Picking my family iCloud account for photos

[Howard Brazee]

My wife doesn't take photos, but she likes having the photos library for her iMac's screen saver. Every once in a while I copy my iMac's Photos Library.photoslibrary to a memory card and then overwrite it on her computer. I've tried to get ChronoSync to synchronize that library, but without luck.

I pay for extra iCloud space for our family using my wife's AppleID, and it would be nice if our computers could synchronize with our photos on iCloud. I'm not sure this would work, as I have never gotten my head around how photos work on iCloud.

But I have gone to System Preferences/iCloud and tried to find a way to select which iCloud account my photos are backed up on. I don't see an option to switch from my iCloud account to the much bigger family account that is my wife's. We have two iPhones and an iPad in between us.

Does anybody have a recommendation on how I can keep my wife's iMac having the same photos as my iMac?

 

[Lufbrarunner]

Would Family sharing do what you require ? LINK

 

[Howard Brazee]

I have family sharing using my wife's ID. I don't see any setting on System Preferences/iCloud and tried to find a way to select which iCloud account is being used. And when I add a photo on my iMac, nothing changes on hers.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

You have to sue the same Apple ID to have an exact mirror of an iCloud Photo Library.

However, you can use the Photos Shared Albums function:

Use Shared Albums in Photos

See if that works for you,

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

It appeared that way to me too - so I'm trying to find out how I can use the same Apple ID for photos, and I haven't figured it out. I don't want to use the same Apple ID for *everything*. I have shared some albums with other family members, but that is not sharing the whole photo library.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Since the iCloud Photo Library is connected to the iCloud account in System Preferences, I don't know of a way to "separate" them.

I wonder if you could try sharing the All Photos album in Photos? They would all be in a single album, and not divided into the albums you have in Photos, but at least that may allow her to see all the photos?

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

I don't see that option. But the only thing she uses the photo library is as a screen saver, which is set up with a corner option so that it can be on most all of the time she's not using her computer.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Oops...never done it myself...guess it's not as simple as I thought.

I assume you are using macOS Sierra or later, and the latest version of Photos?

I think these are the steps:
1. In Photos > Preferences > iCloud check to enable iCloud Photo Sharing
2. A new section called Shared will appear in the list of albums on the left side of the window
3. Click on the Activity listing and it will "update" your Library
4. When that is complete, iCloud Photo Sharing with a description and a Start Sharing Button will appear
Click Start Sharing
5. Give the shared album a name, invite your wife by email address (your Contacts list will appear), and click the Create button
6. A new album with the name you gave it will appear under the Shared category
7. Drag a copy of the photos you want into the shared album, and she should be able to see them in the Shared section in her Photos app
8. The shared album should be able to be selected in the Desktop & Screensaver preference pane in the Photos section, which will also show her other albums

See if that works for you. It may take a while to prep if you have a lot of photos in your Photos Library.

As always, make sure you have an up-to-date Time Machine or other backup of your data before proceeding.

Let me know if that works for you.

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

> I assume you are using macOS Sierra or later, and the latest version of Photos?

Everything's current.

> I think these are the steps:
> 1. In Photos > Preferences > iCloud check to enable iCloud Photo Sharing
Already set
> 2. A new section called Shared will appear in the list of albums on the left side of the window
I already had a shared album there from a vacation I took a couple of years ago.
> 3. Click on the Activity listing and it will "update" your Library
I'm not finding this, unless it is the cloud labeled "activity", clicking on that does nothing I can tell. This is far as I am getting from your instructions. I know how to create shared albums, it is sharing the whole library which I'm failing at. Hmmm, I just went to my wife's computer. It sees one of my shared albums, but not the vacation one. I don't know how to tell who I shared that one with.