How do I sync iphoto's libraries from two macs?

You can't really sync iPhoto libraries without doing one of two things: copying the entire library from one computer to the other (this is what you'll want to do the first time), and/or exporting the new photos from one library and importing them into the other. Unfortunately, because of the way iPhoto handles IPTC tags (which is to say it doesn't), you'll lose that information using this method.

My solution was to manually tag my photos using an Automator script before importing them into iPhoto. Then I manually manage my library on each of my computers, copying photo files to each one as necessary. It's a PITA, but it works.

If someone else knows of a better solution, I'd love to hear it.

If you accept that access by both macs is not simultaneous this is what I did:

Have a single iphoto library.

On the mac with less need to use iphoto, I deleted the iphoto library file (in the pictures folder) and replaced this file with a same name file that is an alias to the iphoto library of the other mac.

hdsalinas said:

In iphoto you can browse libraries in other macs which is neat but I wish that there was a way to sync them.

Click to expand...

You can just drag and drop the photos you want while browsing external libraries. That will copy them to your library.

Apps such as iPhoto Library Manager have a "merge" function which will allow users to merge libraries so that both contain the same photos.

can this method be used

can you possibly change this method to work for iphoto?

http://guides.macrumors.com/Keeping_2_iTunes_Libraries_in_Sync

I use this for itunes and it works flawlessly, i am hoping something like this can be used for iphoto. I have a imac and mbp on the same network

skybolt said:

Apps such as iPhoto Library Manager have a "merge" function which will allow users to merge libraries so that both contain the same photos.

Click to expand...

I've used this program's merge function with success. I'm glad Apple "closed" the Library from being able to view inside the library. My mom got into her library folder under 10.4 and mucked it up. iPhoto Library Manager did a good job merging her active library and a backup together to get all of her photos in one place again.

It does check for duplicate pictures, so it should work for you. It also makes a copy of each album in a library in the merged one and then checks for duplicate photos. The result is, if the two libraries are similar, the merged library will have a lot of empty duplicate albums. I'm not sure how it does with Events. We were in iPhoto '07 when I used iPhoto Library Manager last.

This would be a great need that Apple could fill with a simple, easy-to-use media server.