Photos problems with Referenced Files Stored in NAS since Catalina

You got two sets of issues here:

1. Photos has no tools for managing a reference library. It really isn't upon to the the task
2. A NAS is a linux computer and Photos doesn't have the code to successfully manage that relationship either.

Photos is a free app and you get what you pay for. Frankly, if you want to use that set up you need a different application.

It is not possible to remove the solved mark. You could post your question again and link to this discussion.

But there is no solution we can give you. Referenced photos are not working well in Photos 5 on Catalina; there are quite a few bugs when using referenced files, even if you do not put them on a NAS.

If you want to request a bug fix from Apple, you'd better use the feedback form. Feedback - Photos - Apple

You are not talking to Apple here - this is a User-to-user forum.

You have been lucky, if he referenced library has worked for such al long time with the referenced originals on a NAS. The Photos User Guide has never promised that this will work. It only mentions the system volume or an external volume as the location of referenced files.

Thanks for your answer, but I have to disagree.

I have been using photos with referenced files on a NAS since its release, 4 or 5 years ago. It worked great for all that time. It was only in Catalina that this problem with referenced files started.

All I am asking is a fix for things that worked great before. It should not be that difficult as I said it used to work

Feel free to disagree but, frankly, my read is that you've been lucky thus far and now your luck has run out. It's clear to me that Apple have no particular interest in making Photos work with these kinds of set ups. They want a library on a Mac and synced via iCloud. If other things also work, well and good, but I don't believe that these set ups are any kind of priority for them. As I said above, you get what you pay for.