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Cannot access all my photos from my iphone on my macbook

Hi everybody, I am using my macbook pro, typing a gmail and want to add a photo (photo is taken with and stored on my iphone). I go to choose photo to upload and get a finder window, on the sidebar is a greyed out option for 'media' and underneath it is 'photos', I go to photos and instead of being able to access any of the 3,100 photos on my iphone, I can only access about 100 photos, (most of which I think were taken from my iphone but not really sure and at any rate seems a quite random selection). I have photos on in icloud on my iphone and on my macbook.

How can I access all the photos on my iphone from my macbook?

Thank you in advance

iPhone 11

Posted on Jun 20, 2022 3:46 PM

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Posted on Jul 29, 2022 6:13 AM

Hi EduardoEspinoza!,


Let's try adding your desired image by dragging it directly into the compose window of Gmail (Webmail) versus using the attachment button. Here's how we can achieve this:


  1. Locate the photo you'd like to send on your Mac via Finder or the Photos app
  2. Open Gmail via Safari and click the Compose button
  3. Drag the previously located image to the body of your new message


This should allow you to send any photo you'd like through Gmail's webmail client.


Take it easy out there!

Similar questions

7 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jul 29, 2022 6:13 AM in response to EduardoEspinoza

Hi EduardoEspinoza!,


Let's try adding your desired image by dragging it directly into the compose window of Gmail (Webmail) versus using the attachment button. Here's how we can achieve this:


  1. Locate the photo you'd like to send on your Mac via Finder or the Photos app
  2. Open Gmail via Safari and click the Compose button
  3. Drag the previously located image to the body of your new message


This should allow you to send any photo you'd like through Gmail's webmail client.


Take it easy out there!

Jul 12, 2022 6:40 AM in response to EduardoEspinoza



Let's try and send a test photo from Photos per Use Messages and Mail to share photos from Photos on Mac to see if it works properly.


  1. In the Photos app  on your Mac, select the photos you want to send.
  2. You can send photos from your photo library or an album, but not from a slideshow or a project.
  3. Click the Share button  in the toolbar and choose Mail.
  4. Mail opens a mail message with your photos attached.
  5. Type the recipient’s email address in the To field, then type a subject line in the Subject field.
  6. Type a message and choose an image size from the Image Size pop-up menu if you want, then click Send.


Let us know what happens!


Jun 21, 2022 11:43 AM in response to EduardoEspinoza

Hi EduardoEspinoza,


If we understand correctly, you're trying to access photos on your iPhone from your MacBook. Is that right?


If you're using iCloud, you should be able to access your library from Photos on your Mac. If they're showing in Photos on your Mac but not when you try attaching through a web browser, there might be a few things to check. First, are your photos on an external drive, or the internal hard drive?


Also, are you running the latest macOS software? Updating might be helpful depending. Be sure to back up first: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201541


Let us know! Best wishes.

Jul 10, 2022 10:07 PM in response to ryane77

Hi Ryane,

Thank you so much for your help.

I am running the latest software on both my MacBook and iPhone.

My photos are stored on my phone (rather than an internal or external drive).

What I am trying to do is to be able to access the photos that are stored on my phone, from my MacBook.

My understanding is that the system is meant to work as follows: I take a photo on my phone, it automatically saves it on iCloud, I can then access iCloud from my other apple devices, like my MacBook.

When I go to settings/Apple ID/iCloud I have 'photos' toggled to 'on'. However, when (on my MacBook) I go to finder/iCloud I cannot see my phone or photos.

I am therefore unable to reach the photos on my iPhone from my MacBook. Any help very gratefully received.

Regards

Jul 11, 2022 9:20 PM in response to ShannonM1

Hi Shannon, thanks so much for this.


Yes, when I open the app Photos on my MacBook I can see all the photos on my iPhone. I got here by finder/go/home/eduardoespinoza2021/pictures/photoslibrary.photoslibrary. Thank you so much, I have never been able to ever access my phone photos on my Mac book. This is big progress, I'm halfway there now.


However, when I try to insert a photo into a gmail, I go to attach files (in gmail) and then get a finder window. Unfortunately, that finder window does not allow me to go to home/eduardoespinoza2021/pictures/photoslibrary.photoslibrary. because there is no way to even select home.


The only thing I can get to is in the sidebar in the media area where I can select 'photos' however this only brings up 27 photos (all from my phone) rather than the 2000+ on my phone.

I would like to be able to be typing an email on my MacBook, attach a file, then get to navigate in the finder window to the iCloud photos with all my phone photos.


I have two different photo libraries. One is on my Mac book called photoslibrary.photoslibrary and is not on an external drive (because I can access it without my external drive from finder/go/home etc). The problem here is as above, I cannot even navigate there on the finder I get from gmail when trying to insert a photo.


The other is on my external drive and is called iPhoto library. These two albums are completely separate photos. When I try to access these and insert them into a gmail, I can navigate to the iPhoto library but can never open it in finder to access the individual photos.


Very grateful for any assistance.




Jul 29, 2022 1:16 AM in response to ShannonM1

Hi Shannon, thank you so much for your help here. I am able to send a photo from the apple mail application. However, I am not able to send photos through my Gmail (webmail). When I open a Gmail and then go to attach a photo it opens up a Finder window.

However, that finder window does not have any ability to get to the photos home/eduardoespinoza2021/pictures/photoslibrary.photoslibrary

The only thing I can get to is in the sidebar in the media area where I can select 'photos' however this only brings up 27 photos (all from my phone) rather than the 2000+ on my phone.

I would like to be able to be typing an email on my MacBook, attach a file, then get to navigate in the finder window to the iCloud photos with all my phone photos.

Is there anything else I can try?

Cannot access all my photos from my iphone on my macbook

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