Access "media" in Finder Sidebar on OS 10.13

Question

Level 1

13 points

Access "media" in Finder Sidebar on OS 10.13

In previous OS's, there was a section of the sidebar called "media" that allowed one to directly access photos / videos etc. You could activate it under Finder > Preferences > Sidebar, but not anymore.

On 10.13, if I'm uploading to a site, this media option is added to the sidebar in that dialogue box:

In fact, you can see this in the dialogue window that pops up on this site, when you go to add an image.

However, I frequently want to add images to apps that support drag and drop (and do not have an "upload" or "add image option" as they are meant to be used with drag and drop), but it does not work with images dragged from within the Photos app.

i.e. if I select an image in Photos and drag it to the app, nothing happens. On the other hand, if I first drag the photo to the desktop and then drag the desktop copy to the app, it successfully uploads.

Besides being tiresome, this clutters my desktop. Previously I would have been able to directly access the media in finder and drag from there, but this is no longer an option under the Finder Preferences.

Does anyone know a solution to get access to these "media" folders from the sidebar again?

Thank you kindly for your time and assistance.

All the best,

RA

iMac 27", 10.13

Posted on Feb 15, 2019 10:07 AM

Reply

Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,747 points

Feb 15, 2019 11:32 AM in response to Rax Adam

The Media section has not been available in the Finder Sidebar at least since MacOS 10.10. Since then it is only available in the File Chooser dialog.

But the Media Browser is usually not the best choice to get access to your photos, because you have no control over the quality of the photos you will get. It is only suitable for quick sharing, if the quality of the image file does not matter much, because it will be downsized anyway.

You can only be sure about the resolution and the quality of your images, if you use the "File > Export" command in Photos and specify the size and the quality of the file.

Reply

Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Feb 15, 2019 1:49 PM in response to Rax Adam

Well, I got bit last time I mentioned this to a Graphic Professional, but I think Graphic Converter has the perfect Browse function, you can have any size icon you want & you can drag & drop them to other apps...

https://www.lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter/

Reply

Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

136,379 points

Feb 15, 2019 2:37 PM in response to Rax Adam

FWIW, the "Media" locations were never available in the Finder sidebar going back to 10.6 Snow Leopard. However, they are still available in any open file dialog window including in Mojave.

Reply

Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Feb 15, 2019 11:12 AM in response to Rax Adam

All I can think of is adding the folders for Music, Movies, & Pictures to the sidebar.

https://www.lifewire.com/add-files-folders-and-apps-with-finder-sidebar-2260877

Reply

Answer 5

Rax Adam Author

Level 1

13 points

Feb 15, 2019 1:33 PM in response to léonie

But the Media Browser is usually not the best choice to get access to your photos, because you have no control over the quality of the photos you will get.

At the moment, I end up having to just drag from Photos to the desktop first; I’m not controlling the quality anymore that way. Whatever the quality of *that* is, I’m fine with it. More often than not, they are screenshots taken from my iPad / Desktop / Laptop (if it were just one device, I’d set a default location for the screenshots and put that in the sidebar; indeed, I’ve already done that for each computer - but it doesn’t solve the issue of general access to photos).

Also - if the Media Browser is good enough for this support site (and other online uploads), why wouldn’t it be good enough for my other uses?

Is there any way to access the Media Browser for these types of needs? Or is that just completely unavailable / impossible, now? Very frustrating, as this is one of the most frequent actions I have to do, and it’s frustratingly inefficient...

Thanks for your time and help.

All the best,

RA

Reply

Answer 6

Rax Adam Author

Level 1

13 points

Feb 15, 2019 1:35 PM in response to BDAqua

Those are still available through the preferences, but I don’t even know why: the photos folder simply contains the Photos library, but doesn’t give one access to the actual photos. Unless one were to add photos to that folder manually, it’s useless.

At any rate, this doesn’t address the above issue. Thank you for your help.

RA

Reply

Answer 7

Rax Adam Author

Level 1

13 points

Feb 15, 2019 6:22 PM in response to léonie

"get the manufacturers to implement the drag and drop from Photos for these applications.

If an application has an "File > Open" command to open images, used "File > Open" and drag the thumbnails from the Photos browser directly into the "File > Open" dialog window."

Not sure how I'm supposed to get the manufacturers to implement the changes I want :)

& the applications don't have these options: they work with drag-and-drop, just not directly from the Photos album.

Thank you, anyhow :)

Reply

Answer 8

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,086 points

Feb 15, 2019 10:29 AM in response to Rax Adam

It's a while since I used 10.13, but I don't recall that media heading being anywhere accept in dialogues, and never in the Finder. The Finder sidebar included Devices, Shared and Tags. Did you install any enhancements to the Finder perhaps?

Reply

Answer 9

léonie

Level 10

200,747 points

Feb 15, 2019 3:39 PM in response to Rax Adam

As I said, if you want drag and drop from Photos or access to the Photos Media Browser, you have to use the applications, that support it. You can drag and drop directly from Photos into an open Mail window with a message you are composing, or an open Pages or Keynote document, for example.

Use the most recent, updated versions.

of applications, and get the manufacturers to implement the drag and drop from Photos for these applications.

If an application has an "File > Open" command to open images, used "File > Open" and drag the thumbnails from the Photos browser directly into the "File > Open" dialog window.

Reply

Access "media" in Finder Sidebar on OS 10.13

Similar questions