PHOTOS has always been buggy for me.

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Level 1

12 points

PHOTOS has always been buggy for me.

No idea if it's just me but using PHOTOS over the many years has always been frustrating for me, it crashes, it freezes & weird things seem to go on. I'd presumed it may be the fault of my 2013 Macbook so I have finally upgraded to a new Macbook (& iPhone which I take the photos on) only to find PHOTOS is worse if anything!

All the old problems seem to still happen albeit slightly less frequently BUT a particularly fun new one is seems to have materialised. For my work I often airdrop a large number of photos from my iPhone to my Macbook, I then go through them all by enlarging then to full screen & deleting all but the best ones. However the new problem is when I have a photo enlarged fullscreen & I hit delete then confirm PHOTOS decides not to delete the photo on screen, but a different photo (usually adjacent to it) in the album! When you have hundreds or so photos to edit this can be infuriating to say the least!

I've checked all software is up to date, quit & re-opened apps, restarted Mac etc & I'm out of ideas. I'm not the happiest chap to have folked put for a new Macbook & iPhone not just for no improvement but for worse performance.

Any ideas of what I can try next?

Cheers :)

Posted on Jan 11, 2023 11:27 PM

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Answer 1

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Richard.Taylor

Level 5

7,116 points

Jan 12, 2023 8:29 AM in response to glock339

Is this what you mean? I found this (that I've edited a bit) in a response to another user question in August. I was using an earlier version of Monterey:

To compare some pictures I select them, press space to expand one, and I arrow back and forth to look at each and compare them in detail. In August I picked the worst one of three (while it was the only one filling the screen) and hit command-delete, and the wrong one of the 3 was deleted. I undid that with command-z, and tried again choosing a different picture of the 3, and it happened again--over and over, with those three pictures. I've tried it again with different pictures, but it doesn't mess up. I don't get it.

Is this what's happening to you? Is your experience reproducible, or does it seem totally random?

I honestly haven't seen this behavior since the upgrade to Monterey 12.6, which I'm still on. It seems extremely rare, and it may have been a corruption in the Library or in my account. Try these things that might be more useful than restarting (always the first step!)

Rebuild your Photos Library by closing Photos and re-launching by option-command-clicking the app icon.
Make a new user and see if the same problem recurs with it
Use another library if you have one, or make a small test Library with a few pictures in it and see if the same thing happens.
Start in Safe Mode (different for different computers) This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

The idea is to find out if the problem is with the Library, with your account, or with caches and login items, and stuff like that. One of these steps may fix the problem, but their failure to work is also diagnostic.

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Answer 2

glock339 Author

Level 1

12 points

Jan 12, 2023 8:45 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks for the response, that does sound very similar to the latest/main problem I've been having with Photos lately.

In my case it's happened with my last 3 bulk downloads where I've Airdropped anywhere from 20 to 120 photos from my iphone to Macbook. Then when attempting to delete the photo that's enlarged to full screen, the macbook instead deletes a photo that is either the one before or after it in the album. It doesn't seem to happen every time & I can't really see any pattern as to how/why it happens as yet.

I may have to give the above suggestions a go & see if it does any good. I need to go through the process of bulk downloading & deleting photos on a regular basis so it's really affecting my workflow.

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Answer 3

Jan 12, 2023 9:12 AM in response to glock339

Those steps are only slightly time-consuming, and they won't hurt anything. Sometimes there are 3rd Party systemic apps, like anti-virus software or hard drive cleaners (that most Mac users stay away from) that can mess up the Photos database, and that can be addressed with the Library repair and with Safe Mode.

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Answer 4

glock339 Author

Level 1

12 points

Jan 12, 2023 9:34 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Cheers I'll give them a go hopefully tomorrow or the weekend if I get time. I never really bother with any 3rd party apps that I can think of, but I will see how I get on :)

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PHOTOS has always been buggy for me.

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