Photos App losing hold of selected pictures to drag and drop in an Album

Question

Euker Author

Level 1

11 points

Photos App losing hold of selected pictures to drag and drop in an Album

Equipment

OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan, iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011). Model Identifier: iMac12,1

Processor Name: Intel Core i7, Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz, Memory: 8 GB

Problem Behavior

In the Photos App (Version 1.5 (370.42.0)) when selecting multiple pictures at a time to drag and drop into an existing Album the app will loose hold of the group of selected pictures and I have to re-select all over again.

I hold down the Command key as I click (using Apple wireless mouse) on the pictures one at a time to capture a group of pictures to drag to the album. After several (9 - 20 or more) pics are selected (border of each picture changes to blue) and I select an additional picture, this window pops up and all selections are lost except for the last one clicked on. So, I have to start all over with selecting pictures to drag. It doesn't always behave this way. Last evening, it was very challenging. This morning, was able to capture 40 pictures and place in a new album.

Currently there are 29,000 pictures in this Photo Library

I ran Etre Check this morning and no Major issues were found. Minor issues included the following :

6 Unsigned Files:

1. Launchd:

/Library/LaunchAgents/jp.co.canon.CUPSFAX.BG.plist

Executable:

/Library/Printers/Canon/CUPSFAX/BackGrounder/Canon FAX BackGrounder.app/Contents/MacOS/Canon

FAX BackGrounder

Details:

Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

2. Launchd:

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

Executable:

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

Details:

Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

3. Launchd: /Library/Internet

Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

Executable:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Java

Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Java Updater -bgcheck

Details:

Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

4. Launchd:

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

Executable:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Java

Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Java Updater -bgcheck

Details:

Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

5. Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

Executable:

/Library/Internet

Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Helper-Tool

Details:

Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

6. Launchd: /Library/Internet

Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

Executable:

/Library/Internet

Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Helper-Tool

Details:

Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

I'd be grateful if anyone has an explanation for this Photos App behavior and or a solution to this problem, or suggestions regarding the above noted 6 unsigned files Etre Check identified.

Thanks!

iMac Pro

Posted on Sep 14, 2019 11:40 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Old Toad

Level 10

207,241 points

Sep 14, 2019 12:48 PM in response to Euker

Try the following:

1 - launch Photos with the Option key held down, create a new library, import some image files and test to see if the problem persists. This will tell us if the problem is limited to your current library or is application wide.

2 - log into another user account on your Mac and run the test in #1. This tells us if the problem is limited to your user account or is system wide.

3 - boot into Safe Mode and test your current library again. This will tell us if there are any 3rd party software that is contributing to the problem.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing some system cache cleaning, volume verifying and directory repairing.

4 - post the entire Etreheck report using the Add Text button:

Note: the MacTracker app indicates that your model iMac has user upgradeable RAM. Adding an additional 8 GB (two 4 GB modules) of RAM from either Crucial.com or MacSales.com would help your general performance. Just some food for thought.

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Answer 2

Euker Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 1, 2019 2:34 PM in response to Old Toad

Thank you Old Toad for your 4 suggestions above.

I created a new library and imported 159 images and was able to hold selected photos and drag them where I wanted. The original problem did not persist.
There is another user account on this iMac, however it does not use Photos. Therefore, I didn't complete the second suggestion.
I booted in Safe Mode and tested the current (original) photo library and the problem didn't recur.
Here is the complete Etre Check report.

I suspect it may be related to hard drive space and/or RAM. Would be interested in your opinion. Many thanks.

Photos App losing hold of selected pictures-drag&d

Reply

Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

207,241 points

Oct 2, 2019 10:07 AM in response to Euker

First, you are running low on free space. Good practice recommends that one should keep a minimum of at least 20 GB of free space, more if possible. An easy way to achieve that is to get an external HD and move the large items like the Music and Photos libraries to it.

Second, one should boot more frequently that you have, 33 days. Booting cleans out temp system, swap and cache files which should help the memory and free space. Booting only takes abut 45sec to a minute so, for me, it's no inconvenience to shut down at night and reboot in the morning.

The fact that the new library doesn't have the problem tells us your primary library needs repairing. Launch that library with the Option + Command keys held down and repair the library. If you have the iCloud Library enabled know that repair will trigger a new upload and comparison of all your photos to the iCloud library.

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Answer 4

Euker Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 3, 2019 7:22 PM in response to Old Toad

Hello Old Toad,

I appreciate your helpful information from this morning and suggestions regarding booting more frequently and will do so! I repaired the primary library with the iCloud not enabled to avoid re-uploading it to the Cloud as there's not sufficient space there.

Regarding the space issues:

On this Mac, in addition to the 250 Gb main Hard Drive (HD1) there is a second 1 Tb hard drive (HD2) which has 925Gb free. If I move the large (28,000 picts) primary Photos Library-1 to HD2 to free up space on the main hard drive, and want to use the new Photos Library-2 for all new photos going forward, how can I make sure that photos from the iCloud are directed to the new Photos Library-2 and not the old Photos Library-1? Will Time Capsule back up both Photo Libraries on each drive? Thanks much for any assistance.

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