I just downloaded thousands of photos to my mac. it says that 3.353 photos are scanned, and over 300,000 remain. I have left the app open, I have closed it, etc., and cannot get the app to scan for more faces/people. I have the app set to show face names, and it doesn't.
In addition, I'd also like to know how to sort the photos by options other than oldest first.
Thank you!
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
Please tell us what version of the macOS your are using--and are you using iCloud to sync Photos on your devices?
Scanning for faces takes a long time, like days to weeks. You may need to be patient. Generally we are told to leave the computer on with Photos open but in the background-- meaning from Photos you switch to the Mail app (or some other app) and have that in the foreground, all night for awhile. Photos wants to do this heavy labor when you're not actually using it.
You should see faces coming up with "unnamed" under them. These are "things" that Photos has recognized as faces. Usually they are. You'll have to name some, and then it will take even more time for Photos to find others with the same name. This may help:
Find and identify photos of people in Photos on Mac - Apple Support
In an album you can sort pictures by date or by title. The title is not the file name, but if there is no title (which you enter in the Info Window, ⌘-I, title field) then it will use the file name as a stand-in for the title. You can get to for under View>Sort like this:
Places like Library View, Imports, and Recents aren't albums and can't be sorted. But you can replicate what those do with smart albums. We can help with that if you need.
Please tell us what version of the macOS your are using--and are you using iCloud to sync Photos on your devices?
Scanning for faces takes a long time, like days to weeks. You may need to be patient. Generally we are told to leave the computer on with Photos open but in the background-- meaning from Photos you switch to the Mail app (or some other app) and have that in the foreground, all night for awhile. Photos wants to do this heavy labor when you're not actually using it.
You should see faces coming up with "unnamed" under them. These are "things" that Photos has recognized as faces. Usually they are. You'll have to name some, and then it will take even more time for Photos to find others with the same name. This may help:
Find and identify photos of people in Photos on Mac - Apple Support
In an album you can sort pictures by date or by title. The title is not the file name, but if there is no title (which you enter in the Info Window, ⌘-I, title field) then it will use the file name as a stand-in for the title. You can get to for under View>Sort like this:
Places like Library View, Imports, and Recents aren't albums and can't be sorted. But you can replicate what those do with smart albums. We can help with that if you need.
That hard drive sounds good. But you have another, right? Which drive is your Library in? If you do Photos>Preferences>General the top line will show the "path" of the Library. Does this include the hard drive you showed was formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled)?
I am syncing with iCloud but have too many photos for it, if that makes sense.
This sounds suspicious. Do you mean that you don't have enough iCloud memory to include all your pictures? You have more pictures in this one Library on your Mac than there are pictures in iCloud? That could certainly be a reason for things to hang up.
What I would do is turn off iCloud (Preferences>iCloud) and do a Library Repair (close Photos and re-launch by option-command-clicking the app icon) and see if face scanning begins. I'd try to get this Library in order before re-connecting to iCloud.
It may be worthwhile (and nothing can be hurt) to re-start your computer in Safe Mode. This will clear out caches and bypass certain potentially disruptive processes. This is different for different macs, so see this:
Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support
" and over 300,000 remain."
You have really more than 300000 photos and videos?
Then photos may be taking months to scan all your photos for faces without showing any progress. That the status bar showing the number of photos to be scanned does not get updated does not mean, that no photos have been scanned. Photos is nt continually updating the status bar.
What you can do while you are waiting, is to check your library for photos or videos in a legacy format, that is no longer supported on macOS 10.15 Catalina or later. Old Videos or photos in an unsupported format could be blocking the scan for faces. Do you have any very old videos or photos in your library? Then check for codecs listed in this document: About legacy media in iMovie for macOS - Apple Support
You didn't say if you were syncing with iCloud. Also, are you using an external library to store your Photos Library?
If "no" to both, then you should Rebuild/Repair your Photos Library--close Photos and re-launch by option-command-clicking the app icon.
If you "yes" to either, then wait on that.
What format is the HD? It needs to be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or apfs
Have you restarted in Safe Mode?
I still don't understand the iCloud thing--"too many photos for it."
Thanks for the reply! I have a 2015 MacOS with software updated to Monterey.
I have restarted the computer, opened the app, then put it on background, and nothing has changed. It doesn't say it's scanning, it says it "will continue scanning when..." but the numbers don't change.
When I tried to add a name to one person in one picture and then ask it to look for additional photos with that face, it doesn't find any other pictures with that person.
Thank you for the sorting info...I didn't realize you couldn't have sort options in the entire library.
I am syncing with iCloud but have too many photos for it, if that makes sense.
As for the external library, yes and no I think. My Mac has a SSD hard drive with the operating system in it, and the Photos App was originally on there. However, I ran out of room on there, so I had an online Apple appointment to move my Photos App to the second hard drive (which is an HDD) that is in my Mac. He said that even though it was in my Mac (internal), because it wasn't the hard drive my OS was on, it was considered an external hard drive.
Ok! I turned off iCloud and did the library repair...still figuring out what exactly that did, but it did something, so I'll be working on that today. Thanks, I'll be back if this didn't solve the issue!
Also, another long shot...I heard the new photos and OS (more recent than Monterey) can identify duplicates in photos, but because my Mac is a 2015, I can't update to the newest OS and so that option isn't available for me. Is there a way to have duplicates identified for my photos library? Thanks again.
Before Ventura, most people used PowerPhotos ($30). It's from a great company, and a version of this has been around since iPhoto. Most of us use PowerPhotos for many uses.
Some us PhotoSweeper (5 stars in App Store for $10), but I haven't. It does duplicates only, not all the other stuff PowerPhotos does, but apparently pretty well.
Beware of anything else the might mess around in the Photos database--could screw it up bad.
Thank you for those photo duplicate suggestions...that'll be next on my list, but my "people" issue still isn't resolved.
The library restore seemed to to something - it took hours and overnight for it to restore, so I was hoping it was identifying all the faces. However, I now have a few more names that I had identified a long time ago, but instead of saying it had scanned approx 3500 photos (I think done before the SDD to HDD move), it now says 0 photos have been scanned (even though there are more identified faces), and that when the app is not being used it will scan again.
I left the app open but not active (had finder or Safari open on top) overnight, and nothing had been scanned.
If I choose a name in the person section and ask it to search for more of that person, it immediately says no other photos with that person has been found.
While I have the "show face names" on, no circles or bar underneath faces in photos appear.
So confusing to me, hoping you have more ideas! Thanks.
Hello again,
Another strange thing is that there are no faces coming up with "unnamed" under them. It just isn't scanning. Thanks again.
You moved the application? From the Applications folder? Or you moved the Library?
Moved the entire library.
I have no idea. Where would I find that? It did come with the Mac, wasn’t added later or anything.
Photos people scan
