Kort

Q: Accessing Photo and Movie files Imported into Photos

I held off as long as I could before making the switch at home from iPhoto to Photos. I'm using El Capitan now with Photos and am having trouble finding the photo and movie files I import. There are there in the program, but when I search for them by name they won't show up. The terminal solution to show hidden files (defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES) doesn't work. I have to export the files from within Photos to a new location and then can see them in a search. Is there a way to fix this? I seem to recall that there was in earlier OSes, but am not having much luck right now.

Thanks.

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), i7, 2 TB Fusion AMD Radeon R9 M395x

Posted on Jul 23, 2016 12:14 PM

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Q: Accessing Photo and Movie files Imported into Photos

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  • by LarryHN,Apple recommended

    LarryHN LarryHN Jul 23, 2016 12:40 PM in response to Kort
    Level 10 (84,105 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 23, 2016 12:40 PM in response to Kort

    Yes - you either access them via the media browser (in the lower left of the source panel in every open/attach/upload window under media ==> photos ==> Photos) or as you are doing via export - you do not ever access them directly with the finder (and you should have never done that in the past - now with many background operations and iCLoud it is simply not possible as only the SQLite database program, Photos, know the state of the contents of the library)

     

    This is for iPHoto but is mostly still correct for Photos -  How to Access Files in iPhoto

     

    LN

  • by Kort,Helpful

    Kort Kort Jul 23, 2016 3:14 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 3 (840 points)
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    Jul 23, 2016 3:14 PM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks Larry. I was at one time able to access all such files easily with the finder. This was up to 10.5.8 and before iCloud became prevalent. I can understand the reasoning for keeping such the Photos database pristine though or iCloud would be a mess.

     

    I'm putting together an iMovie project and it would be easier if I could access the movies directly, but will work within the new strictures. At least I am finally able to once again drag and drop photos into Photoshop from Photos now that I'm running all of the latest software.  Can you clarify what you mean here?

     

    LarryHN wrote:

     

    Yes - you either access them via the media browser (in the lower left of the source panel in every open/attach/upload window under media ==> photos ==> Photos)...

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 23, 2016 12:52 PM in response to Kort
    Level 10 (105,518 points)
    iLife
    Jul 23, 2016 12:52 PM in response to Kort

    Are you trying to find the photos in your Photos Library using a Spotlight search? Searching for the filename should find them.

     

    The terminal solution to show hidden files (defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES) doesn't work. I have to export the files from within Photos to a new location and then can see them in a search.

    That is  because the image files in a Photos Library are not hidden files. Hidden files are files with filenames starting with a ".".

    You cannot access the photos in the Photos Library directly. A Photos library is nested set of folders with database files and image files, bundled as a package. In the Finder this package appears as a single file. If you ctrl-click the Photos library and use the command "Show Package Contents" you will see the library structure. Just look, don't modify anything.

     

     

    To access your photos use always the Photos.app, and export the photos. Or, from other applications use the media browser.   How to Access Files in iPhoto

  • by Kort,

    Kort Kort Jul 23, 2016 1:23 PM in response to léonie
    Level 3 (840 points)
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    Jul 23, 2016 1:23 PM in response to léonie

    léonie wrote:

     

    Are you trying to find the photos in your Photos Library using a Spotlight search? Searching for the filename should find them.

     

    Yes, but somehow it doesn't. Thank you for the additional information.

  • by Kort,

    Kort Kort Jul 23, 2016 3:14 PM in response to Kort
    Level 3 (840 points)
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    Jul 23, 2016 3:14 PM in response to Kort

    ... never mind Larry. I found what the menu you indicated. I've never made use of that in the past but am able to see the files I'm accessing now there.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jul 24, 2016 9:05 AM in response to Kort
    Level 10 (140,898 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 24, 2016 9:05 AM in response to Kort
    I'm putting together an iMovie project and it would be easier if I could access the movies directly

    Have you tried accessing them from within iMove like this?


    2016-07-24 09.04.07.gif

    Aren't you able to access the videos in your Photos library directly from iMovie like above?

    OTsig.png

  • by Kort,

    Kort Kort Jul 24, 2016 10:18 AM in response to Old Toad
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    Jul 24, 2016 10:18 AM in response to Old Toad

    The photos pane is empty in iMovie on my computer. I'm running iMovie 09 (8) on my system currently.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jul 24, 2016 11:12 AM in response to Kort
    Level 10 (140,898 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 24, 2016 11:12 AM in response to Kort

    Make sure your Photos library is set to be the System Photos Library in Photos' General preference pane:

    Psysphotolib.png

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Jul 24, 2016 12:39 PM in response to Kort
    Level 10 (105,518 points)
    iLife
    Jul 24, 2016 12:39 PM in response to Kort

    Kort wrote:

     

    The photos pane is empty in iMovie on my computer. I'm running iMovie 09 (8) on my system currently.

    If you want to use iMovie '09 with Photos, that will not work. 

    You need iMovie 10 as show in OT's screen capture.

     

    The problem is, that the latest iLife '09 versions  have been released, long before the new ways to share photos by the Media Browser have been invented.  iMovie '09 simply does not support Photos for Mac.

  • by midgee gal,

    midgee gal midgee gal Jul 24, 2016 12:51 PM in response to Kort
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 24, 2016 12:51 PM in response to Kort

    My photos are backed up in Google. I want to move them to a more accessible file on my MacBookPro OS X El Capitan version 10.11.6

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jul 25, 2016 1:26 PM in response to midgee gal
    Level 10 (84,105 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 25, 2016 1:26 PM in response to midgee gal

    This thread is about

    Accessing Photo and Movie files Imported into Photos

    Your question has nothing to do with this and ThreadJacking other people's questions causes great confusion for you, for them and for future readers - please start your own thread with your own question adn details - for help in asking an answerable question see this article - Writing an effective Apple Support Communities question

     

    LN

  • by Kort,

    Kort Kort Jul 25, 2016 1:33 PM in response to Old Toad
    Level 3 (840 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 25, 2016 1:33 PM in response to Old Toad

    "Make sure your Photos library is set to be the System Photos Library in Photos' General preference pane"

     

    It is, thanks.

  • by Kort,

    Kort Kort Jul 25, 2016 1:37 PM in response to léonie
    Level 3 (840 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 25, 2016 1:37 PM in response to léonie

    léonie wrote:

     

    If you want to use iMovie '09 with Photos, that will not work.

    You need iMovie 10 as show in OT's screen capture.

     

    The problem is, that the latest iLife '09 versions  have been released, long before the new ways to share photos by the Media Browser have been invented.  iMovie '09 simply does not support Photos for Mac.

     

    Yes, I've come to that conclusion. But that wasn't the major issue. Even photos from elsewhere on the iMac were not showing up. Someone else said it was a reported compatibility issue with iM9 and El Capitan.

     

    I went ahead and installed iMovie 10 but have yet to test it out. I hope the negatives I've heard aren't as bad as they say.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 25, 2016 2:48 PM in response to Kort
    Level 10 (105,518 points)
    iLife
    Jul 25, 2016 2:48 PM in response to Kort
    I went ahead and installed iMovie 10 but have yet to test it out. I hope the negatives I've heard aren't as bad as they say.

    iMovie 10 is just very different from the previous iLive versions of iMovie, just like Photos differs from iPhoto '11, or GarageBand 10 from GarageBand '11, a completely new design with a different workflow.

    It took me some time to figure out how iMovie 10 is supposed to be used, but once I stopped fighting it and accepted the ways things are to be done now, I found it quite intuitive.