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photos not showing on my iMac

On my iMac...my photos are on an external drive but not connected to the photos app and not showing on my computer.


iMac 21.5″, 13.4

Posted on Aug 5, 2023 8:49 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 6, 2023 12:46 AM

The Photos.app can only show you photos, that you have imported into a Photos Library or saved there from other apps. Photos does not actively scan for photos on your computer - you have to decide, which photos you want to see there. You can have several Photos Libraries, but only one of them can be open in Photos at a time. To see the photos in a different library, you have to switch between libraries. Only one of your libraries, the one you make the system photos library, can be seen in other applications and can sync with iCloud Photos.


Perhaps these pages in the Photos User Guide can help:


2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 6, 2023 12:46 AM in response to joanne987

The Photos.app can only show you photos, that you have imported into a Photos Library or saved there from other apps. Photos does not actively scan for photos on your computer - you have to decide, which photos you want to see there. You can have several Photos Libraries, but only one of them can be open in Photos at a time. To see the photos in a different library, you have to switch between libraries. Only one of your libraries, the one you make the system photos library, can be seen in other applications and can sync with iCloud Photos.


Perhaps these pages in the Photos User Guide can help:


photos not showing on my iMac

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