Photos stuck on syncing just 2 items to iCloud

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Level 1

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Photos stuck on syncing just 2 items to iCloud

Hello. I have a small but annoying issue! The Photos app on my Mac says it's 'Syncing 2 items to iCloud' – and has been saying so for several hours! I checked my Photos app on my iPhone and, sure enough, the totals are indeed showing 2 fewer photos than on the Mac – so, yes, there are definitely 2 extra items on the Mac which aren't going to iCloud and thus are not visible on my other iCloud devices. My question is: is there a way to IDENTIFY these 2 photos that the Mac version seems to be struggling with? (For context: I have 53,373 photos on the Mac and 53,371 photos showing up on the iPhone!) Thank you very much 😃

Mac mini, macOS 14.1

Posted on Nov 27, 2023 2:15 AM

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Answer 1

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Pixelator Author

Level 1

15 points

Nov 28, 2023 9:28 AM in response to Pixelator

Fixed itself (ish!). After another 24 hours of apparent inactivity, Photos belatedly reported 'Unable to upload 2 photos' and then finally gave me an option to view them. So I was able to export them – they were just two very old JPGs from 2007 – and to reimport them. So all good! I guess it must have been silently cataloguing in the background, perhaps working backwards through all 53,373 pictures?! Phew! Case closed.

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Answer 2

Pixelator Author

Level 1

15 points

Nov 27, 2023 7:24 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Hi Richard, Thanks for replying. Yes I did try that actually, but unfortunately Photos doesn't seem to 'know' that it's unable to upload them! So it just keeps trying, endlessly, to upload these 2 pictures, which even it can't see properly, in some sort of hopeless quest! All I want to know is what they are, so that I can do something to fix them. Thank you though.

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Answer 3

Nov 28, 2023 10:10 AM in response to Pixelator

Right! Most of us just don't expect a computer operation to last hours, much less days. But scanning a large Photos Library can actually take weeks! And the whole time it just looks like nothing's happening. (And, of course, sometimes that's right!)

Glad it worked!

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Answer 4

Nov 27, 2023 7:06 AM in response to Pixelator

Have you tried using a smart album, like this?

This may not work, but it would be the first thing to try...

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Answer 5

alexbird

Level 4

1,751 points

Nov 29, 2023 4:57 PM in response to Pixelator

Thanks for reporting this! I'm also stuck on 2 photos left at the moment. Sounds like I'll just give it time and let the computer figure its stuff out.

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Answer 6

Pixelator Author

Level 1

15 points

Nov 29, 2023 9:52 PM in response to alexbird

Yep, hang in there! (I do think it would be helpful if Photos could provide a more detailed progess bar, or something, whilst it ponders!)

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Photos stuck on syncing just 2 items to iCloud

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