"Photos" tab is missing from my Photos app in macOS Catalina?

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Level 1

11 points

"Photos" tab is missing from my Photos app in macOS Catalina?

Hi everyone,

This might be entirely my own fault. I've just started trying to use the Photos app since upgrading from High Sierra to Catalina.

In my Photos app, there's no option for "All Photos" like there was last time I used Photos, and apparently it should be just "Photos" now, under Library. But there's nothing there?

I've been using 'Recent' to go through my photos, but shouldn't I be able to go through them by day/month/year or something?

Separate question: it's supposed to be downloading my (enormous) iCloud library down to my mac, but I can't seem to find anywhere to view the progress. I'd love a pointer if anyone knows.

Thanks,

Nathan

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Dec 19, 2019 12:26 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

léonie

Level 10

194,653 points

Jan 31, 2020 4:57 AM in response to Gert-Jan Lind

While you are waiting for Apple to fix this, you could create yourself a smart album "My All Photos".

File > New Smart Album
Set the rule to "Date captured is before 1.1.4000".

This smart album should show you all photos in your library. Can the smart album find all photos?

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

194,653 points

Dec 21, 2019 5:52 AM in response to davidhood1978

Select a photo in one of the albums, then ctrl-click or right-click it and select "Shon in All Photos". Does this activate the "Photos" view?

If not - have you tried to reinstall the system?

Photos cannot be reinstalled separately, since it is part of the system. Try to reinstall a complete new copy of the system by booting into the Recovery portion. This is described here:

How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery – Apple Support

First try to reinstall the current version of the system by restarting the Mac with ⌘R.

If this dies not help, try to reinstall from Internet Recovery with Option-⌘-R

This will use the most recent installer, but may take longer.

Do not try to reinstall without making a complete backup of your Mac.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,653 points

Dec 22, 2019 1:44 AM in response to nlb8

Have you tested from a different user account? Occasionally corrupted preferences files or duplicate fonts are causing glitches in the user interface. If there is something installed ion your user account only, you should find it by testing from a different user account, see:

How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support

Just to be sure - you have been launching Photos by clicking it in the Applications folder and not by using the Dock icon? Only by clicking it in Applications, you can be sure, that you are not trying to launch an older copy from a backup drive or somewhere else.

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Answer 4

Dec 26, 2019 6:28 AM in response to léonie

I have the exact same issue located on this thread -

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250883814

I've just done a full OS reinstall without restoring anything, or logging into iCloud and get the same result of no 'Photo' tab in the side bar.

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Answer 5

nlb8 Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 21, 2019 5:26 PM in response to léonie

I have tried the “show in All Photos” with a few photos and videos, no luck.

I also tried creating a new library but this didn’t show the “Photos” tab either. The screenshot above is actually after I tried those steps myself.

Reinstalling macOS from recovery (backed up library & data, disk utility: deleted ‘Macintosh HD-Data’ and erases ‘Macintosh HD’, reinstalled macOS Catalina from the internet) and I get the same result. Photos app still doesn’t have the Photos tab. I tried importing some photos straight from my iPhone, and from a backup export on USB disk, still no luck. Tried deleting the library and creating a new one. Still no luck.

What’s my next step? macOS Console doesn’t seem to show me anything useful and it’s full of other irrelevant messages.

I am signed into iCloud on the device again, but with or without that it seemed to have the same issue.

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Answer 6

Jan 31, 2020 3:56 AM in response to mtmcgavock

I also tried a fresh install of Catalina. No tab. I think it is connected to the hardware. Some machines show this, others don't. I have one Mac mini showing this, and three different Macbooks that are fine... Nothing so far I have seen on the various threads did anything. The wait is for Apple itself I think.

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Answer 7

Dec 21, 2019 4:50 AM in response to nlb8

Exactly the same here. I have a MBP and iMac both running Catalina. I have the Photos tab on my MBP but not on the iMac. Whyyyyyyy???????!!!

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Answer 8

Jan 31, 2020 8:31 AM in response to léonie

That is what I call clever! Great work around! Thanks!

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