iCloud Photos still not syncing after signing out/in

Question

iCloud Photos still not syncing after signing out/in

I have tried...

confirming my Mac is up to date (macOS Catalina 10.15.6)
unchecking/checking the Photos box in my iCloud settings found in System Preferences
creating a new photo library
restarting the computer
ensuring my multitude of other devices have up to date syncs
signing out/in to iCloud and then restarting (I did both parts twice actually)

Despite all of this, iCloud Photos still won't sync with my Mac specifically. Very frustrating and I don't know what else to try. Terminal commands is the only other thing I can think of that might work, but I haven't found any relevant commands to do so. Is there anything else I can do besides creating a new user account on my Mac and migrating there?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Aug 14, 2020 9:03 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

PhillipU

Level 2

470 points

Aug 14, 2020 4:01 PM in response to ThatItalian21

Actually, your screenshot proves that you don’t have that library set as your System Photo Library but I was misdirected you in how to set it. What I told you only shows you the status and allows you to turn it and shared album syncing on and off. Sorry about that.

What you want to do is click the button to set the current (empty) library as your System Photo Library on the General tab of the Photos preferences.

Here’s the official Apple support doc on that: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204414

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Answer 2

PhillipU

Level 2

470 points

Aug 14, 2020 2:36 PM in response to ThatItalian21

One little thing you don’t mention is if for the new photo library, have you gone into Photos preferences, and clicked the option to make it your System Photo Library in the iCloud tab?

If you haven’t, iCloud may still be looking to sync with your old photo library whether it’s there or not.

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Answer 3

Aug 14, 2020 8:49 PM in response to PhillipU

That did the trick. All the steps I had tried were likely unnecessary.

As soon as I set the new library as the system library my photos immediately popped back into place fresh from the cloud.

I can't thank you enough for helping me resolve such a simple issue.

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Answer 4

Aug 14, 2020 3:44 PM in response to PhillipU

The latest Photos for Mac no longer provides that option and yes, I have turned on iCloud Photos in System Preferences.

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iCloud Photos still not syncing after signing out/in

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