Graphic Design workflow: Syncing mac folder via iCloud into Photos app?

[immanence]

I'm a graphic designer.

This is what I want to do:
1. I have a folder on an external drive where I keep stock photos.
2. I want that this folder is automatically available -- and remains updated with any changes I make to it -- in Photos app on my iPad Pro.

What I'm having problems with:
1. Getting an icloud folder to appear in Photos app on iOS.

What I have done:
1. I could find no way to automatically have the contents on my stock photos folder pulled into Photos on mac. So I am currently using Sync Folders Pro to sync that folder (and track changes to it) to my iCloud drive.
2. This works, so at least the folder is accessible via Files on my iPad Pro.
3. But I don't find a way to pull that folder into Photos app on iOS, so when I open Photos app, it is there, and synced with my mac/external drive folder.

Can anyone help with this?

Side issue: if anyone knows an app that would explicitly sync folders across the Apple ecology, I'd love to know of it.

And I wish Apple -- or app developers -- would add many more shortcuts along the lines of, "Pull this file into app X," etc. I have a great number of graphic design apps. But most of them only work from Photos. I wish they were more flexible.

Overall, I really struggle with inter-operability between my mac (my main work environment) and iOS where I have a lot of apps that can do quickly what would take longer to do on my mac.

 

[adrianlondon]

I don't really understand what you're trying to do. It seems overly complex.

MacOS Photos can handle referenced photos (i.e. those stored not in the photo library but on your disk). iOS Photos can't. Doesn't matter where you put them.

You could create some kind of applescript/automator on your Mac such that it imports all new photos on your disk into its library each time you run it, which will then duplicate them into the iCloud photo library. That's going to get messy, with two copies of each photo in Photos (one referenced, one in the cloud). The cleanest way to fix this is to have two Photo libraries.

Your best bet is to use iCloud Photos for all your photos, and export them to your disk using MacOS photos if you need copies outside the library. Note that these won't be updated when you make any edits with Photos (iOS or MacOS). You'll need to export them again.

 

[immanence]

First, I'm not talking about photos I take. I barely ever use the camera on my iPad or iPhone.

I'll look into applescript/automator as a way to pull images from a folder into Photos on mac. This would work, because Photo app should sync across my devices.

What I thought may be possible is to link my iCloud account with Photos app on iOS in such a way that when I open Photos app on iOS I can see a folder/album there that is basically an iCloud folder.

I can work around the rest, with local (i.e., mac) syncing using third party apps.

In other words, I'm able to keep iCloud up to date. But I can't seem to get Photos app on iOS to include an iCloud folder as an album.

This is the part I'm missing.

Is it impossible?

 

[adrianlondon]

iOS Photos will not read in files from iCloud (or any cloud) drive.

Maybe try ensuring iCloud photos is OFF and then ise iTunes (pre-Catalina) or Finder (Catalina) to upload the photos from your Mac to your phone.

Another way, laborious, would be to copy the photos to an SD card and then use a Lightening to SD Card adapter. I believe Photos will read it that way.

Third way ... regularly run "import" on MacOS photos pointing to the parent folder that holds all your photos, with it set to the default of using iCloud and copying the files into its library. It'll skip duplicates so only read in new photos. That'll push them to iCloud Photos which will then be visible on your phone (if Photos is set there to also use iCloud).

 

[immanence]

What a labyrinth. I read through this page: The Definitive Guide to iCloud Photos in 2019

I can see some of the differences between "iCloud Photos" and normal (?) Photos.

Most likely a USB C thumb drive is what I need.

Or maybe when file sharing comes back in with iOS13.2?

Syncing family photos across devices is one thing. But what about working professionals that need to transfer images/movies back and forth between their mac and an iPad Pro?

Right now, I can access my iCloud Drive only with Files app, which isn't the best interface to sort through hundreds of images. To use anything, I have to copy it to Photos (because most apps only take images from the Photo Roll), open whatever app I want to use, select the image, do whatever with it, save back to Photos, and then wait for the image to sync back to Photos on mac, or Airdrop it.

Seems a very inefficient workflow.

Partly explains why while I bought my iPad Pro almost a year ago, and while it is loaded with a lot of great apps that would be useful for graphic design, I barely use it.

 

[immanence]

Exploring FE File Explorer Pro, and Photo Manager Pro.

Would love to hear from any graphic designers on how they manage their workflow shuttling between macOS and iOS. Edited the thread title to reflect this.

 

[swandy]

What a labyrinth. I read through this page: The Definitive Guide to iCloud Photos in 2019

I can see some of the differences between "iCloud Photos" and normal (?) Photos.

Most likely a USB C thumb drive is what I need.

Or maybe when file sharing comes back in with iOS13.2?

Syncing family photos across devices is one thing. But what about working professionals that need to transfer images/movies back and forth between their mac and an iPad Pro?

Right now, I can access my iCloud Drive only with Files app, which isn't the best interface to sort through hundreds of images. To use anything, I have to copy it to Photos (because most apps only take images from the Photo Roll), open whatever app I want to use, select the image, do whatever with it, save back to Photos, and then wait for the image to sync back to Photos on mac, or Airdrop it.

Seems a very inefficient workflow.

Partly explains why while I bought my iPad Pro almost a year ago, and while it is loaded with a lot of great apps that would be useful for graphic design, I barely use it.

Well Apple Photos - which I happen to use and love - is not really meant for professionals. I have no issues syncing my photo and video library (currently over 85K photos) but they are all contained in my photo library. Photos while it will work on a Mac with a referenced library it not made for that as iCloud Photo Library can’t work with referenced photos.
But you should be able to upload the photos to iCloud Drive and then access them on your iPad in the Files app. However you would need a program on the iPad to view the photos and or edit the photos. And this while simple would not sync any changes in the photos. Perhaps you should look into Adobe Lightroom which has a Mac and iOS versions.

 

[immanence]

Well Apple Photos - which I happen to use and love - is not really meant for professionals.

No doubt. But a great number of quite useful apps for graphic design on iOS can only pull images from your Photo library, or the camera. And they only save to the Photo library, too.

Not an exhaustive list, but this includes: Inkwork, Trigraphy, Snapseed, Carbon, Ultralight, VSCO, Polarr, Photofox, Lightfx, Plotaverse, Defqt, Prisma, Glitch Studio, nCeption, Halftone Art, SnapDot, Visionn, Deco Sketch, Color Thief, and many others.

Apps like Procreate, Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and the Adobe suite, can pull from and push to other locations, principally the iCloud drive, but because all the others are restricted, you inevitably tend to gravitate towards using Photo for iOS as a fileserver for everything.

 

[swandy]

No doubt. But a great number of quite useful apps for graphic design on iOS can only pull images from your Photo library, or the camera. And they only save to the Photo library, too.

Not an exhaustive list, but this includes: Inkwork, Trigraphy, Snapseed, Carbon, Ultralight, VSCO, Polarr, Photofox, Lightfx, Plotaverse, Defqt, Prisma, Glitch Studio, nCeption, Halftone Art, SnapDot, Visionn, Deco Sketch, Color Thief, and many others.

Apps like Procreate, Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and the Adobe suite, can pull from and push to other locations, principally the iCloud drive, but because all the others are restricted, you inevitably tend to gravitate towards using Photo for iOS as a fileserver for everything.

Well, I only use Snapseed and PicCollage on my iPhone 11 and do anything else on my Mac when I get home, but can understand your point.