How can I fix - CANNOT START EDITING. PHOTO CANNOT START LOADING ADJUSTMENTS FOR THIS IMAGE

Are you using iCloud Photos?

What kind of photos are you trying to edit? Raw Photos? Or have the photos been migrated from an older Aperture Library or iPhoto Library? Or have the photos been edited on an iPhone or iPad with adjustments, that cannot be replicated on a Mac?

You may be seeing "Cannot load adjustments" for three possible reasons, and all cases it should help to revert to the original.

• It is not possible to add further edits to photos that have been edited in aperture or iPhoto. You will have to discard the old adjustments, before you can add further adjustments.
• It is not possible to add further adjustments to edited RAW photos, if the RAW support has changed, unless you reprocess the RAW.
• It may not be possible to add further adjustments, if you used advanced editing tools on iPhone, or iPad or camera filters, that the Mac cannot reproduce.

When in doubt, create a copy and revert it to the original and start over with a clean copy.

I have the same issue:

My symptoms include:

1. Cannot export the photo: Unknown error (4)

2. Cannot export original of the photo: Unknown error (4)

3. Cannot edit the photo: Photos cannot load adjustments for this image <<< This is what you report

4. Cannot duplicate the photo: Failed to download assets for duplication

Note: revert to original is grayed out in the menu (i.e. not possible to revert)

I opened a support case with Apple on 10-Aug-2020.

They confirmed that the issue was real and they escalated the issue to Apple engineering.

Their only response so far has been "try upgrading photos", which I always did whenever a new release was available, but which never fixed the issue.

Over the past few months they have stopped responding to my e-mail asking about the status of the case (which is still open).

It appears to be a common issue:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/387121

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/399027

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252270575

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251674403

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251872717

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251602029

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250932769

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250852440

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250870058

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250771558

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251094038

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251245094

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251602029

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251036700

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251382514

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251854636

Yes, same issue. Worse now that I have the Macbook Pro with M1. I have only had Apple devices for 20 years, so my photos have always been in the Apple OS programs. Almost none of my 40,000 photos are accessible now? because they might have been handled at sometime by a previous Apple program? And now they can't figure out how to make their OWN programs compatible? Please email me that Macbook Pro M1 evaluation survey again - I want to change some of my answers :(

Hi

Select an image that does this, go to the image menu and select "revert to original". This will remove any edits already applied to the image.

Then see if you can edit it.