{"id":45124,"date":"2018-07-02T16:30:15","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T21:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=45124"},"modified":"2018-07-05T09:43:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T14:43:55","slug":"quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick Tip: How to Access Master Image Files in macOS Photos App"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Mac Photos app is a handy way to organize all of your photos and videos in one app, but what if you want to have access to all of the original files? Sure, you can go into Photos, click on an image, and drag it to the Desktop or Downloads folder to work on it, but that’s not a helpful solution if you want to work on a lot of the master image files. (Related: <\/b>How to Combine Multiple Photos Libraries Into a Single Library<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The Photos app stores all of your images in a “Photos Library.photoslibrary” package file. In this article, I’ll show how you can open the package file, find the Master folder, and then create a shortcut in the Finder window sidebar.<\/p>\n

Creating a Shortcut to the Master Image Files<\/strong>
\n1)<\/strong> Click and hold on the smiling Finder icon on left side of the Dock, then select New Finder Window from the pop-up menu.<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong> You should see a “Pictures” shortcut in the Finder Favorites in the left sidebar. Clicking this takes you to the Pictures folder, which contains folders and library package files from the image-related apps on your Mac. On my Mac, for instance, you can see libraries from Lightroom, Photo Booth, Photos, and a screenshot app called SnapNDrag Pro (see image below):<\/p>\n

\"The
(The contents of a typical Mac Pictures folder.)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If your Finder sidebar doesn’t include a Pictures folder, you can navigate to that folder in the Finder by selecting Go > Go To Folder… from the menu bar, typing ~\/Pictures\/ into the search field, then pressing Return.<\/p>\n

3)<\/strong> Locate the Photos Library file, which has the Photos logo on it. You can see that file in the screenshot above.<\/p>\n

4)<\/strong> Right-click (or control-click) on the Photos Library file, then select “Show Package Contents” from the menu. The Finder window should now show something similar to the screenshot below:<\/p>\n

\"The
(The folders located in the Photos Library.)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

5)<\/strong> Now drag and drop the Masters folder into the Finder window sidebar in the Favorites section. This places an alias to the Photos library Masters file that is visible in any Finder window.<\/p>\n

\"Drag
(Drag and drop the Masters folder from the Photos Library package to the Finder sidebar.)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

6)<\/strong> Close the Photos Library package by clicking the red “close” button in the upper left corner of the window, or use the Command – W keyboard shortcut.<\/p>\n

Now clicking on the Masters item in the sidebar takes you to the master image files from the Photos app. These are the original full resolution files that are imported into Photos from your iPhone, SD cards, or other sources (see screenshot below).<\/p>\n

\"The
(The original CR2 \u2013 Canon Raw image \u2013 files in the Masters folder of the Photos Library package file.)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you ever decide that you don’t want the Masters shortcut in the Finder Favorites, just drag and drop it from the sidebar to remove it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mac Photos app is a handy way to organize all of your photos and videos in one app, but what if you want to have access to all of the original files? Sure, you can go into Photos, click on an image, and drag it to the Desktop or Downloads folder to work on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":45133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"class_list":["post-45124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-tips"],"yoast_head":"\nQuick Tip: How to Access Master Image Files in macOS Photos App<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this article, I'll show how you can open the package file, find the Master folder, and then create a shortcut in the Finder window sidebar.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Quick Tip: How to Access Master Image Files in macOS Photos App\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this article, I'll show how you can open the package file, find the Master folder, and then create a shortcut in the Finder window sidebar.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rocket Yard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/stevensande\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-02T21:30:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-05T14:43:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screenshot-0715-e1530559857309-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"234\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Sande\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Sande\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve Sande\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1152721d0acb70692858d0f3fcb12e7a\"},\"headline\":\"Quick Tip: How to Access Master Image Files in macOS Photos App\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-02T21:30:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-05T14:43:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/\"},\"wordCount\":529,\"commentCount\":13,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Finder\",\"How To\",\"macOS\",\"Photos app\",\"Shortcuts\",\"Tech Tips\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Tech Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/\",\"name\":\"Quick Tip: How to Access Master Image Files in macOS Photos App\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-02T21:30:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-05T14:43:55+00:00\",\"description\":\"In this article, I'll show how you can open the package file, find the Master folder, and then create a shortcut in the Finder window sidebar.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Quick Tip: How to Access Master Image Files in macOS Photos App\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Rocket Yard\",\"description\":\"Your source for expert tips, special deals, commentary, reviews, and the latest tech news.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"OWC\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/rocket-yard-logo-round.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/rocket-yard-logo-round.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":1024,\"caption\":\"OWC\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1152721d0acb70692858d0f3fcb12e7a\",\"name\":\"Steve Sande\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ad8e267ec82e12963d9cfe717c9b8e108e1edbb728f5d91fe50c6e7ecd14b15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ad8e267ec82e12963d9cfe717c9b8e108e1edbb728f5d91fe50c6e7ecd14b15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve Sande\"},\"description\":\"Steve has been writing about Apple products since 1986, starting on a bulletin board system, creating the first of his many Apple-related websites in 1994, joining the staff of The Unofficial Apple Weblog in 2008, and founding Apple World Today in 2015. He\u2019s semi-retired, loves to camp and take photos, and is an FAA-licensed drone pilot.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/appleworld.today\",\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/stevensande\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/stevensande\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCUnDTuaRnXncKQXfQYVNIJA\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/author\/steve-sande\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Quick Tip: How to Access Master Image Files in macOS Photos App","description":"In this article, I'll show how you can open the package file, find the Master folder, and then create a shortcut in the Finder window sidebar.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Quick Tip: How to Access Master Image Files in macOS Photos App","og_description":"In this article, I'll show how you can open the package file, find the Master folder, and then create a shortcut in the Finder window sidebar.","og_url":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/","og_site_name":"Rocket Yard","article_author":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/stevensande","article_published_time":"2018-07-02T21:30:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-07-05T14:43:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":250,"height":234,"url":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screenshot-0715-e1530559857309-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Sande","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Sande","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/"},"author":{"name":"Steve Sande","@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1152721d0acb70692858d0f3fcb12e7a"},"headline":"Quick Tip: How to Access Master Image Files in macOS Photos App","datePublished":"2018-07-02T21:30:15+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-05T14:43:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/"},"wordCount":529,"commentCount":13,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Finder","How To","macOS","Photos app","Shortcuts","Tech Tips"],"articleSection":["Tech Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/","url":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/","name":"Quick Tip: How to Access Master Image Files in macOS Photos App","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-07-02T21:30:15+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-05T14:43:55+00:00","description":"In this article, I'll show how you can open the package file, find the Master folder, and then create a shortcut in the Finder window sidebar.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/45124-quick-tip-how-to-access-master-image-files-in-macos-photos-app\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Quick Tip: How to Access Master Image Files in macOS Photos App"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/","name":"Rocket Yard","description":"Your source for expert tips, special deals, commentary, reviews, and the latest tech news.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"OWC","url":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/rocket-yard-logo-round.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/rocket-yard-logo-round.png","width":1024,"height":1024,"caption":"OWC"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1152721d0acb70692858d0f3fcb12e7a","name":"Steve Sande","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ad8e267ec82e12963d9cfe717c9b8e108e1edbb728f5d91fe50c6e7ecd14b15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ad8e267ec82e12963d9cfe717c9b8e108e1edbb728f5d91fe50c6e7ecd14b15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steve Sande"},"description":"Steve has been writing about Apple products since 1986, starting on a bulletin board system, creating the first of his many Apple-related websites in 1994, joining the staff of The Unofficial Apple Weblog in 2008, and founding Apple World Today in 2015. He\u2019s semi-retired, loves to camp and take photos, and is an FAA-licensed drone pilot.","sameAs":["https:\/\/appleworld.today","https:\/\/facebook.com\/stevensande","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/stevensande\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCUnDTuaRnXncKQXfQYVNIJA\/"],"url":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/author\/steve-sande\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screenshot-0715-e1530559857309-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pmPaT-bJO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45124"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45134,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45124\/revisions\/45134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}