Ever stared at a cluttered desktop or a bloated Photos library on your Mac, realizing you have to move three hundred images, and felt that tiny spark of dread? Honestly, it happens to the best of us. We know how to click an icon. We know how to drag it. But when it comes to the nuance of how to select multiple photos on Mac without accidentally launching three apps or losing your progress halfway through, things get a bit fiddly. macOS is famous for being intuitive, yet some of its most powerful selection shortcuts are tucked away behind modifier keys that most people just guess at.
It isn't just about clicking. It's about workflow. Whether you are a professional photographer trying to cull a wedding shoot or just someone trying to clear out screenshots of recipes you'll never actually cook, mastering these selection methods saves you a ridiculous amount of time. You’ve probably tried the "click and drag" method, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
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The Essentials of How to Select Multiple Photos on Mac
Let’s start with the basics. If you want to grab a bunch of photos that are all sitting right next to each other, the Shift key is your absolute best friend. It’s the "contiguous selection" tool. You click the first photo. You hold down Shift. Then, you click the last photo in the group. Everything in between gets highlighted in that familiar blue glow.
But what if they aren't in a row?
That’s where the Command key (⌘) comes in. This is for the cherry-pickers. You hold Command and click individual photos one by one. It’s perfect for when you’re looking through a gallery and only want the shots where nobody has their eyes closed. If you accidentally click one you didn't want? Just keep holding Command and click it again to deselect it. Simple.
Dragging the Selection Box
Sometimes you don't want to touch the keyboard at all. In Finder or on your desktop, you can click on an empty space and drag your cursor. A translucent box appears. Anything that box touches or encloses gets selected. It’s fast. It’s satisfying. But be careful—if you start your click on an actual file instead of the empty "white space," you’ll just end up moving that one file instead of selecting a group.
Selecting Everything at Once
We've all been there. You just want the whole folder gone or moved to an external drive. Command + A. That is the "Select All" nuclear option. It works in almost every Mac app, from Photos to Finder to even inside a browser window.
Moving Beyond Finder: The Photos App Nuances
The Photos app behaves a little differently than the standard Finder folders. Since Photos is built for visual browsing, it has some specific behaviors you should know about. For example, when you're in the "Days" or "Months" view, you can't always just drag a box over everything because the interface is dynamic.
One of the coolest features in the Photos app that people overlook is the ability to select multiple photos on Mac using the Moment headers. If you look at your library, Apple automatically groups photos by date and location. Instead of clicking 50 photos from your trip to the beach, you can often just click the "Select" button or the title of that specific day/location to grab the whole batch instantly.
The "Lasso" Technique in Photos
In the Photos app, you can actually click and drag across images to select them, similar to the Finder box, but it feels more like a "swipe." If you start clicking on the first photo and drag your mouse across the rest, they will highlight as you go. This is surprisingly helpful if you're using a trackpad.
Selecting Photos in Open/Save Dialogs
This is where people usually get stuck. You're on a website, you click "Upload," and a little window pops up. You want to upload ten photos, but you can only seem to pick one.
The rules don't change here! You can still use Command to click individual files or Shift to grab a range. A pro tip for these windows: change the view. If you’re looking at a list of filenames like "IMG_402.jpg" and can't tell what’s what, hit the icon at the top of the dialog box that looks like a little square grid. This switches you to Gallery view or Icon view, making it way easier to see what you’re selecting.
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Why Your Selection Might Be Failing
Sometimes, you try to select a group and it just... doesn't work. Why?
- You're in the wrong view. In Finder’s "Column View," selecting multiple files can feel a bit clunky compared to "Icon View" or "List View."
- Permissions issues. If you’re trying to select photos from a shared network drive or a locked folder, macOS might restrict how you interact with those files.
- The "Click-and-Hold" trap. If you click and hold a file for too long before dragging, the Mac thinks you want to move that specific file rather than start a selection box. Keep your clicks crisp.
According to Apple's official support documentation, these keyboard shortcuts have remained largely unchanged for decades because they work. However, with the introduction of macOS Sequoia and recent updates to the Photos framework, the "intelligence" of these apps is getting better at predicting what you want to select based on faces or objects, though the manual shortcuts remain the gold standard for control.
Real-World Examples: The Workflow
Imagine you just imported 500 photos from your Nikon.
First, you’d use Command + A to select them all and move them into a "Raw Imports" folder. Then, you’d switch to Icon View and use Command + Click to pick out the best 10 shots for editing. Finally, you might use the Shift method to highlight a big chunk of "rejects" to move to the trash. It’s a dance between these three keys.
Honestly, once you get the muscle memory down, you won't even think about it. Your left hand just hovers over Command and Shift instinctively.
Selecting Photos via Sidebar
Don't forget the Sidebar in Finder. If you have photos scattered across your "Downloads," "Desktop," and "Pictures" folders, you can't select them all at once globally. You have to move them into one location first. A common mistake is trying to "Command-click" a photo in one folder, then clicking a different folder in the sidebar to find more. The moment you click that new folder, your previous selection is gone.
To solve this, use a New Finder Window (Command + N) to drag items from different locations into a single temporary "Sorting" folder. Once they are in the same place, you can select them all with ease.
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Actionable Steps for a Cleaner Library
Mastering how to select multiple photos on Mac is only half the battle. The real goal is organization.
- Practice the "Range Click": Go to your Downloads folder right now. Click the top file, hold Shift, and click the tenth file. It’s the fastest way to batch-delete.
- Use the "Info" Trick: After selecting multiple photos, press Command + I. This opens an info window for every single file. (Warning: if you select 500 files and do this, your Mac will try to open 500 windows—use Option + Command + I instead to see a single "Summary Info" window for the whole group).
- Batch Rename: Once you've selected a group of photos, right-click them and choose "Rename." macOS has a built-in batch renamer that lets you turn "IMG_9823" into "Summer_Vacation_01" in three seconds.
Selecting images shouldn't be a chore. With Command, Shift, and the occasional drag-box, you have total control over your digital clutter. Start utilizing the Shift-click for large blocks and Command-click for specific files, and you'll find your workflow becomes significantly more fluid.