iPhone, Photos on Mac Mini, Cloud Storage - Can't See Photos Just Taken on Mac Mini

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iPhone, Photos on Mac Mini, Cloud Storage - Can't See Photos Just Taken on Mac Mini

Pics taken on my iPhone are not showing up on my Mac Mini. I pay a monthly fee for iCloud storage - storage amount far exceeds capacity of my Mac Mini. My Mac Mini tells me its out of storage. Which is fine - I don't want to *store* the photos I took on my iPhone on my Mac. They should be (are) already stored in iCloud. But I want to preview and print those photos while working at my Mac Mini. If the photos are in the cloud, then why can't I view & print a photo from the cloud in the Photos app? Would that be much different from viewing-then-printing a photo from an internet image search result? Except instead of viewing and printing an image stored on another server, I'm viewing and printing photos from the iCloud account that I'm paying for? Is it possible that ... the Photos App on my Mac Mini allows me to only see & work with photos that are local - and that there's no way to view photos stored in iCloud from my Mac? (please say it isn't so...) Thank you.

iPhone 5, iOS 10

Posted on Sep 8, 2021 9:03 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

muguy

Level 9

77,425 points

Sep 8, 2021 10:21 AM in response to FiguringOutTechnology

Yeah. You'll get a full resolution copy on your Mac too, unless you elect to optimize storage (which keeps the full version in the cloud and reduces the amount of storage on device by reducing the resolution). So, that could help with your storage issue -- the setting is in preferences > general > iCloud -- but, you'll still need to free up some space for the new images to download and for the sync to work its magic.

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Answer 2

Sep 8, 2021 10:10 AM in response to muguy

Thank you, muguy, really appreciate your willingness to help!

iCloud photos was already selected in Photos>Preferences>iCloud

in Photos > Preferences > General, the UI says

Library Location: <name of our computer> > Pictures > Photos Library

Does this provide evidence for "ensure that your library is the system library"?

Thanks again

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Answer 3

muguy

Level 9

77,425 points

Sep 8, 2021 10:14 AM in response to FiguringOutTechnology

There is a button beneath, which may be greyed out, that says use as system photo library. If it is greyed out, your library is the current system library.

You also mentioned that your Mac mini was "out of storage." If that's the case, you'll need to free up some space for the sync to work.

And, in photos, you can. check the current status of your iCloud sync. Open photos. Select "library" under "photos" in the left menu.

Scroll to the bottom of the library photos

You'll see a status indicator ... something like 10,000 pictures, 400 videos updated just now. It may say paused or some other indictor.

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Answer 4

Sep 8, 2021 10:15 AM in response to muguy

Hi muguy,

There's a setting in Photos > Preferences > General that caught my eye.

It says Importing: Copy items to the Photos library // Only items copied to the library will upload to iCloud photos.

Could this be the issue? That I've chosen to Copy items to this Library file? And since the mac is out of storage YET "Only items copied to the library will upload..." - this seems to be the reason.

Do you concur, and shall I uncheck "Copy items to the Photos library"?

and if so - can I still VIEW them?

Thanks again. Learning.

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Answer 5

Sep 8, 2021 10:19 AM in response to muguy

Thank you again muguy,

Yes - button is greyed out - so all good on current system library.

Freeing up space requires a lot of thought - can't solve that any time soon.

But I thought that by syncing all to iCloud, that the Mac Mini would become, simply, a place where only "links to the actual files in the cloud" are presented to me. That was the goal of paying all the $$ to have lots of iCloud storage.

Yes, the bottom of Photos shows a status - it says upload is paused ... "Not Enough Local Storage"

thank you

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Answer 6

muguy

Level 9

77,425 points

Sep 8, 2021 10:19 AM in response to FiguringOutTechnology

Correct. The items in the library will upload, referenced files will not. You can certainly uncheck it, but there isn't really a need to do so. As your storage is full, pictures from the cloud will be unable to download into the library. You'll need to free space instead.

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Answer 7

muguy

Level 9

77,425 points

Sep 8, 2021 9:05 AM in response to FiguringOutTechnology

On your Mac,

Open Photos

go to Photos > preferences > iCloud

select iCloud photos

go to photos > preferences > General

ensure that your library is the system library.

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Answer 8

Sep 8, 2021 10:43 AM in response to muguy

Thank you. I did select the Optimize Storage option.

I will unselect the Importing option.

And free up some space, so that the low-rez "thumbnail" can download.

THANKS!

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iPhone, Photos on Mac Mini, Cloud Storage - Can't See Photos Just Taken on Mac Mini

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