jGilbo

Q: iMovie not opening up correct Photos Library

The update that made iPhoto become Photos has been causing all kinds of problems.  The latest issue is in iMovie.  I'm working on a project and I need my Photos to link to iMovie so I can add the photos into the movie project.  iMovie is opening up the wrong Photos Library.  I have made the Photos Library I want the "System Library", but iMovie keeps opening up a different Photos Library.  I know I can drag and drop by opening up Photos and doing it that way, but I shouldn't have to open up two separate programs to do this.  These two programs should be working together seamlessly - like they used to.

MacBook (13-inch Mid 2010), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Apr 24, 2015 12:30 PM

Close

Q: iMovie not opening up correct Photos Library

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by knightem,

    knightem knightem Jan 8, 2016 6:31 AM in response to jGilbo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 8, 2016 6:31 AM in response to jGilbo

    This happened to me after upgrading to El Capitan.

     

    All of my photos were imported into the new Photos Library, but when I opened iMovie, it still showed my iPhotos Library with only the old pictures in the sidebar. Photos library was set as the system library, and if I tried to go through the menu to set a new library through iMovie, they were greyed out and I couldn't select the correct one.

     

    What I ended up doing (simultaneously, so I'm not sure which one of these fixed it)

     

    • Hold down command and option while opening Photos. Dialog appears to Repair the library, do that.
    • Open the App store and download the update to iMovie

     

    If you want to try just the second one go for it. Good luck; glad I got mine working.

  • by GeeD,

    GeeD GeeD Jan 8, 2016 10:41 AM in response to jGilbo
    Level 5 (7,723 points)
    Video
    Jan 8, 2016 10:41 AM in response to jGilbo

    As knightem has hinted, only the Photos System Library is visible from iMovie.  To designate a different system library see:

    Designate a System Photo Library in Photos - Apple Support

     

    Geoff.

  • by knightem,

    knightem knightem Jan 8, 2016 10:52 AM in response to GeeD
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 8, 2016 10:52 AM in response to GeeD

    That was the problem though; my new Photos Library was set as the system library, but iMovie was still displaying only the old iPhotos Library. When I went into the photos library preferences to confirm, the "Use as System Library" button was greyed out because it was already selected.

  • by GeeD,

    GeeD GeeD Jan 8, 2016 10:57 AM in response to knightem
    Level 5 (7,723 points)
    Video
    Jan 8, 2016 10:57 AM in response to knightem

    If you are using iMovie 9 ('11) or earlier I'm not sure but I don't think it will interface with Photos since Photos did not exist when these versions of iMovie were current.  I think you will have to locate the photos in the photos library manually and import from there or drag and drop into the project.

     

    Geoff.

  • by Matthias Orgler,

    Matthias Orgler Matthias Orgler May 26, 2016 11:53 AM in response to jGilbo
    Level 1 (9 points)
    May 26, 2016 11:53 AM in response to jGilbo

    I checked everything:

     

    - Photos app uses my system library
    - iMovie is updated to the current version

     

    Still: iMovie shows  some other (old) library that I haven't used for ages. How can I tell iMovie to use the correct photos/media library?