iCloud on photos suddenly stopped working. When I try and turn on icloud it tells me to buy more storage, I have 150 gb spare on my icloud account. I briefly had a pop up about referenced files (whatever thay are) but this no longer appears. Need help and advice from a kindly stranger. Thanks
iMac (2017 – 2020)
I'm not sure what the storage issue is about. You may need to contact Apple Support: Contact - Official Apple Support
Referenced photos are not included in iCloud Photos.
For the definition of referenced photos, see the following from Change where your files are stored in Photos on Mac - Apple Support
When you import photos and videos into Photos, they’re copied to the Photos library in the Pictures folder. To save storage space, you can store photos and videos outside the Photos library (for example, on an external drive) and still view them in Photos. Files stored outside your library are called referenced files.
Also see the following from that same support article:
You can copy referenced files into your photo library so they’re easier to back up and are automatically stored in iCloud if iCloud Photos is turned on.
In the Photos app, make a Smart Album.
Open Photos on the Mac, click File menu > New Smart Album
Name the album anything you like and set the condition to: Photo -- is -- referenced.
You can then look at that album and it will show all of your referenced photos.
I doubt it but it is worth a try and also worth importing them if you don't want them to be referenced.
Thanks Fox Fifth and thanks for your time,
I never realised how often I needed icloud photos to keep my iMac, iPhone and iPad aligned!
When the pop up was popping (when I pressed the turn on icloud button) it stated I had 62 referenced files which could not be copied and this seemed to be preventing me returning to icloud. Now there is no pop up just the buy more storage pop up. How do I find the refenced files in my iPhotos albums or is this a side track to the problem?
Is it conceivable this is the issue? I'll try this shortly. Thanks
I can't turn on icloud in photos
