Q: How on earth do I send photos via the new "Photos" application???

The problem si that Outlook needs an update to work with the new extension system for Photos.app. I don't have Outlook on this machine, but isn't there a Media Browser in it?

Hi 12L195,

I just downloaded the new 10.10.3 update and got the new Photos app, replacing iPhoto.  My experience with my first attempt to share a photo via Outlook matched yours precisely.  The Extensions "Share Menu" shows the icons for Outlook Mail, Messages and AirDrop having grayed out check marks which cannot be cleared or reentered. I was initially concerned as I have a 27" iMac dating back to mid-2011, and thought it could be a vintage issue; however since your Mac is bright and shiny new, I have hopes that this will get the attention it deserves. As a longtime Mac guy (dating back to a IICX), I find this most frustrating. I will continue to pursue a resolution and will report back if I find it (and will check back here frequently to see if your issue gets a workable solution response. Good luck to us all!

Hi LYKUNO,

Oh this is so frustrating. I'm really surprised that nobody has popped up here with an answer. The knowledge on here is amazing and very helpful, but for some reason on this one, nuttin'.....

If I figure out the solution, I will also post it here. If I have time tomorrow morning, I'm going to give AppleCare a jingle.

Hi Smitty,

All I've managed to discover, after hours of effort, is this:  I normally use MS Office 11 for Mac's Outlook application for all my emails.  I see the Outlook "O" icon on the System Preferences > Extensions > "Share Menu" list, which has the checkbox marked, but is grayed out (as previously mentioned).  In Photos, if right-click on a photo, or use the Share icon at the top of the Photos window, I see the following choices: iCloud Photo Sharing, Messages, AirDrop, Set Desktop Picture, and More...    If I select "More...", the System Preferences > Extensions > "Share Menu" list, which has the checkbox marked pops up, i.e., right back to square 1.  Oddly though, I have been able to select a Photos picture, then go to the Share icon or right-click the option, then select the "Messages" option, and can successfully attach and send a picture(s) successfully using the Messages application.  Hmmmm ...

Next, I decided to open my old Mac "Mail" application.  I had used it on a few occasions in the past, so the account info (server addresses, etc) was all there ready to use.  I opened Mail > Preferences, and on the General tab, switched the "Default email reader" option in the drop-down field from "Microsoft Outlook" to (Mac) "Mail".  I closed the Mail application and opened Photos, selected a picture to send, and now, when I right-click and pic the "Share" option, or if I click on the Share icon at the top of the Photos app's window, I see the following choices: iCloud Photo Sharing, Mail, Messages, AirDrop, Set Desktop Picture, and More...   Clicking on more opens the Share Menu to the Extensions window with "Mail" replacing "Outlook", however, the checkbox for Mail is still checked and grayed out. 

With "Mail" now showing in the extension window, I selected a photo, then chose the Share option of "Mail".  Surprisingly, the Mac Mail application opened, and a new message was created, with the picture embedded in the body of the message.  This was some measure of progress, so I decided to see if changing the Mail applications preferences from Rich Text Format to Plain Text would make the shared Photos picture be added to the Mail message as a standard attachment, rather than as an embedded picture -- alas, I couldn't get that to work at all.  So if you were trying to attach a half dozen photos to an email, they would all be serially added as photos in the Mail message's body.  Not cool. We still have the option to drag pictures out of Photos to the desktop and then add them from the Mail (or Outlook) application as standard attachments, but depending on the pictures' file sizes, you can end up with hefty-sized emails.  So much better in iPhoto when you shared pictures and could specify the size/quality of the pictures to minimize message size.

Bottom line for now is that it appears that Mac Mail can be used to send photos from Photos (word play there), but with the limitations mentioned above.  But as an Outlook user, I much prefer the functionality that I'm accustomed to having with the Office 2011 version of Outlook. I noted that even when I had both Mail and Outlook running simultaneously, the Send/Receive functionality of Outlook behaved normally as I sent and received test messages to myself. Of course, I had set Mail's preferences to only "Check for new messages" manually.  I suppose I could live with this setup where I send pictures from Photos using Mail, and do everything else from Outlook, but that's got some real drawbacks as noted.  What really needs to be happened is to have Outlook (or Photos, or both) updated to ensure the Share Photos to Outlook email functionality works exactly as it did in iPhoto.  Ironically, just before I installed the new OS X 10.3.3 this afternoon, I got a 365-ish Mb Microsoft download of the latest version of Office 2011.  I have no idea if it was the 10.3.3 Photos or MS Office download that "broke" the "Share" functionality that we had with iPhoto and Outlook, but here's hoping it gets fixed ASAP.

One last update!  I don't have Mac Mail setup on my MacBook Pro, that I frequently use for sending photos via email.  So here's what I found to be fairly easy to do, using the current iterations of Photos and Outlook.  Open Photos and select the picture(s) that you want to send.  Once they're selected, go to the Photos > File drop-down menu, then select the "Export" option. I use the first option: "Export n Photos..." (or use the indicated Shift+Command+E" keyboard shortcut).

In the resulting window, select the options for the photos: Photo Kind selections are JPEG, TIFF or PNG.  Then select the Quality options (Low, Medium, High, Maximum), and Size (Small, Medium, Large, Full Size, Custom).  These options can help limit the size of the resulting photo files you'll be attaching to your email message. Then pick the appropriate "Info' and "File Naming" options, and click the "Export" button. Decide where you want to export the file(s) to -- I typically just use the Desktop as a temporary repository for the photos, but use whatever works best for you.  Now all you have to do is to open Outlook, create a new message, and attach your exported photos.  Pretty simple solution and ensures the photos you're sharing are attached in an appropriate size and quality and as standard attachments rather than being embedded in the message body.  I may just start using this procedure instead of waiting for a fix from Apple and/or Microsoft.   Hopefully the steps above make sense and work for everyone who wants to use Outlook with Photos.

Hello again, LYKUNO,

First of all, I need to clarify something because I am SO STUPID!! I use an iMac and a MacBook Pro. For some reason, "Keychain Access" logged me in under one account, and it also logged me in on a different account when i switched to my MacBoo Pro. So I just wanted to explain why you are seeing responses from "12L195" and/or "smitty195"----we are one in the same. I should have seen that earlier---sorry!

As to your checking on this, WOW, thanks for spending so much time on everything!!! And thanks for the "Export" option---I hadn't thought of that. But in the end, isn't it kind of silly that we have to do all of those steps and jump through all of those hoops just to do something that should be really simple??

Ugh...Okay, it's way past my bedtime and I'm falling asleep here so I've got to go. I hope AppleCare can shed some light on this tomorrow.

Thanks again, and take care.

Andy

Thanks for this information.  This worked out beautifully, although, once again, a la Apple, it is a kludge.  The price for free software, I suppose.

Thanks for the work-around @LYKUNO... I am using the new "Microsoft Outlook for Mac" Version 15.6  and the problem persists.  Glad I'm not the only one.  Apple, please fix!

Exactly the same problem.  I too have been a mac user for nearly 40 years.  This one has me stumped and frustrated. 

Same thing happens with Entourage for Mac 2008.

entourage and Outlook require updates to work with Photos

until Microsoft provided the required software you must either use Mail or export the photos to the desktop and use from there or use the media browser in Entourage or Outlook

LN

Hi,

I'm facing the same problems, even in PowerPoint, if I try to insert a picture, I only get the iBooth ones.

Completely frustrated with this new app!

I'll export my photos on the desktop until this is fixed.

Thank you for your hellp.

Danieler

I too have the same problem, only with Air Mail 2.  This is an email client downloaded from the App Store which I have been using since version one.  My problem is the same as everyone else's, the only way to send a picture by email from Photo seems to be by making Apple Mail the default email client.  This is doubly frustrating for me because Air Mail Share and Air Mail Composer do appear in my sharing options drop down menu but selecting share opens a blank email with no attachments and composer does nothing at all. Both of these options also appear in the System Preferences window but like Lykuno's example of Outlook Air Mail share and Air Mail Composer are ticked but unselectable.

In the past if I wished to send an image from iPhoto by email the Apple Mail app would open giving me the option to change the file size and send even though Mail was not the default email client or it could be sent direct from iPhoto.

Since Photos can send via Apple Mail I would have thought an email client downloaded from the App Store would have been compatible as well.  Obviously I'm missing something but i can find no advice online to date.  I have registered a query with the developer of Air Mail and hope to get some answers there.

If so i will post my outcome here in case it may be of help to others.