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Merging iPhoto libraries from different user accounts


Merging libraries from different user accounts is done much like any other merge, but is complicated by the fact that by default, one user account does not have permission to access another user account's files. The easiest way around this is to make a copy of one user's library (let's call them user A) to another location where the other user (whom we'll call user B) can have access to it. The best place to copy the library to is an external hard drive, since the system by default ignores permissions on external drives altogether. If an external drive isn't available, you can instead copy it to a shared location, such as the Shared folder located inside the Users folder on your internal hard drive.


So, to summarize the steps:


  1. Log in to your machine as user A.
  2. Go to the Pictures folder in user A's home folder, and copy the item there named "iPhoto Library" to your external hard drive.
  3. Once that's finished, logout and log back in as user B instead.
  4. Open iPhoto Library Manager, then use the "Add Library" button to add the copy of the library from the external hard drive to the library list in iPLM.
  5. Once you have both libraries in the list, you can then use the "Merge Libraries" command in the File menu to perform the merge.