My Photos app has stopped syncing to iCloud, and I can’t export photos

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My Photos app has stopped syncing to iCloud, and I can’t export photos

My Photos app is screwy on my M1 MBP.

First, this is a new problem; it was working until recently (perhaps 2 weeks ago)
It stopped syncing with iCloud
It hangs if I try to export an image
If I try to quit it warns me that I will lose the export in progress
If I say Quit Anyway the red dot to close the app turn maroon and the app hangs; I have to force close the app
I have tried restarting the Mac
I have checked system memory and it shows “green” in activity monitor
My drive has 1.4 TB free
The Preferences pane looks wrong also; the Use as System Photo Library is greyed out. The show in Finder works:

I assume the database is somehow corrupted. I tried to restore a Time Machine backup of the database, but the database doesn’t appear in Time Machine at all.

I can try deleting the database and resyncing it from iCloud, but I would like some advice before doing anything further.

Fortunately, all of my photos are also synced to Google Photos, Dropbox and backed up to LiveDrive, so I won’t lose anything, just time and grey hairs.

Posted on Oct 5, 2021 2:32 PM

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Answer 1

Lawrence Finch Author

Level 10

214,584 points

Oct 5, 2021 5:37 PM in response to TonyCollinet

TonyCollinet wrote:

Hi Lawrence.

Sometimes this sort of issue is fixed by starting in safe mode - trying there, and then restarting.

Will give it a try.

o your iCloud photos preferences look like this (Catalina screenshot but similar in Big Sur)

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/225ad1ba-b049-48cf-925a-f10ce892c2a0

Yes, that’s exactly what it looks like.

don't know why the library is not showing in time machine - it should be.

Does it give any error message when you try to export?

No error message; first step it prompts for size and such, then target location, then it just sits and does nothing.

you could try a library repair (Hold down option and CMD when starting photos), But I'd be tempted to try a sync to a new empty library first if all photos are in iCloud, like this:

Hold down the option key while starting photos, and click "create new". Name it somthing.photoslibrary, and locate it in your pictures folder.

Then open the new library - go into photos preferences (general tab), and click "use as system photos library"

Finally in photos preferences iCloud tab, set it up as the screenshot above.

It should then sync to iCloud.

OK, I’ll try all of that in the morning and report back; I don’t want to be up all night!

Thanks, Tony!

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Answer 2

Oct 6, 2021 10:43 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Welcome - though I'm not sure I've been that much help.

Are you syncing your pictures folder with Google sync? If so that is very likely to cause problems, due to the google software having control of files while MacOS needs to access them. Apple specifically states that is an unsuitable use case for a photos library.

See:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201517

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Answer 3

Oct 5, 2021 3:46 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Hi Lawrence.

First "use as system photos library" greyed out means that it already is.

Sometimes this sort of issue is fixed by starting in safe mode - trying there, and then restarting.

Do your iCloud photos preferences look like this (Catalina screenshot but similar in Big Sur)

I don't know why the library is not showing in time machine - it should be.

Does it give any error message when you try to export?

You could try a library repair (Hold down option and CMD when starting photos), But I'd be tempted to try a sync to a new empty library first if all photos are in iCloud, like this:

Hold down the option key while starting photos, and click "create new". Name it somthing.photoslibrary, and locate it in your pictures folder.

Then open the new library - go into photos preferences (general tab), and click "use as system photos library"

Finally in photos preferences iCloud tab, set it up as the screenshot above.

It should then sync to iCloud.

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Answer 4

Lawrence Finch Author

Level 10

214,584 points

Oct 6, 2021 6:21 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch wrote:

TonyCollinet wrote:

Hi Lawrence.

you could try a library repair (Hold down option and CMD when starting photos),

Total disaster. Said it couldn’t open the library, then corrupted it totally.

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Answer 5

Lawrence Finch Author

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214,584 points

Oct 6, 2021 6:27 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

TonyCollinet wrote:

Hold down the option key while starting photos, and click "create new". Name it somthing.photoslibrary, and locate it in your pictures folder.

hen open the new library - go into photos preferences (general tab), and click "use as system photos library"

First time I did this it said it couldn’t sync 9 trillion items, then errored off. The 2nd time it appeared to behave

finally in photos preferences iCloud tab, set it up as the screenshot above.

It should then sync to iCloud.

Did that. Right now it says “updating”

I’ll report if (or when) it finishes.

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Answer 6

Lawrence Finch Author

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214,584 points

Oct 6, 2021 6:43 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

It’s doing something- creating lots of files in a temp directory, all with numbers for file names, but still says Updating.

And interestingly, when I launched it to create a new library it closed all of the open windows in other apps on my Mac. It didn’t close the apps, just their open windows.

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Answer 7

Lawrence Finch Author

Level 10

214,584 points

Oct 6, 2021 2:40 PM in response to TonyCollinet

Well, I tried 3 times. and nothing happened; it created a library, but then just sat saying “updating". The 4th time I did it in Safe Mode, and the library rebuilt from iCloud. It came up within seconds, but it’s still downloading originals. But at least it is now syncing again, and I can export. I’ve got 1600 images, and my library in iCloud is 11 GB.

Thanks for your advice and help!

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Answer 8

Lawrence Finch Author

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Oct 6, 2021 5:57 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

I’ve filed a report with Google support. Recently they announced they were discontinuing support for Google Backup & Sync, and we would have to switch to Google Drive. That’s about when the problem started.

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Answer 9

Lawrence Finch Author

Level 10

214,584 points

Oct 7, 2021 4:37 PM in response to TonyCollinet

Today’s update:

I killed Google Drive, and all of its child processes. I then repaired the photo library by starting Photos holding COMMAND+ALT. The rebuild we forward normally, and appears to be resyncing successfully.

Note that I have been using Google Backup & Sync for years with no problem. Google “retired” it, and required switching to Google Drive. That’s when the problem started. I will pursue with Google Support.

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