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Drag and drop from Photos library to the Mac

When I drag and drop an image from my Photos library the file I get is a JPEG. Is this normal behavior? I would expect to get the original HEIC file. I'm not using iCloud Photos Library.


Thanks very much.

Posted on Jul 1, 2023 10:25 AM

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9 replies

Jul 1, 2023 11:43 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

As far as I know, dragging and dropping from Photos will save the current preview image.

This is usually a JPEG if the image has adjustments applied or is larger than the typical preview. Then Photos will render a smaller JPEG preview.

But if the original image file has no adjustments applied and is small enough to be used as a preview and is already a JPEG, the original will be dragged to the desktop.


Jul 1, 2023 12:22 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

I am not dextrous enough to do that successfully on my iPad, when the train is bumping up and down on the rails. 😊


On my Mac I had sometimes dangerous effects, when dragging photos directly to a different app, for example from Photos to Photoshop (on High Sierra). For small images, where Photos used the original as the preview, the original image file inside the library package got modified by Photoshop.



Drag and drop from Photos library to the Mac

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