Photo thumbnail is blank after edits

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Photo thumbnail is blank after edits

I am very frustrated with Photos for Mac. A couple of updates ago, I began to have an issue come up. When I edit a photo on Photos and I am finished editing and click done to go back to the thumbnail page, the edited photo is blank. If I click on the blank thumbnail and hit edit and reset adjustments, the thumbnail is back, unedited now. So basically, I am unable to edit any of my photos. Otherwise, it works to allow me to upload my files, drag selected photos to the desktop, etc. But it is worthless to me if I can't edit them. I prefer to use Photos for the very basic edits I do, so I don't want to use PS or another program. For awhile, this only occurred if I used the auto enhance and I could get around it by doing all the adjustments one by one, but today after importing a large number of photos, it did not allow me to do even this. Has anyone experienced this and found a solution?

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 2, 2021 1:10 PM

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Answer 1

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Old Toad

Level 10

210,437 points

Apr 2, 2021 1:54 PM in response to Captivafan

What is the format of these photo?

Are you editing with Photos or an external editor?

Try rotating one of the blank thumbnails 90° in one direction and then back. See if that will rebuilt the thumbnail?

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Answer 2

Apr 3, 2021 12:49 AM in response to Captivafan

Hi

Can I guess that you are editing raw files?

If so, this seems to be a bug I was experiencing also - If it is the same problem I am seeing, reverting edits to original will bring the image back to normal - after which you can edit again without problems.

The workaround I use is:

Import the raw files

Select them all (in all photos view)

CMD-E (auto enhance)

Image menu>Revert to original (while they are all still selected)

From then on they all work fine. 

If you can find time, please report the bug at the link below. The more who do, the better the chance that Apple will fix it.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

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Answer 3

Captivafan Author

Level 1

14 points

Apr 2, 2021 2:40 PM in response to Old Toad

These are NEF (RAW) files from my Nikon D500. I don't normally do a lot of editing, so I mainly use Photos to do some tweaking. I do have a couple of other programs, but only use them for the occasional photo. I did just try rotating the thumbnail and it worked. Just curious, do you know why that would bring it back? I'm happy that it did, but I'd like to understand why. Thank you for your help. It was frustrating to get a photo to where I liked it and then not be able to see it.

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Answer 4

Captivafan Author

Level 1

14 points

Apr 29, 2021 7:39 PM in response to TonyCollinet

Thank you for this suggestion. I hadn't seen your reply when I first posted the problem. I was able to get the edited thumbnails back when I tried the suggestion of rotating them. However today (Apr. 29), I uploaded a large number of RAW files (actually NEF, Nikon's version of RAW) and the problem reappeared. This time, rotating did not work for me. I tried what you suggested and it worked. I will report this problem to Apple. I hope that the workaround continues to work. Thanks!

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Answer 5

Old Toad

Level 10

210,437 points

Apr 2, 2021 2:50 PM in response to Captivafan

I believe when editing RAW files the thumbnail doesn't get created and takes a rotation to rebuilt it. That's one of the first steps to take when dealing with screwy thumbnails.

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Answer 6

Apr 30, 2021 12:44 AM in response to Captivafan

You're welcome - thanks for getting back and letting me know. 🙂

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Photo thumbnail is blank after edits

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