move from iPhoto to Elements 2020

Question

Hi all, finally I'm moving to a new mac. I have an iPhoto library (Version 9.6.1) of roughly 45.000 photos. Don't laugh, but is there a way to import my iPhoto library and keep it's structure (all folders and subfolders, edited photos, orignials, events etc)? Or do I really have to rebuilt the whole thing by hand?

Thanks heaps for your help.

iMac 2020, 3,6 GHz, 10 core, i9, OS 11.3.1

Phil Pickering · Answer

Hi,

Lots of things to consider here, and I'm sorry but I'm not a Mac user so I can't really help you much further than these few pointers.

First off, do you have Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 installed on your existing Mac? You will have to do the import of your iPhoto library on this machine as iPhoto won't be installed on your new Mac.

You should be able to import your iPhoto library into Photoshop Elements 2020 using the File > Get Photos And Videos > From iPhoto... command. More details here:

Use Photoshop Elements with iPhoto

Importing Media from iPhoto library (from the Elements Organizer User Guide)

It may take some time for your large library to be successfully imported.

This process will not affect your photos or your iPhoto library in any way. Neither will it move any of your photos from their original location. The Elements Organizer purely creates a database file (a catalog) containing information about your photos and where they are stored on your computer. The import process will attempt to transfer all your existing captions, tags, ratings, albums and events over to Elements.

You will then need to create a backup of your Elements Organizer catalog and transfer it together with all your photos onto an external hard drive so you can then copy them all onto your new Mac:

Backup or Restore Catalogs (from the Elements Organizer User Guide)

Move Elements Organizer catalog

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 has not been officially tested on macOS 11 Big Sur and thus is unsupported. The latest version, Photoshop Elements 2021 is supported (with the following known issues: Elements 2021 and macOS Big Sur). However, feel free to give it a go and see if Elements 2020 installs and runs without any issues. Please report back here if you do 🙂

Otherwise, you will need to purchase Elements 2021 (at a reduced upgrade price as you are an existing Elements users) and install that on your new Mac.

Once you have Elements successfully installed and running on your new Mac, you can then look again at the last two links I posted above and read how to restore your Organizer catalog from your newly-created backup.

Hope that helps you get started, and good luck 🙂

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