Accounts question...

I was wondering if when accounts are created, is there anyway to make folders such as "music", "movies", "documents" and such universal? My family just got an iMac and some of the kids want their own account (and my dad would like to limit their internet usage and stuff). The problem that I see is if people upload music, photos and stuff then every account will be different including the 'general' one.

For example, someone uploads pictures of a family vacation on their account, now nobody else can access it and you cant compile everything in iPhoto.

So are there ways to make certain folders 'universal' across all the accounts so if you put a file in 'documents' it can be accessed by anyone?

I guess you would want your music, pictures and iTunes folders in Users
> Shared

Firstly, to get iPhoto to access a shared folder, you will need to create a folder in Users shared, copy the iPhoto library to it and then you will have to run some Terminal commands to give all users full access to the folder. Its not as complicated as it looks, but you can find instructions here.

macosxhints.com - 10.4: Share an iPhoto library among multiple users

Sharing your iTunes collection

The following assumes you want to keep all your iTunes music and movies on a shared folder and ensure new music is always stored there, and that you want to share the iTunes library among multiple users of your mac

First, you need to consolidate your iTunes Library to a folder you have chosen (let's say Users > Shared > Media).

Select the command consolidate library from the File Menu > Library > Consolidate Library (or from the Advanced Menu in iTunes 7). This will copy all your iTunes media to the shared folder and link the iTunes library file to it

The files will now be in the folder while the library file (the index as it were) will still be in the Users > Me > Music folder of your mac.



Copy it to shared iTunes folder, start iTunes with the alt key pressed and you will have the option to select the library file now on the external



Select the library file you just copied and now both your music and the library are on the external

Press the alt key in the other account to get iTunes to see the library file, now both accounts are using the same index. Make sure both Users itunes have the same location for the music folder set in their advanced preferences.

Also make sure that all users have read and write privileges for the folder and the library file