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User profile for user: Newfg1138
Newfg1138 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Photos doesn't show all the photos in any library

Hello,


I am trying to help my wife see all of the photos on her Mac so she can remove duplicates and save the ones she wants, but I've got very little knowledge of Macs (very strong knowledge of PC's).


When I open Iphoto there are three folders all with between 15-26MB of photos, but they all have 3-4 photos in each, which is clearly not all of them. Also, one of the folders won't open at all but says that the photos were migrated already, who knows where.


We are doing this so that she can safely move all the photos to an external hard drive so we can do the BigSur update as the mac is currently running Catalina right now.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 4, 2021 5:39 AM

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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,123 points

Posted on Jan 4, 2021 6:57 AM

Also, one of the folders won't open at all but says that the photos were migrated already, who knows where.

This looks like you were not viewing folders but are switching between different Photos Libraries in the Finder.


Try the following:

  • Quit Photos, if it is running.
  • Launch Photos again, while holding down the options key ⌥
  • Release the key ⌥ again, when you are seeing the library chooser dialog.
  • You will now see a list of Photos Libraries and iPhoto Libraries. Pick the largest library from this list to open.


If you are seeing the message "Cannot open migrated library" you should be seeing the option "Open Photos" in the dialog. Use this option to migrate the library again, if it is the largest library and no other library is holding the photos you are looking for.



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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,123 points

Jan 4, 2021 6:57 AM in response to Newfg1138

Also, one of the folders won't open at all but says that the photos were migrated already, who knows where.

This looks like you were not viewing folders but are switching between different Photos Libraries in the Finder.


Try the following:

  • Quit Photos, if it is running.
  • Launch Photos again, while holding down the options key ⌥
  • Release the key ⌥ again, when you are seeing the library chooser dialog.
  • You will now see a list of Photos Libraries and iPhoto Libraries. Pick the largest library from this list to open.


If you are seeing the message "Cannot open migrated library" you should be seeing the option "Open Photos" in the dialog. Use this option to migrate the library again, if it is the largest library and no other library is holding the photos you are looking for.



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Photos doesn't show all the photos in any library

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