I cannot turn on Shared Albums in Photos settings

Question

I cannot turn on Shared Albums in Photos settings

When I try to upload a photo from my Photos library to a shared photostream a dialogue appears that says "Turn on Shared Albums; sharing to iCloud requires Shared Albums to be turned on in Preferences."

When I look at preferences within Photos the iCloud tab shows only a message: "iCloud features for Photos are only available in the System Photo Library"

Google-searching the issue the only troubleshooting post I see says to go to iCloud in System preferences, then click on options next to Photos, uncheck Shared Albums, then wait five minutes and turn it back on--this didn't work.

Also, there is no "iCloud" tile in System Preferences, there is only a tab within the Apple ID preferences, then Photos shows in a list of applications, but there is no "options" button next to it as described. I just unchecked Photos and checked it again a few minutes later, but as I said, nothing changed.

The photos I am trying to upload to the Shared Album are located in the Library in Photos as far as I can tell, but not sure if this is the "System Photo Library." Perhaps, the System Photo Library is not properly set up?

I'm using a new MacBook Pro and migrated my photos from my old MacBook Pro.

Any help on what I am doing wrong is much appreciated.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Feb 16, 2021 7:52 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

léonie

Level 10

194,831 points

Feb 16, 2021 11:56 PM in response to imaginary_forest

You need to make your current Photos Library your system Photos Library.

In the Photos Preferences, shown in your post, click the tab "General" in the Photos Library, then click on "Use as System Photos Library".

Usually your library should automatically be the System Photos Library, unless your keeping it in an unsupported location. Where is your Photos Library stored?

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Answer 2

Feb 19, 2021 9:53 PM in response to léonie

léonie wrote:

Which system version is running on your Mac?

11.2.1

Have the shared albums been created by yourself or have you subscribed to shared albums shared by someone else?

They were created by someone else, I am subscribed to them

It will depend on the system version, where your shared albums are stored, also it will matter, if the albums are still in iCloud or not.

They are still on iCloud, I can access them from my phone.

Up to macOS 10.14 Mojave the downloaded photos from shared albums have been buffered in your user library in your home folder. The photos from these albums may have been saved in the home folder of the deleted account, not in your current account. If the photos are still in iCloud, they should be coming back from iCloud, after you enabled iCloud again.

Looking in the package contents of Photos Library.photoslibrary in my current user home folder vs. my deleted user home folder, there are a couple differences, but not clear if any are relevant:

In the deleted user compared to the current user:

within the "resources" folder there is a folder called "streams" which is empty; it is not in this location in the current user library
within "resources/cloudsharing" there is a folder called "metadata" which is empty; this folder is not found in this place in the current user library
conversely, the current user library has a folder called "resources" in "resources/cloudsharing" that is not found in this place in the deleted user library

What is the file format of the missing photos? Are they JPEGs or in a different format?

I don't know what the file formats are, but they are all iPhone photos, so whatever is typical, probably jpegs.

Please let me know if any of this indicates what the problem might be.

Thanks!

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Answer 3

Feb 17, 2021 4:44 PM in response to léonie

Thanks, your response seems to have helped me fix this halfway. Oddly, the designated System Photos Library was the library in a "deleted user" profile of the same name as what is located in my Photos folder. (I don't recall why I have this deleted user folder, I think it was created while troubleshooting something with an Apple rep).

Now, for some reason, all the photos in my shared folders are just grey, the metadata is available, but image is not showing. Shared Albums is checked in the iCloud settings in Photos Preferences, and Photos is checked in iCloud under Apple ID System Preferences.

Any thoughts?

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

194,831 points

Feb 18, 2021 12:47 AM in response to imaginary_forest

Which system version is running on your Mac?

Have the shared albums been created by yourself or have you subscribed to shared albums shared by someone else?

It will depend on the system version, where your shared albums are stored, also it will matter, if the albums are still in iCloud or not.

Up to macOS 10.14 Mojave the downloaded photos from shared albums have been buffered in your user library in your home folder. The photos from these albums may have been saved in the home folder of the deleted account, not in your current account. If the photos are still in iCloud, they should be coming back from iCloud, after you enabled iCloud again.

What is the file format of the missing photos? Are they JPEGs or in a different format?

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I cannot turn on Shared Albums in Photos settings

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