photos gray in iMac People after reposition or merge

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Level 1

5 points

photos gray in iMac People after reposition or merge

On my updated iMac with Monterey 12.2.1 and 32GB RAM, in "People", each time I try to merge two people or to reposition a person (because, unaccountably, Photos doesn't provide alphabetical sort), half or all of the thumbnails are totally gray. The merge may or may not happen in my lifetime, even if if I close and reopen Photos. The move often seems more likely to happen if I close and reopen Photos. Meanwhile, albums shared with me continue to display empty gray boxes with a little cloud in the corner. I have opened Photos with opt-click and allowed "repair" of the library with no success. All other programs are working fine.

Posted on Feb 25, 2022 2:54 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,861 points

Feb 25, 2022 3:06 PM in response to chasjas

Hi

Where is your library stored? If on an external drive, what is the format?

I would try the following:

1 - Try booting in safe mode - does it still happen? Then reboot normally and try again.

Start up your Mac in safe mode – Apple Support (UK)

Safe mode will clear temporary files and caches, and sometimes fixes odd glitches such as this.

2 - Create a new empty library and try with that library open (hold down the option key while starting photos, and click "create new". To switch back to your current library afterwards, do the option key start again) You'll need to import a few images to that library to test with.

3 - Try creating a new user account and try when logged into that account.

These checks will tell us if the problem is system wide, or linked to a particular library or user account.

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Answer 2

chasjas Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 15, 2022 12:10 PM in response to chasjas

I learned how to fix this from Apple Support team by phone. This is what worked for invisible shared images:

Turn off sharing on Photos. Then Turn off computer. Wait - they said ten minutes, but I waited an hour. Then I restarted computer, opened Photos>preferences>shared albums. Then I waited and the shared albums started to repopulate.

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Answer 3

chasjas Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 28, 2022 5:28 PM in response to TonyCollinet

First, thank you for your prompt reponse.

I store the images on the iMac, not on an external drive.

I tried the "safe boot" twice and neither time did it do anything helpful.
I have created a separate library and populated it with 10% of the 8,800 images. I have identified about ten faces and am letting it scan for them in the imported images. This solution does not preserve either the names applied to faces and, if scanning, seems not to be finding and labelling faces which should be easy. Nor does the new library keep my old iPhotos index by date (e.g., I scanned many slides and prints from 19th and 20th C and identified them by dates that are not in their EXIF or whatever info is attached). Finally, because it is not the "system" library it has none of the shared albums.
I have a separate user account already and can't figure out how to tell it to access the original photos library though I instructed the two accounts to share files. Nor can I figure out how to give permission for the system library to be shared across accounts.

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Answer 4

Mar 1, 2022 12:31 AM in response to chasjas

You can't share a photos library between accounts.

To use it in the second account you would need to take a copy of it into the second accounts pictures folder. However, you only need to do this if the second/new library exhibits the same problem. If it doesn't, we know the problem is not account related.

Oh - and is your normal library in the pictures folder?

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Answer 5

chasjas Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 1, 2022 11:44 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Thanks again.

Yes, my original library is in the Pictures folder. So far, with only 609 photos in the second/new library, merging and rearranging within the set of 24 people is not graying out any boxes or causing the program to crash. It has identified images correctly so far. When it says People is updating when in the background, does that mean when Photos is open and minimized and not in active use or does it work also if I quit Photos?

The original library has about 9,178 photos and 189 People. It has been "stuck" scanning 511 images for two weeks.

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photos gray in iMac People after reposition or merge

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