Ian Lloyd
Level 1 (109 points)
iCloud

Q: iCloud sync problem - albums different from Photos albums on Mac

I have tried to sync my photo library from my Mac to iCloud a couple of times now. Both times I encountered sync issues, both times I ended up unchecking sync to iCloud and giving up on the idea. I tried again - third time lucky, right? Wrong

 

Spent a few days letting Photos upload the library - it's 140gb library on the Mac - and it's now finished. Except that when I log in to iCloud.com and check photos, the albums displayed are wrong:

 

* Albums on my library on Mac are missing in iCloud

* Albums are in the wrong place in iCloud

* There are many albums showing empty thumbnails

 

I've attached some screen shots so you can see what I'm getting.

 

Basically, I would LOVE this to work, but what can I do? I shouldn't NEED to do anything, really, it should, ahem ..... just work.

 

Until I can see a like-for-like sync between iCloud.com Photos and my Mac's Photos, there no way I'm going to attempt  the sync with my iPhone and iPad.

 

Here's my folder I created for 2016, which has 143 albums in it:

2016 albums - Photos.png

 

And here's what iCloud shows for that folder:

2016 albums in iCloud.png

Only 14 albums (119 missing!) and those that are showing are missing photos.

 

And this is how the Albums view (top level) looks in Photos:

All albums - Photos.png

iCloud thinks different:

All albums in iCloud.png

So, really, what can I do to resolve this? Or should I just accept that iCloud photos doesn't work for everyone, and that includes me

Posted on Sep 18, 2016 12:09 PM

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Ian Lloyd

Q: iCloud sync problem - albums different from Photos albums on Mac

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Sep 18, 2016 2:18 PM in response to Ian Lloyd
    Level 9 (72,248 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 18, 2016 2:18 PM in response to Ian Lloyd

    Try going to System Preferences/iCloud and stop syncing. Wait a couple of minutes, then recheck syncing.

     

    Have you tried signing out of iCloud and then sign back in?

  • by Ian Lloyd,

    Ian Lloyd Ian Lloyd Sep 19, 2016 12:35 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (109 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 19, 2016 12:35 AM in response to Eric Root

    I know that in previous times, I have tried doing this (as in unchecking then checking). I'll do it again and see what happens, then I'll try signing out of iCloud but will need to do a backup first (as it will remove my iCloud Drive files from my Mac if I do this).

     

    FWIW, I took at the 'Photos' tab in iCloud, as opposed to the 'Albums' view. By the looks of things, it has synced photos I have taken in the last two days, but then there is a big gap, with no photos synced to iCloud since February.

  • by Ian Lloyd,

    Ian Lloyd Ian Lloyd Sep 21, 2016 2:23 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (109 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 21, 2016 2:23 AM in response to Eric Root

    OK, so I have unchecked/rechecked the iCloud photos checkbox. I kicked off another 2-day long update/sync. And now this is where I am at - the photos appear (at a cursory glance) to be uploaded, but the albums displayed in iCloud are not correct.

     

    For example, in my Photos library, I have a folder for each year. So there will be *one* folder for 2016 and any albums in that year go in there. Simple. I have 145 albums in there currently.

     

    Before my most recent sync, iCloud Photos only had 14 albums showing in 2016. Since latest sync, I now have *two* 2016 folders (actually, duplicates of other folders too), one has 14 albums in, the other has the correct 145 in. See second and third folders below. It still has stray, empty folders showing in iCloud (first folder in image below is example) that are no longer in my Photos library, too.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-09-21 at 10.15.44.png

     

    Basically, this is NOT synchronisation :/

     

    I think that what I might need to do is re-synch (AGAIN!) but first I want iCloud's memory of whatever I have EVER uploaded wiped completely. How can I get a clean slate before syncing ... and most importantly, making sure that anything I do in iCloud doesn't then attempt to sync back to my master library on the Mac. That would, of course, be terrible!

  • by Ian Lloyd,

    Ian Lloyd Ian Lloyd Sep 21, 2016 2:31 AM in response to Ian Lloyd
    Level 1 (109 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 21, 2016 2:31 AM in response to Ian Lloyd

    Also noted this. The number of photos/videos showing in iCloud is almost double what I have in the library. Again - this is NOT synchronisation. It should be the same.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-09-21 at 10.29.51.png