John C Lin
Level 1 (4 points)
Mac OS X

Q: How do I transfer iPhoto projects to Photos? Some of the projects are missing photos

When I converted my iPhotos library to Photos, some of the iPhoto projects came over intact, while others did not - basically, some of the photos had thumbnails, but the original photo wasn't there. How do I "reunite" the thumbnail to the actual photo?

Posted on Sep 3, 2016 4:50 PM

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John C Lin

Q: How do I transfer iPhoto projects to Photos? Some of the projects are missing photos

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 3, 2016 5:40 PM in response to John C Lin
    Level 10 (84,027 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 3, 2016 5:40 PM in response to John C Lin

    Not sure exactly what you are seeing

     

    does this help?  Details of how Photos handles the migration from iPhoto

     

    LN

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Sep 3, 2016 10:30 PM in response to John C Lin
    Level 10 (105,183 points)
    iLife
    Sep 3, 2016 10:30 PM in response to John C Lin

    some of the photos had thumbnails, but the original photo wasn't there. How do I "reunite" the thumbnail to the actual photo?

    Do you get a warning message that the original is missing with an arrow badge over the thumbnail?  If yes, you have to find the original files and point Photos to the location of the originals.

     

    Are the original photos still there, when you open the iPhoto Libraries in iPhoto?  Did you update to iPhoto 9.6.1 before the migration, so you still can run iPhoto? Then you can use iPhoto's "File > Reveal in Finder > Original file" to reveal the location of the original files.

     

    And where are your iPhoto Libraries stored? On an external drive or on your system drive?

     

    The migration to Photos will have renamed the original iPhoto Library to "IPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary". Change the filename extension ".migratedphotolibrary" back to ".photolibrary": Then iPhoto will open the library again.

     

    If you did not yet update to iPhoto 9.6.1,

    See Barney's user tip, if you can update at all:

      Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-8431