How to Organise 10,000 Photos on a Mac

Most people's photo libraries are a mess — duplicates, screenshots, blurry photos and memories from 10 years ago all mixed together. Here's a practical system to sort it out.

Step 1 — Consolidate Everything Into One Place

Before organising, get all your photos in one place. If you use iCloud Photos, everything should already be in the Photos app on your Mac. If you also have photos on old hard drives, USB sticks or other devices, import them all into Photos first.

Step 2 — Archive Old Photos

Photos older than 2-3 years are ones you rarely look at but don't want to lose. The best approach is to archive them to an external drive using Migrate Moments.

Migrate Moments exports photos automatically organised into year and month folders so everything is easy to find later. This keeps your main Photos library lean and fast while preserving everything safely on your drive.

Step 3 — Delete Obvious Junk

Once old photos are archived, go through what remains and delete:

Duplicate photos — use a duplicate finder app like Gemini 2

Screenshots you no longer need

Blurry or accidental photos

Photos of receipts, documents or temporary things

Be ruthless here. If you haven't looked at a blurry photo of your ceiling in three years, you never will.

Step 4 — Use Albums for What Matters

Create albums in Photos for things you actually want to find again:

Family events like Christmas 2025 or a holiday trip

People — Kids, Partner, Friends

Projects or special occasions

Don't try to album everything. Just the things you'll actually search for later.

Step 5 — Maintain It Going Forward

The key is a regular routine:

Once a month, delete obvious junk from recent photos

Once a year, archive photos that are now 2+ years old using Migrate Moments

A yearly archive session keeps your library permanently manageable without ever feeling overwhelming.

The Result

After following this system you'll have a fast, clean Photos library with only recent photos, and a well-organised archive on your external drive with everything older. Every photo is kept — just stored in the right place.

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