomfort is that I need to close Photos Application and open the wanted library via Finder > Pictures.


I hope that helps or at least gives you an idea of how to do it.


Martin

May 2, 2021 9:41 AM in response to MartinChuchukov

Thank for the tip Martin. It proved to be the clue I needed.


I renamed the existing Photos Library to Photos Library Backup, then created a new Photos library named Photos Library (the default name for the photos library). I then opened the Photos app while holding down the Option key, then pointed Photos to the new library. That did the trick. Photos immediately began to sync to my wife's iCloud Photos library.


Thanks again.

How to assign correct Photos library on Mac?

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