Explicitly select storage location for sidecar files

[lsr]

Currently, I can only choose between the standard picture folder and iCloud for the storage location of Sidecar files. Since my Photos library is located on an external storage medium, it would be nice if I could freely choose the directory according to my own needs.

[Andrius]

Thanks for the feature request! Although we don't have any plans to add the ability to choose a custom folder for sidecar files, we do plan to add a side-by-side option in the not-too-distant future. Also, just FYI, the reason those options are provided is those two locations are easier to access for sandboxed apps – implementing saving in other locations requires a little more work. It's absolutely doable, but we just stuck with the simpler implementation for now.

[Shelton]

Rather than moving them I'd like to see them greatly reduced in size!!

[lsr]

Thanks for the feature request! Although we don't have any plans to add the ability to choose a custom folder for sidecar files, we do plan to add a side-by-side option in the not-too-distant future. Also, just FYI, the reason those options are provided is those two locations are easier to access for sandboxed apps – implementing saving in other locations requires a little more work. It's absolutely doable, but we just stuck with the simpler implementation for now.

Thanks for the honest answer and the explanation. Then I hope that at some point in the future it will be possible to move the sidecar files to a selectable location or that they will be much smaller than at present. Preferably both, of course...

[BillyArgo]

Thanks, I also want to know if it is possible.

[Martin Chalifoux]

I think if the sidecar files were of a reasonable size, a few MB, this whole thing yould be much less of an issue. They are so huge that anybody using the app extensively run into a storage issue where sidecars take way more space than the actual pictures. This is such a huge probem. I hope the developers are actively working on producing small sidecar files, even it it means some operations cannot be undone. We always have "Revert to Originals" as a last resort anyway. I would rather have tiny sidecar files that contain 95% of the edits than those huge ones that I cannot keep anyway, and that are a huge pain to sync between devices, plus just keep in storage in the first place.

[Al404it]

I also think the side-by-side option is required to handle RAW data, since the big amount of data it would be impossible to store every photo on iCloud or internal Disk

I guess most of us move the photo between internal and external storage

[Soda pop]

I second this but also having a current working solution as well.
TL;DR Use symbolic link if you know Terminal stuff a bit.

Copy the existing SideCar files
then go to the Terminal.app and run a command like (replace the path with that you have):

ln -s /path/to/SideCarFolder /path/of/actual/location

Although you should definitely understand how it works, it would solve it right away.

[Shelton]

The issues discussed in this thread are covered by the current (beta) version 3.3 in that sidecar files now sit with the photo & in most cases are now under 1mb in size so shouldn't need to be moved elsewhere, hopefully will soon be ready to release to all.

Shelton.