Running OS 10.14.2 and Photos 4.0 and iMovie 10.1.10 on laptop, using a 210 GB photos file. When I go to iMovie, the photos library only shows a VERY small % of my pix, in particular from the last 'event' I created. Just 'repaired' my photos library, but still have the same problem in iMovie.
iMac Pro
Hi,
Photos in the cloud will not be recognized in the iMovie Photos sidebar item. If that is your situation, you would need to download to your Photos app library any photos that are in the cloud before they will be recognized.
Another possibility is that you are in the wrong Photos library. iMovie only recognizes the Photos library that is designated in Photos preferences to be used as the system library, and there can only be one systems library. Open the photos library that contains the photos that are not being recognized and go to Photos/Preferences and confirm that the box that says "use as systems photo library" has been checked (grayed out). If it isn't grayed out, then check it and close and reopen iMovie.
If neither of the above apply, try opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and selecting to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Now see if the photos will be recognized.
-- Rich
Hi,
Photos in the cloud will not be recognized in the iMovie Photos sidebar item. If that is your situation, you would need to download to your Photos app library any photos that are in the cloud before they will be recognized.
Another possibility is that you are in the wrong Photos library. iMovie only recognizes the Photos library that is designated in Photos preferences to be used as the system library, and there can only be one systems library. Open the photos library that contains the photos that are not being recognized and go to Photos/Preferences and confirm that the box that says "use as systems photo library" has been checked (grayed out). If it isn't grayed out, then check it and close and reopen iMovie.
If neither of the above apply, try opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and selecting to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Now see if the photos will be recognized.
-- Rich
Your screen should look like this screen shot: My Media view with Photos selected in the sidebar, and Years, All Years, and All selected in the display options.
If your Photos library preference is set to "use as system photo library" then the Photos library item should display in the iMovie media sidebar as in the above screen shot. If it is not displaying the Photos item, and since you made some changes, confirm that your current library is still set as your system library. Then try restarting your computer and opening the Photos app, parking it on the Dock. Then open iMovie and see if it will read the library.
You might also confirm that your computer is updated to current iMovie 10.1.10 and Mojave.
-- Rich
If it is grayed out that means it is already your system library.
In Photos preferences, the box that says "Copy items to the Photos library" should also be checked. I assume that it is checked since the photos are showing up in your Photos app library.
For some reason your Mac is not recognizing the link to the Photos app library. It is not confined just to iMovie because, as you have mentioned, the screen saver app cannot access the Photos app library either.
You could try booting up in Safe Mode (see Help menu for instructions) and see if your screen saver will recognize Photos. iMovie won't open in Safe Mode, so you can't test there. If screen save recognizes Photos in Safe Mode, then perhaps there is some conflict that is obstructing the link in normal mode.
It wouldn't hurt to try opening iMovie in a new user account, such as the Guest account on your Mac, to rule out any conflict with your normal user account.
Also, you could try running a First Aid scan from the Disk Utility app on your computer.
-- Rich
I am on a MacPro using OS 10.14.2, with 110 GB of pictures in my laptop, NOT the cloud. Problem is that I cannot see ALL my PHOTOS in iMovie, just two recent EVENTs (from Photos). Yesterday I rebuilt the Photos library: no change, still can't see my Photos library in iMovie. Then I manually uninstalled iMovie and related folders/files, restarted, and downloaded iMovie: no change, still can't see my Photos library in iMovie. Then I launched Photos, depressing Option to create a new library, opened the new library to set the new library as the system library, then loaded the original library to set the original library as the system library, which it did, then deleted the new library: no change, still can't see my Photos library in iMovie. Tried the last suggestion above (deleting iMovie preferences and opening a new library, then reopenning old/origial library): no change, still can't see my Photos library in iMovie. When I open Photos, ALL my pix are there. In iMovie, Photos does not show in the Library section, as I think it probably did at one time and still should now. There's probably a work-around, but would rather have it work as it used to and should work now. Still open to other suggestions. Incidentally, I just found that, in preferences, I cannot set my desktop/screen saver to use the pix in a PHOTOS event rather than the Apple-provided choices, because my Photos/events do not appear as an option in the 'source' dropdown. HELP if you can.
Thank you for staying with me on this. My PHOTOS preferences shows the "use as system photo library" grayed out, and I don't know how to fix that, so I can't confirm what library is the system library. All I know is that when I go to the PHOTOS library, I get everything I know is there.
And I confirmed that I am using iMovie 10.1.10, just re-downloaded yesterday.
photos not showing in imovie
