How can I import Photos library from Monterey to Sequoia?

If you've put a lot of organizational effort into your Monterey library you might consider using the paid version of PowerPhotos to import the Monterey library into a new, empty Sequoia library. A comparison of the Photos vs PowerPhotos import capability is as follows:

I ran a number of tests with a 3119 photo, 72 video and 97 keyword Photos library with keywords, captions, keywords and locations.  I merged it into an empty library using Photos and PowerPhotos.  This is what I found was imported by each;

PowerPhotos:           Photos:

Albums***                                          -----------

Smart Albums (as regular albums)** -----------

Folders Containing Albums -----------

Captions                                             Captions

Titles                                                   Titles

Keywords* Keywords (some but not all:…see Note *)

Original images                                  Original images

Edited images                                     Edited images

---------------                                        Locations

Favorites                                             Favorites

Can detect and exclude                      Duplicates

duplicates upon import or not

Neither method could import/merge projects. 

Both methods could import older iPhoto libraries into a Photos library when the iPhoto library couldn't be migrated into a Photos library. 

Notes:

*The Photos app only imported 84 keywords our of 97. PowerPhotos merged 147 keywords. Photos only imported keywords that were embedded in the original file and not those added by Photos. PowerPhotos imported all of them.

**The original library had 90 Smart Albums. All were merged by PowerPhotos but, as indicated above, the Smart albums were brought over as regular albums. No album of any kind were imported by Photos. Also only PowerPhotos imported folders.

The original library had 34 regular albums and 1 folder with some nested albums. PowerPhotos merger all of them successfully.

The original library had 72 videos. Photos imported only 57. PowerPhoto got all 72 in its merge.

Fritz Lang1 wrote: … Is there a way to import the Photos and Albums from the Monterey lib to the Sequoia lib? I get the Photos, but not the Albums.

Yep-- that's what File>Import does.

Those of us who have Multiple Libraries use the trusted 3rd party app PowerPhotos ($35) to transfer pictures around. PowerPhotos maintains the album and folder structure, checks for duplicates, and uses Photos' own routines to avoid harming the Library database. Smart Albums are imported as standard albums. It does a lot more, like providing list views and sorting by different parameters, and it has a versatile duplicate finder. PowerPhotos is always open on my Mac when I'm using Photos. You should check out the web site to see all that it does.

I'm not sure that there is anything else that handles albums and is trustworthy.

Everything I said about Photos Library transfers was true in Sonoma and before. There are always shortcomings, how could there not, but luckily there are fewer with Sequoia.

PowerPhotos and it predecessor, iPhoto Library Manager, have been essential components of Photos (and iPhoto) for 20 years.

Fritz Lang1 wrote:

OK, I'm a dummy. I'd like to get back my Albums from my Monty library.

Do I reopen the Monty Library with PP or do I use what was already imported with drag & drop to the Photos folder? Then how do I get the folders back?

If you're using Power Photos, then the best thing is to start over, I think. Otherwise you're stuck with putting the toothpaste back in the tube. You can look in Recently Saved to see pictures that have been added last. To start over you have to delete all of those and remove them from Recently Deleted. Then wait maybe hours, for the database to fully register all the changes. (I've just been doing this with one album, and not waiting gets you way more work.) After it's all settled down, then you can, PowerPhotos, drag albums from one Library to the other, and they'll be copied. It will check for duplicates (which is where the trouble arises if you don't wait,) and checking for duplicates can take awhile.

Actually, you may be able to not do the Delete thing, and just transfer the albums of pictures. PowerPhotos should recognize the duplicates and not transfer the pictures over, but just create the albums and put the already there pictures in those albums. So you'd have the pictures in the albums, but also wherever they were before they were put into the albums. (Not duplicates, but appearing in two places.)

PowerPhotos also has the ability to "merge" two Libraries, generating a third one (if you want) that is a combination of the other two. I haven't done that.

As Richard said start over from scratch.

1 - Create a new, empty Photos library.

2 - launch PowerPhotos and drag the new Photos library and your Monterey library into PowerPhotos sidebar.

3 - click on the Merge button:

4 - drag the Monterey library from the sidebar into the "Drag one or more libraries here to search them for duplicate photos" window.

5 - drag the empty Sequoia library into the "Destination" window.

6 - select your options

7 - click the Merge button and sit back as watch.

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