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How can I force iCloud to Mac sync of Photos?

I see that this question has been asked before, as in the quote below - but I can't see a solution. To be exact, sync has always worked until a couple of days ago. In the last week I have taken around 50 pictures on my iPhone 13, running iOS 16 and later iOS 17, and a couple of them appeared on my iMac running MacOS Ventura 13.6, but the remainder haven't transferred. They are visible on iCloud and I have created an album for them. This album also exists in Photos on the iMac, but it only contains two photos! I've just started up my MacBook Pro (also running Ventura), and the album appears there complete!


I don't think I have any space problems (well over a terabyte free on the Mac), so what's wrong?

My Mac does not sync with my photos on iCloud. The pictures that I take with my phone and my iPad are uploaded on iCloud (I can see them on the iCloud.com site). The synchronization happens seamlessly between the iPad and the iPhone.

Posted on Sep 22, 2023 9:16 AM

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Posted on Sep 23, 2023 7:29 AM

Apple Support solved this problem for me. After extensive tests, it seems that the Photos library on my iMac was somehow corrupt. The answer was to create a new library and allow it to sync with my iCloud Photos library. A long process, but successful. I agreed to test out the new library for a few days before deleting the original library (over 200 Gb, so can't stay around forever!).

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Question marked as Best reply

Sep 23, 2023 7:29 AM in response to Living Fossil

Apple Support solved this problem for me. After extensive tests, it seems that the Photos library on my iMac was somehow corrupt. The answer was to create a new library and allow it to sync with my iCloud Photos library. A long process, but successful. I agreed to test out the new library for a few days before deleting the original library (over 200 Gb, so can't stay around forever!).

How can I force iCloud to Mac sync of Photos?

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