Use Photos on your Mac

The Photos app on your Mac helps you keep your library of photos and videos organized and accessible. Learn how to get your photos on all of your devices, manage your collection, and edit and share your photos.

 

Photos makes it simple to manage your growing photo and video library. When you use iCloud Photo Library, you can securely store your entire collection and access it from all your devices and iCloud.com. And powerful, intuitive editing tools built right into Photos help you perfect your images so they’re ready to share.

Before you begin

Access all of your photos from anywhere

iCloud Photo Library automatically keeps all your photos in iCloud, so you can access them on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, Mac, iCloud.com, or even on a PC. When you edit and organize images in the Photos app, your changes are kept up to date and visible everywhere.

Manage your iCloud storage

The photos and videos that you keep in iCloud Photo Library use your iCloud storage. Before you turn on iCloud Photo Library, make sure that you have enough space in iCloud to store your entire collection. You can see how much space you need and then upgrade your storage plan if necessary.

Turn on iCloud Photo Library

It's easy to get started. Just turn on iCloud Photo Library in your Settings and make sure that you're signed in with the same Apple ID on all of your devices. On your Mac, go to System Preferences > iCloud and click the Options button next to Photos. Then select iCloud Photo Library.


You can also use My Photo Stream to get your photos on your other devices. Learn the differences between iCloud Photo Library and My Photo Stream.

Organize and find your photos

The Photos app is organized into four main tabs: Photos, Shared, Albums, and Projects. In the Photos tab, photos and videos taken around the same time and place are grouped into Moments, Collections, and Years. You can see the photos that you share with others in iCloud in the Shared tab. All of the albums that keep your collection organized are in the Albums tab, and you can view the books, cards, calendars, print orders, and slideshows you’ve created in the Projects tab.

With the Search bar built directly into Photos, you can quickly find the content you’re looking for. You can also navigate and organize your library using the Sidebar. Open the Sidebar by choosing View > Show Sidebar, or using the keyboard shortcut Command-Option-S.

Photos

In the Photos tab, Moments, Collections, and Years views instantly organize your photos and videos by when and where they were taken. You can click on the location where each photo was taken on a map. Or you can hover over the Moment or Collection to instantly prepare a slideshow, add the photos to an album, or share through iCloud Photo Sharing and your social networks.

Play a slideshow

Quickly create a slideshow directly in Photos. Just click  and then customize the theme and music. Then you're ready to go.

Start a project

Click  to add your photos and videos to an album. You can also make gifts like a calendar for loved ones or print pictures for yourself.

Share with friends

Use  to share photos in iCloud Photo Sharing, Mail, and more. Or send photos to your social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Shared

The Shared tab includes photos and videos that you’ve shared with your friends and family through iCloud Photo Sharing. You can also see what they’ve shared with you, along with the Likes and Comments your shared photos have received.

Albums

In the Albums tab, you'll find photo albums you've created, as well as automatic collections of your Selfies, Videos, Panoramas, and more. Using the View menu, you can sort your albums by date and title. And in the Faces album, you can organize your photos based on who’s in them.

Projects

Click the Projects tab to turn your photos into memorable, high-quality keepsakes. Easy-to-use tools and Apple-designed themes help you create photo books, cards, calendars, and prints that your friends and family will cherish. To get started, just click the Create (+) button.

Delete photos and videos from your library

If there are photos and videos that you don't want anymore, you can delete one at a time, or several.

Delete one photo

  1. Select the photo that you want to delete.
  2. Press the Delete key.
  3. Confirm that you want to delete the photo.

Delete multiple photos

  1. Press and hold the Command key.
  2. Select the photos that you want to delete.
  3. Press the Delete key.
  4. Confirm that you want to delete the photos.
     

When you delete a photo, it goes into your Recently Deleted album, where it stays for 30 days. If you use iCloud Photo Library, the photos that you delete are moved into the Recently Deleted album on your other devices too.

After 30 days, Photos deletes the photos permanently. If you want to permanently delete photos right away, click the Delete All button in the Recently Deleted album.

If you're viewing photos in an album that you've created, pressing the Delete key will remove only the selected photos from the album. They won't move to your Recently Deleted album. If you want to delete photos from both the album and your entire photo library, press Command-Delete.

Edit your photos

Photos includes powerful, easy-to-use editing tools built right in. You can apply adjustments to your photos to make them look just like you want. And if you want to start over, you can always revert back to the original photo.

Here's how to begin editing a photo:

  1. From the Photos view, or from within an album, double-click the photo you want to edit.
  2. Click the Edit button in the upper-right corner of Photos.
  3. The editing tools appear along the right-hand side of the window. Click on the tool you'd like to use.

After you edit your photo, click the yellow Done button. If you want to start over, click Revert to Original. If you're using iCloud Photo Library, the adjustments you've made to the photo will appear on all your devices that are signed in with the same Apple ID.

You can also install third-party photo editing extensions on your Mac to use alongside the built-in tools in Photos. Learn more about editing your photos with third-party extensions.

     

View and add information about a photo

You can also add details to your photos, like a description, keywords, or a specific location. You can even Add Faces to name your friends and family in each photo.

To view the Info window, double-click a photo to open it and then click  in the upper-right corner, or select a photo and use the keyboard shortcut Command-I. Once you add information, you can use the Search bar to find photos by keyword, title, description, faces, or location.

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