Hello,
My photo library is on an external hard drive, formatted with APFS, no TimeMachine backups on it.
Photos preferences are displaying "This Library isn't searchable in Spotlight due to its location". Reading the Help I see no reason to explain this.
Tested on 2 computers with a similar configuration (Photos library on an. external HD).
Any idea ?
iMac 27″, macOS 10.13
Added: When I move my test library to /Users/Shared, I am getting the same message as you posted, no longer about the System Photos Library, but the library location.
This is indicating a permissions issue, as /Users/Shared is protecting the ownership of files.
Have you set the "Ignore ownership on this volume" flag for your external drive? Apple is recommending go set this flag for all volumes with Photos Libraries.
Someone on Reddit has the same problem : https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/wubwuj/photosapp_this_library_isnt_searchable_in/
Note : I haven't installed MacOS beta before, I just upgraded to the Ventura release and discovered this "This Library isn't searchable in Spotlight due to its location" message.
OK-- I'm still on Monterey, so I can't reproduce you exactly. Also, I would have to disconnect my Library from iCloud and wait for hours for it to download originals. But this is what I tried: I turned off wifi so iCould wouldn't be affected, then I opened a library on an external drive and made it the system library. No iCould connection, of course. But I did not get the announcement, "This Library isn't searchable in Spotlight due to its location". We'll have to wait for someone else...
OT--
The message"This Library isn't searchable in Spotlight due to its location" is actually in the Preferences Pane under Library Location. Have you seen that before? What does it mean? As you say, Spotlight isn't really connected to Photos.
Léonie,
"but I have not seen this message previously"
It's normal as Spotlight indexing Photos is new to Ventura.
And I do not like that Photos is giving a different message when the System Language is set to German than the English equivalent. The language may be different, but the message should be the same.
Well, i's not related to your language translation on MacOS, but to the fact you upgraded to Ventura which now allow Spotlight indexing Photos.
If you turn on iCloud Content Caching (assuming you have a big enough drive to store everything) it would significantly increase the speed of recovering from that if it happened. If you have a spare drive, I'd recommend that anyways as it makes iCloud Photos use inside the home much smoother generally.
That said, iCloud Photo Library is pretty good at not double uploading photos.
léonie wrote:
I do not dare to move the System Photos Library around, because it might trigger a new upload to iCloud, which would be very tedious.
I have exactly the same problem. External drive, photo library designated "System Photo Library" and the message "This library isn't searchable in Spotlight due to its location".
Where can I find the reference to Léonie's statement that Apple recommends "Ignore ownership on this volume"?
Andy, it's a personal statement from Léonie based on current observations, facts. There is no Apple statement at the moment about why precisely "This library isn't searchable in Spotlight due to its location".
I have the same problem. It's a bummer as the integration with Spotlight announced with Ventura sounds marvelous.
Because of this new feature, I am considering moving the Photos library to the Pictures folder on the internal storage. It is under 50GB and I still have some space. Still, I hope Apple can fix this situation with external disks soon because, as stated before, the internal storage on these Macbooks is prohibitively expensive!
"Copy items to the Photos Library" and "iCloud Photos" have always been ON and this photo library is also indeed my system library. iCloud Photos sync perfectly.
It's new in Ventura :
OK, so that's cool.
Photos "isn't searchable in Spotlight " has always been true, external or not, but now it is only true for external drives.
Thanks, Louis Van Proosdij !
Where did you read "NOTE: the library must also be in the Pictures folder to be searchable." ?
Ok that's. I will test creating a hard link from the Pictures folder to the folder on the external disk
I do not dare to move the System Photos Library around, because it might trigger a new upload to iCloud, which would be very tedious.
Let us know how it turns out.
Photos - "This Library isn't searchable in Spotlight due to its location"
