Photos file locations in MacOS Big Sur 11.5.2

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Level 1

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Photos file locations in MacOS Big Sur 11.5.2

I was using a website that wanted me to upload a photo I had on my Mac; clicking the UPLOAD button opened a Finder window to navigate to the individual photo and select it for upload. But I couldn't do this (as described in 2nd paragraph). My workaround was to open the Photos app, drag the desired photo into an open Finder window where I could find it later, then start over on the website, now able to get to the photo I wanted in its new location.

Later, poking around in Finder, I see that I can get as far as Username>Pictures>Photos Library, but Photos Library isn't a real folder, it just opens the Photos app to continue the search for an individual picture.

Is there any way to navigate to individual pictures within Finder? I'd like a better way to deal with the situation described in the first paragraph above.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.5

Posted on Sep 11, 2021 8:37 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Yer_Man

Level 10

163,632 points

Sep 11, 2021 11:48 PM in response to yashww

The Upload dialogue is not a Finder window. It looks like on but it does not have the same characteristics.

If you use a managed Photos Library then there is no way to access the files from the Finder.

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

163,632 points

Sep 11, 2021 11:03 PM in response to yashww

Is there any way to navigate to individual pictures within Finder?

No

In that dialogue, accessed by the Upload button, note on the left hand side there are a number of headings. You might have to scroll to see them all. The lowest one is Media, and there is a item called Photos there. Click on that and your entire library is available to you.

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Answer 3

yashww Author

Level 1

29 points

Sep 11, 2021 11:33 PM in response to Yer_Man

No such buttons in the left pane of a regular Finder window, and I see you're referring to a "dialogue, accessed by the Upload button." Is there any way to generate this dialogue other than revisiting the website? I've finished my business there.

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Answer 4

yashww Author

Level 1

29 points

Sep 11, 2021 11:42 PM in response to Yer_Man

Ah, yes - I did go back to the website and clicked UPLOAD, which gives me a "Select files to upload" dialogue box, and yes, under Media>Photos I can see all the individual photos as if they were files in a Finder window.

But I'm still interested in finding out if there's a way to get this kind of result other than going to a website with an UPLOAD button. (The Finder menus have no UPLOAD command, for instance)

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Photos file locations in MacOS Big Sur 11.5.2

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