After updating to Ventura 13.2.1 the Import button is missing from the Photos sidebar. Is this something that other people have experienced and can be fixed? Or perhaps it's another frustrating fault with my Apple refurbished iMac that's been riddled with problems from the start?
iMac 21.5″, macOS 13.2
Are you asking about the album "Imports" that will appear in the "Library" section of the sidebar? It is not a button for importing, but an album showing you the imported photos. This might be empty and not shown after a major system upgrade, when Photos had to upgrade the library to a new format. It might also vanish, if the Filter below the Toolbar is not set to "Showing all photos" but to a filter, that is suppressing all items.
To import more photos use the "import" command in the File menu.
Are you asking about the album "Imports" that will appear in the "Library" section of the sidebar? It is not a button for importing, but an album showing you the imported photos. This might be empty and not shown after a major system upgrade, when Photos had to upgrade the library to a new format. It might also vanish, if the Filter below the Toolbar is not set to "Showing all photos" but to a filter, that is suppressing all items.
To import more photos use the "import" command in the File menu.
Glad we got it figured out. That menu is open by default, so re-starting fixed it. You had somehow closed it, so re-starting restored the default. Good show!
I'm running 13.3.1, and my Photos looks like this:
so I am pretty confused about what you're seeing. What do you see in your Sidebar? Do you see "Media Types" and "My Albums?" Or is the sidebar missing altogether? Are you seeing the pictures as thumbnails like above?
Have you tried re-starting your computer? You could also try re-starting in Safe Mode. This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes. Safe Mode is different for different computers, so see this:
Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support
Most curious! Let us know...
Hello Richard, thank you for your reply and your photo/screenshot. My sidebar looked the same as yours until recently (running 13.2.1). I've re-started my Mac in safe mode and the sidebar is now back to normal again, looking like yours. Before that, the sidebar was there, but everything under Photos (Library, Memories etc) was missing. I tried to re-activate Photos to show the options again, but it didn't do anything and I wondered if the top section of options had been removed courtesy of the update. I'm glad to see that it hasn't, and that it seems to have been another glitch with this Mac. Thank you for the safe mode suggestion - it's sorted out whatever wasn't working previously.
Ahh! I get it, I think:
At the top of the sidebar, next to Library, is a little arrow that may only show up as you pass the cursor over it. It shows/unshows the native albums! I bet it got closed, and you never saw that little thing.
Reminds me of a Boojum which can make you "softly and suddenly vanish away."
Hello Leonie, thank you very much for your reply. I used to have a "Library" button in the sidebar, under which was every photo that's stored on my Mac, and also a separate "Import" button. I could click on the "Import" button to view imported photos and then drag them from there into their appropriate Albums. Perhaps this format has now changed, as you suggest, as I no longer have "Library" or "Import" buttons in the sidebar.
I've just imported some new photos from my iPhone and found that, after a lengthy delay, these photos have been added to what may have replaced the "Library" function, although it no longer has a name or a button - every photo, historic and new, now seems to be in 1 very large folder. I don't know how to get back into this un-labelled section holding all my photos, other than when I'm importing new ones, as there seems to be no button to access it (eg, if I find that a photo has gone missing from an Album and I want to drag it back in from what used to be "Imports" into the Album again). I hope what I'm trying to explain makes some sense...
I've also checked the Filter, as you suggest, and it's set to "All items".
That's probably what happened, and somehow after the safe start I inadvertently showed/clicked on the little arrow again without realising it.... When options under Photo suddenly vanished away I was left wondering if it was another glitch with this refurbished Mac, of which there have been many, or a new idea from Apple to do away with these options in this version of Ventura. I'm very glad it was neither, and entirely my own fault! Thank you for your help.
Import button missing in Photos after Ventura update
