I had Monterey installed but have reverted to Big Sur. My Photos library won't open the library created with Monterey. It insists I upgrade Photos to open. Does this mean I have to revert back to/reinstall Monterey to access the photos?
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
The format of the Monterey Library is different from Big Sur. Photos 6 on Big Sur will not be able to read it.
if you have been using iCloud Photos an your Library is in iCloud you can create a new Big Sur version of the library by creating a new, empty Library on your Big Sur Mac and let the library download from iCloud Photos. It is the only safe and lossless way to downgrade a Photos Library to an older system version.
The format of the Monterey Library is different from Big Sur. Photos 6 on Big Sur will not be able to read it.
if you have been using iCloud Photos an your Library is in iCloud you can create a new Big Sur version of the library by creating a new, empty Library on your Big Sur Mac and let the library download from iCloud Photos. It is the only safe and lossless way to downgrade a Photos Library to an older system version.
Usually (always?) macOS & Photos upgrades updates also the Photos library (at least if the user opens it).
You could restore the old Photos library from a backup. You do have a backup?
Or install Monterey on another internal or external volume, export images and movies out and import to a Big Sur Photos library. Yes, that is a major hassle.
Or bite the bullet and upgrade back to Monterey. Last autumn I reverted to Big Sur from Monterey (despite carefully pre-testing all my mission critical apps on an external Monterey volume. But I digress...) but I am very soon going back to Monterey. Thanks to Carbon Copy Cloner backup(s), this was quite easy and fast.
Actually, the backup external drive is the culprit in this case. It decided to bite the dust, which is a whole other story. Fortunately I had a second (but unfortunately older) back up to revert back to. I suppose the path of least resistance is to go back to Monterey.
Thanks for the reply.
Yes - you need Monterey to open that library.
Thanks.
I was hoping to stay on Big Sur and see if there was an app or terminal command to tweak the library.
Can Photo library created with Monterey be opened with Big Sur?
