How do you export photos from Mac's Photos app to a folder, USB stick or external hard drive?

This question comes up very regularly from Mac users. Just this week, I assisted a client who needed to get her photos downloaded from iCloud Photo Library without turning on iCloud Photo Library on her Mac. (Here's a separate article describing how to do this.)

Part of the process of doing this involved exporting all the photos that we downloaded from another Photos Library, so that they could then be imported into her 'real' Photos Library. 

If you have a set of photos that you wish to put onto a USB stick or external drive - or even just pull out of Photos and put into a folder on your Mac - how do you do this?

This week's Mac Handy Hint provides an easy-to-follow short video with step by step directions 

This hint is for iTandCoffee Club members only.  

​Have you joined The iTandCoffee Club yet, to gain access to great tips like this, as well as a huge range of other tips, content and regular members-only offers?

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How to export photos from the Photos app

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Related tips and articles from iTandCoffee
Some of these tips are members-only tips.  Join now to gain access to these tips.

Handy Hints (members only)

• ​How to highlight one colour in a Photo in Mac Photos on High Sierra
• Answering your questions about iCloud Photo Library
• ​Correcting the date or location of a photo in Mac Photos
• Using the People feature in Photos on the Mac
• Getting edited iPhone (or iPad) photos across to your computer using iCloud Shared Streams
• Exporting photos from Mac's Photos app to USB, external drive or folder
• Clean up Bursts of Photos on your Mac​
• How to enable the 'Sidebar' in the Photos app
• How to delete your iPhoto library after migration to the new Photos app on Mac
• Deleting iPhone and iPad photos in bulk using a Mac
• A great way of sharing your photos with others - no emailing or texting required!

​Blog Articles (all readers)

• Discovering 'People' in Photos, messaging groups, and making sure your messages are private
• A great tip for Mac Photos users - Show in Moment
• ​Storage issues on my Macbook Air after migrating from iPhoto to Photos
• ​Client Question: Where do I find my iPhoto photos when I want to add a photo to an email or upload to eBay or Facebook?
• I edit images in Photos on my iPhone, but they don't import to my computer!
• Why  can I no longer import my iPhone photos to my computer?​     
• Mac crashing after Sierra upgrade - here's what was causing this problem
• Are your 'bursts' of photos causing your iPad, iPhone or Mac to 'burst its storage banks'?​
• Trying out some interesting new Photo Book options​
• How to add music to a Photos slideshow when you have Apple Music
• How Apple's Photos app 'saved the day'!

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Learn about Photos and iCloud in these great guides

Would you like access to any iTandCoffee Guides? Online and Premium iTandCoffee Club members can download these guides for FREE! Here's the Coupon Code for those who have this membership. Find out more about the iTandCoffee Club here.

The Photos App on the Mac - Edition 5, Photos 6.0 macOS Big Sur (PDF Download)

A$23.90

This comprehensive and easy-to-follow 103-page guide will tell you all you need to know about using the Photos app​ on your Mac to manage all those photos and videos. It covers all the latest features offered by macOS Big Sur, released late in 2020   

Here are the topics we cover:

• Introducing Photos
• A Guided Tour of Photos
• Viewing your Photo Library On A TimeLine
• Other options for viewing your Library
• Viewing individual photos/videos
• Memories - Re-visit your past through photos
• Selecting Photos
• Deleting photos
• Introducing Albums
• Albums - Media Types
• Organising your Photos - Find your People
• Organising your Photos - Creating an Album
• Organising your Photos - Adding Photos/Videos to an Album
• Organising your Photos - Managing Album
• Sharing Photos and Videos
• Viewing your photos as a Slideshow
• Importing Photos into your Photos Library
• Where do my photos ‘live’?
• Editing Photos
• Viewing/changing information about your Photo
• Trimming & Editing Videos
• Duplicating photos and videos
• Searching for photos
• Organising your Photos - Smart Albums
• Exporting Photos
• Sorting out all those Duplicates
• Photo Books
• Now let’s talk about Photos in iCloud
• iCloud Photos
• My Photo Stream
• Shared Albums
• How to get your Photos out of iCloud       

Your purchase is of a PDF version of this guide. You will receive a link to this guide and will be able click that link to download the file. The file will be able to then be found in the Downloads area associated with your Web Browser. If you need assistance with this understanding where to find your downloads, you can book an appointment with iTandCoffee at www.itandcoffee.com.au/appointment-request.html.

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The Photos App on the Mac - Edition 5, Photos 6.0 macOS Big Sur (Paperback)

A$34.90

This comprehensive and easy-to-follow 103-page guide will tell you all you need to know about using the Photos app​ on your Mac to manage all those photos and videos. It covers all the latest features offered by macOS Big Sur, released late in 2020   

Here are the topics we cover:   

• Introducing Photos
• A Guided Tour of Photos
• Viewing your Photo Library On A TimeLine
• Other options for viewing your Library
• Viewing individual photos/videos
• Memories - Re-visit your past through photos
• Selecting Photos
• Deleting photos
• Introducing Albums
• Albums - Media Types
• Organising your Photos - Find your People
• Organising your Photos - Creating an Album
• Organising your Photos - Adding Photos/Videos to an Album
• Organising your Photos - Managing Album
• Sharing Photos and Videos
• Viewing your photos as a Slideshow
• Importing Photos into your Photos Library
• Where do my photos ‘live’?
• Editing Photos
• Viewing/changing information about your Photo
• Trimming & Editing Videos
• Duplicating photos and videos
• Searching for photos
• Organising your Photos - Smart Albums
• Exporting Photos
• Sorting out all those Duplicates
• Photo Books
• Now let’s talk about Photos in iCloud
• iCloud Photos
• My Photo Stream
• Shared Albums
• How to get your Photos out of iCloud

Please note that we only deliver to Australian addresses. Pickup from iTandCoffee in Camberwell, VIC, is also available.

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The Comprehensive Guide to iCloud (iOS 14 / macOS Big Sur Edition 2021) - Paperback

A$39.50

This 112-page plain English guide covers everything you need to know about iCloud, including

• Understanding 'The Cloud'
• What is iCloud
• What things will iCloud sync
• How big is my iCloud
• How do I get connected to iCloud
• Do I need to use iCloud
• Getting set up on iCloud
• Choosing what syncs
• Managing a full iCloud
• Getting more iCloud Storage
• What Apple ID should I use
• Accessing iCloud from any computer
• Your Photos in iCloud - and how to get then out of iCloud
• Backup to iCloud
• Documents and Data in iCloud - iCloud Drive
• iCloud Photos
• My Photo Stream
• Shared Albums
• iCloud on Windows computer
• And much more

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The Comprehensive Guide to iCloud (iOS 14 / macOS Big Sur Edition 2021) - PDF Download

A$23.90

This 112-page plain English guide covers everything you need to know about iCloud, including

Understanding 'The Cloud'

What is iCloud

What things will iCloud sync

How big is my iCloud

How do I get connected to iCloud

Do I need to use iCloud

Getting set up on iCloud

Choosing what syncs

Managing a full iCloud

Getting more iCloud Storage

What Apple ID should I use

Accessing iCloud from any computer

Your Photos in iCloud - and how to get then out of iCloud

Backup to iCloud

Documents and Data in iCloud - iCloud Drive

iCloud Photos

My Photo Stream

Shared Albums

iCloud on Windows computer

And much more

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The Photos App on the iPad and iPhone - iOS 12 Edition (Paperback)

A$27.50

This comprehensive, easy-to-read 104-page guide gives you all the information you need to view, organise, delete edit and share your photos and videos - using the Photos app on your iPhone and iPad. (iOS 12 Edition)

Here's the Table of Contents:

BEFORE WE START

Introducing the term ‘thumbnail’ …

And the term ‘metadata’

ABOUT THE PHOTOS APP

THE PHOTOS OPTION –  A TIMELINE OF YOUR PHOTOS

First, a look at the Photos option

The Years View

The Collections View

The Moments view

The Headings are Special!

VIEWING INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS

See more about your photo

Viewing a Live photo

Try different Live photo Effects

Play a video

Your toolbar of options

‘Heart’ your Favourites

‘FOR YOU’ – CURATED COLLECTIONS OF PHOTOS

Sharing Suggestions

‘Effect Syggestions’

THE ALBUMS OPTION - THE STANDARD ALBUMS

My Albums

People and Places

Media Types

Other Albums

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? THE PLACES ALBUM

SELECTING PHOTOS

DELETING PHOTOS

Understanding ‘Delete’ vs ‘Remove’

Deleting a single photo/video

Deleting/removing several photos

Some hidden space gobblers to delete

ORGANISING PHOTOS - FIND YOUR PEOPLE

Name your people

Select the Key Photo for a person

Remove unwanted people

Nominate your favourites

Identifying more photos of the same person

Merge People

When the wrong person appears in a People album

ORGANISING PHOTOS - CREATING ALBUMS

Method 1: Create an album, then add the photos

Method 2: Select some photos, then create the album

An Important Note about Albums…

ORGANISING PHOTOS – ADD TO AN ALBUM

Method 1: Select the album, then add the photos

Method 2: Select some photos, then select the album

ORGANISING PHOTOS - MANAGING ALBUMS

Renaming an Album

Re-Arranging Albums

Deleting an album

SHARING PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

Sharing a single photo or video

Send or share several photos.

Emailing photos

Sharing an Album of Photos using iCloud

Sharing photos using Airdrop

A new way of sharing Photos in iOS 12

OTHER SHARE OPTIONS- PRINTING, WALLPAPER, CONTACTS

Use a photo as your Wallpaper

Assign photo to a Contact

Print your photos

Share the photo with another App

VIEWING YOUR PHOTOS AS A SLIDESHOW

Slideshows on the iPad

Slideshows on the iPhone

Send your Slideshow to another screen

EDITING YOUR PHOTOS

What sort of Editing is possible?

How do I get to these editing options?

Enhance

Crop

Filters

Red Eye

Adjust

Extensions

Some new edit capabilities for new some iPhones

Live Photos

Portrait Photos

Portrait Photos – Lighting Effects

TRIMMING VIDEOS

DUPLICATING PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

SEARCHING FOR PHOTOS

TAKING PHOTO OF YOUR SCREEN!

IMPORTING PHOTOS –  FROM MAIL, MESSAGES, SAFARI

Save to Photos from an email

Save to Photos from Messages

Save Photos from a Web Page

Finding the photos you just saved

IMPORTING PHOTOS - FROM A CAMERA

NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT PHOTOS IN ICLOUD

ICLOUD PHOTOS

The great benefit of iCloud Photos

The disadvantages of iCloud Photos

Should you use iCloud Photos?

MY PHOTO STREAM

SHARING PHOTOS USING ICLOUD – SHARED ALBUMS

Share photos with friends and family

Enabling Shared Albums

Creating a Shared Album

An alternative way of creating a Shared iCloud Album

Viewing a Shared Album

Adding Photos to an iCloud Shared Album

Inviting others to share your iCloud Album

Sharing with those who are not Apple users

Allow subscribers to add photos

Deleting a Shared Album

Unsubscribing from a Shared Album

What if you want to keep photos from someone else’s Shared Album?

PHOTO SETTINGS

TRANSFERRING PHOTOS TO YOUR COMPUTER

Transferring photos to a Mac

Transferring iPad and iPhone photos to your Windows Computer

TRANSFERRING PHOTOS FROM COMPUTER TO IPAD OR IPHONE

DELETING PHOTOS & VIDEOS IN BULK FROM YOUR IPAD OR IPHONE

Deleting in Bulk on your iPhone and iPad

Deleting in Bulk using a Computer

Deleting Photos in bulk using a Mac computer

Deleting Photos in bulk using a Windows computer

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The Photos App on the iPad and iPhone iOS 12 (PDF Download)

A$16.90

This comprehensive, easy-to-read 104-page guide gives you all the information you need to view, organise, delete edit and share your photos and videos - using the Photos app on your iPhone and iPad. (iOS 12 Edition)

Here's the Table of Contents:

BEFORE WE START

Introducing the term ‘thumbnail’ …

And the term ‘metadata’

ABOUT THE PHOTOS APP

THE PHOTOS OPTION –  A TIMELINE OF YOUR PHOTOS

First, a look at the Photos option

The Years View

The Collections View

The Moments view

The Headings are Special!

VIEWING INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS

See more about your photo

Viewing a Live photo

Try different Live photo Effects

Play a video

Your toolbar of options

‘Heart’ your Favourites

‘FOR YOU’ – CURATED COLLECTIONS OF PHOTOS

Sharing Suggestions

‘Effect Syggestions’

THE ALBUMS OPTION - THE STANDARD ALBUMS

My Albums

People and Places

Media Types

Other Albums

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? THE PLACES ALBUM

SELECTING PHOTOS

DELETING PHOTOS

Understanding ‘Delete’ vs ‘Remove’

Deleting a single photo/video

Deleting/removing several photos

Some hidden space gobblers to delete

ORGANISING PHOTOS - FIND YOUR PEOPLE

Name your people

Select the Key Photo for a person

Remove unwanted people

Nominate your favourites

Identifying more photos of the same person

Merge People

When the wrong person appears in a People album

ORGANISING PHOTOS - CREATING ALBUMS

Method 1: Create an album, then add the photos

Method 2: Select some photos, then create the album

An Important Note about Albums…

ORGANISING PHOTOS – ADD TO AN ALBUM

Method 1: Select the album, then add the photos

Method 2: Select some photos, then select the album

ORGANISING PHOTOS - MANAGING ALBUMS

Renaming an Album

Re-Arranging Albums

Deleting an album

SHARING PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

Sharing a single photo or video

Send or share several photos.

Emailing photos

Sharing an Album of Photos using iCloud

Sharing photos using Airdrop

A new way of sharing Photos in iOS 12

OTHER SHARE OPTIONS- PRINTING, WALLPAPER, CONTACTS

Use a photo as your Wallpaper

Assign photo to a Contact

Print your photos

Share the photo with another App

VIEWING YOUR PHOTOS AS A SLIDESHOW

Slideshows on the iPad

Slideshows on the iPhone

Send your Slideshow to another screen

EDITING YOUR PHOTOS

What sort of Editing is possible?

How do I get to these editing options?

Enhance

Crop

Filters

Red Eye

Adjust

Extensions

Some new edit capabilities for new some iPhones

Live Photos

Portrait Photos

Portrait Photos – Lighting Effects

TRIMMING VIDEOS

DUPLICATING PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

SEARCHING FOR PHOTOS

TAKING PHOTO OF YOUR SCREEN!

IMPORTING PHOTOS –  FROM MAIL, MESSAGES, SAFARI

Save to Photos from an email

Save to Photos from Messages

Save Photos from a Web Page

Finding the photos you just saved

IMPORTING PHOTOS - FROM A CAMERA

NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT PHOTOS IN ICLOUD

ICLOUD PHOTOS

The great benefit of iCloud Photos

The disadvantages of iCloud Photos

Should you use iCloud Photos?

MY PHOTO STREAM

SHARING PHOTOS USING ICLOUD – SHARED ALBUMS

Share photos with friends and family

Enabling Shared Albums

Creating a Shared Album

An alternative way of creating a Shared iCloud Album

Viewing a Shared Album

Adding Photos to an iCloud Shared Album

Inviting others to share your iCloud Album

Sharing with those who are not Apple users

Allow subscribers to add photos

Deleting a Shared Album

Unsubscribing from a Shared Album

What if you want to keep photos from someone else’s Shared Album?

PHOTO SETTINGS

TRANSFERRING PHOTOS TO YOUR COMPUTER

Transferring photos to a Mac

Transferring iPad and iPhone photos to your Windows Computer

TRANSFERRING PHOTOS FROM COMPUTER TO IPAD OR IPHONE

DELETING PHOTOS & VIDEOS IN BULK FROM YOUR IPAD OR IPHONE

Deleting in Bulk on your iPhone and iPad

Deleting in Bulk using a Computer

Deleting Photos in bulk using a Mac computer

Deleting Photos in bulk using a Windows computer

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