Photos Question

[djs71a]

Hello, I am a new macOS user. I should be getting a macbook in a couple days. I am trying to bone up on how photos works with macs. I have had an iPhone for a couple years and have all my photos taken with it backed up to iCloud. So when I sign into the mac for the first time, I assume I will link my iCloud account to it. Then, when I started the Photos app, I should see photos from the iPhone, correct?

Will those photos also show up in the photos directory under my home folder? Or do they just live in Photos / iCloud?

Also, I have some photos in my "My Pictures" directory on my Windows laptop. If I put them on an external hard drive and connect it to the mac, I think I use the import function in Photos to put them in Photos / iCloud. Also, will those then show up in the photos directory under my home directory?

 

[Ubele]

Hello, I am a new macOS user. I should be getting a macbook in a couple days. I am trying to bone up on how photos works with macs. I have had an iPhone for a couple years and have all my photos taken with it backed up to iCloud. So when I sign into the mac for the first time, I assume I will link my iCloud account to it. Then, when I started the Photos app, I should see photos from the iPhone, correct?

Yes. When you link Photos on the Mac to your iCloud library, your photos will populate into Photos on the Mac. Depending on how many photos you have, and how much storage you have on your MacBook, you can choose to download your entire library, or have Photos manage which photos are fully dowloaded and which just have previews. It works just like on your iPhone.

Will those photos also show up in the photos directory under my home folder? Or do they just live in Photos / iCloud?

They live in iCloud, but you have the option of also downloading them to your MacBook. They're stored in a managed library: [username]/Photos/Photos Library. If your MacBook's SSD isn't big enough to hold all your photos, you can move Photos Library to an external drive. It's less convenient than having it on your MacBook, because the external drive will need to be connected for you to work with Photos, but it provides backup insurance in the unlikely event that something happens to your iCloud library. I have a MBP with 256 GB of storage, which isn't big enough for my Photos Library, so that's what I do.

Also, I have some photos in my "My Pictures" directory on my Windows laptop. If I put them on an external hard drive and connect it to the mac, I think I use the import function in Photos to put them in Photos / iCloud. Also, will those then show up in the photos directory under my home directory?

Yes, you can import photos into Photos from an external drive. They'll be imported into the managed Photos Library I mentioned above. If you want to have external access to individual photos, you can export them from Photos into folders. These will be copies, though--the originals will still be in your Photos Library.

Hope that helps, and enjoy your new MacBook!