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How To Share 1 Photos Library Between 2 Users On a Single Mac

I would like to share one Photos library between two users on a single Mac with macOs Big Sur.


I imagine to copy the Photos library to

/Users/Shared/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary

Then give it the following access rights

drwxrwxr-x

Then both users will have write access to that library.

I imagine the only thing that has to be considered is that one users has to quit Photos before the other one starts using it.


Please, comment on this idea!

Will it work?

Are there obstacles?

Posted on Feb 15, 2021 1:00 PM

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Posted on Feb 28, 2021 12:47 AM

I have had no luck with sharing a library in the Shared folder since Catalina.

Even when I give read/write permissions to everyone, for the enclosing folder and the library itself. Whenever I switch between users the library needs repairing, as soon as I launch Photos on the library: It is no problem for a small library, but may be inconvenient for a large library:

I created a second, smaller volume on my system drive, where I am storing the shared libraries, with "Ignore Ownership" enabled. There I can switch freely between users.



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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 28, 2021 12:47 AM in response to Matti Haveri

I have had no luck with sharing a library in the Shared folder since Catalina.

Even when I give read/write permissions to everyone, for the enclosing folder and the library itself. Whenever I switch between users the library needs repairing, as soon as I launch Photos on the library: It is no problem for a small library, but may be inconvenient for a large library:

I created a second, smaller volume on my system drive, where I am storing the shared libraries, with "Ignore Ownership" enabled. There I can switch freely between users.



Feb 27, 2021 12:33 PM in response to thomas.gruenler

A shared folder does not suffice. It will give you access to the library itself, but when you open the library, the file ownership of internal items will change and other users will have to repair the library, before they can open it again.

The only solution with less trouble will be tom put the library on an external volume or a separate partition, where you can set the ignore ownership flag. The ignore ownership flag will allow access to the internal files and folders, even of the ownership is changed, when another user opens the library. It is what Apple recommends here:

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support


Thomas, which system version is running on your Mac?


Feb 19, 2021 11:50 PM in response to thomas.gruenler

The closest thing to a reliable method is to move the Photos library to an external disk with the "Ignore ownership on this volume" option enabled, and to be sure that one user has logged off entirely before the other user logs on that Mac. (You cannot rely on quitting Photos. There are background processes active on your Photos library any time you are logged in.)

Feb 20, 2021 12:13 AM in response to thomas.gruenler

I previously saved Photos library at /Users/Shared so other's in the family could also view it (only one at a time).


When the library grew too big, I copied it to an external MacOS Extended (GUID) and now APFS disk with "Ignore ownership on this volume" set (which seems to be the default BTW). I have advised other's in the family to turn on the external disk, then start Photos, then quit Photos and unmount the disk (usually I do all that for them, though). Works OK.

Feb 28, 2021 12:17 AM in response to léonie

We used Mojave Photos from /Users/Shared and no edits were made (the main archive is in plain folders on external disks). No ownership issues then but maybe we were lucky or later versions are different.


BTW at one point I cloned the library to a Carbon Copy Cloner disk image as a backup and the updates were very fast. But now I no longer do that because the backups are elsewhere anyway.

Mar 3, 2021 12:43 PM in response to léonie

Hello Léonie,

thank you very much for your excellent explanation!

I tested sharing a library on the /Users/Shared folder.

It is exactly as you described it.

Whenever one user changes something in the Photos library then the other one needs to repair the library permissions next time.

Then I created an extra APFS volume, set the ignore ownership flag and tested sharing a Photos library there.

It works without the need to repair library permissions.

Thank you very much for clarifying this issue!

Best regards

Thomas

How To Share 1 Photos Library Between 2 Users On a Single Mac

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