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Because of space, my PHOTOS library is on an external drive. PHOTOS, the mac app sees it fine. I created new albums to sync with my iPhone 13 but the PHOTOS backup tab cannot see PHOTOS or its albums ... how to fix?
(as a result, it claims it cannot find PHOTOS library so not syncing to iPhone).
Thx
Mac mini 2018 or later
Hey Metroxing,
It sounds like you're having issues syncing photos from your external drive to your iPhone with Photos on Mac.
To resolve that, you may need to set the library on the external drive as your System Photo Library. This article explains how: Designate a System Photo Library in Photos - Apple Support
"How to designate a System Photo Library
If you designate a new library as the System Photo Library and then turn on iCloud Photos, the photos and videos in the new library will merge with those already in your iCloud Photos. Additionally, all photos and videos from iCloud will redownload to the device.
If you open a different library in the Photos app, and you haven't designated it as the System Photo Library, other applications will use photos from the original System Photo Library. Hold down the Option key when you open Photos to see which library is set as the System Photo Library."
Thanks!
Hey Metroxing,
It sounds like you're having issues syncing photos from your external drive to your iPhone with Photos on Mac.
To resolve that, you may need to set the library on the external drive as your System Photo Library. This article explains how: Designate a System Photo Library in Photos - Apple Support
"How to designate a System Photo Library
If you designate a new library as the System Photo Library and then turn on iCloud Photos, the photos and videos in the new library will merge with those already in your iCloud Photos. Additionally, all photos and videos from iCloud will redownload to the device.
If you open a different library in the Photos app, and you haven't designated it as the System Photo Library, other applications will use photos from the original System Photo Library. Hold down the Option key when you open Photos to see which library is set as the System Photo Library."
Thanks!
Metroxing,
We’re glad to hear that things are working as expected again.
Please do not hesitate to reach back out to us if you have questions or need any additional support.
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.
Cheers!
Thanks!
BTW, the PREFERENCES menu item has been changed to SETTINGS and the menu is mostly hidden. Only clicking on GENERAL reveals the example above - but otherwise, thanks for the help!
Mac Does Not see PHOTOS albums to sync to iPhone
