How to move photos from mac to icloud

Home » iCloud » How to Download All Photos From iCloud to Mac

It is still possible to select and download All Photos from iCloud to Mac using two different methods as provided below.

How to move photos from mac to icloud

While iCloud Photos is considered to be a safe and secure place to store Photos, it is still a good idea to have another backup of all your iCloud Photos on computer or an External Hard Drive.

An additional backup of Photos will provide you with peace of mind that you do have another backup of your memories, in case something happens to your iCloud Account.

Another common reason for downloading All iCloud photos is to Free Up iCloud Storage Space by deleting iCloud Photos, after downloading them to Mac.

So, let us go ahead and take a look at the steps to select All Photos on iCloud and download them to your computer.

1. Download Photos from iCloud to Mac Using Safari

Due to current iCloud download limits (at the time of writing), you can only download up to 999 photos at a time on your computer.

On your Mac, go to icloud.com and login to your iCloud by entering your Apple ID and Password. After you are signed-in, click on the Photos Icon.

How to move photos from mac to icloud

In iCloud Photos, click on the Photos Tab and press Command+A to select all iCloud Photos and click on the Download icon to start the process of downloading All iCloud Photos to Mac.

How to move photos from mac to icloud

Note: If Command+A is not working, make sure iCloud Photos is enabled on your iPhone.

2. Download More Than 1,000 iCloud Photos to Mac

As mentioned above, the current iCloud download limit stands at 1,000 Photos. This means, you can only download up to 999 photos at a time from iCloud to Mac.

If you have more than 1,000 photos to download, you can select them 500 photos at a time and download them to your computer.

To select 500 Photos, click on the First Photo > Scroll down 50 rows > Press & Hold down the Shift key on and click on the Last Photo in 50th row.

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Last Updated : June 17, 2022

iCloud Drive allows you to backup photos and videos from your device and it offers 5 GB of free storage space to all its users. You can easily migrate your iPhoto library to iCloud Drive using Mac. If you have so many photos in your iPhoto Library, then  make sure that you have storage space in iCloud Drive. If not, buy an additional iCloud storage space. The iCloud storage is used for iOS device backup, iCloud Drive, iCloud Photo Library, app data and documents stored in iCloud and iCloud Mail.

Once you have iCloud Drive setup correctly, it will show up as a folder in your "Finder" sidebar with a small icon of a cloud i.e iCloud Drive. To migrate iPhoto Library to iCloud Drive, find the location of your iPhoto Library (Picture folder) and move it to the iCloud Drive folder in Finder. You can also drag and drop photos from iPhoto Library to iCloud Drive which is located in Finder.

How to move photos from mac to icloud

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How do I remove Photos from Mac but keep in iCloud?

Question: Q: Delete photos from mac but not iCloud Open System Preferences and select the iCloud tab. In the tab you'll see a checkmark next to Photos. Click on the checkmark to uncheck it and you'll be asked if you want to delete the photos from your Mac. Say yes.

How do I move my Photos to iCloud to free up space?

With iCloud Photos, you can make more space available on your device and have your entire collection, everywhere you go..
Tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos..
Turn on iCloud Photos..
Select Optimize iPhone Storage to save space on your device..