Some items won't sync on Mac Photos

I have some items in my Photos library that refuse to sync, and it is interfering with any other items being able to sync. I have tried turning off iCloud Photos, rebooting, and signing back in several times. All this does is force the whole library to sync again and reimport all of the duplicates that I then go through an eliminate. It appears that while these 166 items are refusing to sync, no changes made locally get synced to iCloud. Also, until I repeat the process of leaving and returning to iCloud Photos, no new items from my iPhone will sync to the computer.

Is there a way to identify the items that are refusing to sync? They do not appear in the automatically generated "Unable to Upload" folder.

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.6

Posted on Jun 13, 2024 7:58 AM

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

202,005 points

Posted on Jun 13, 2024 10:45 AM

Items that are not syncing could be damaged files or photos or videos in a legacy format, that is incompatible with photos.

Try to search for the usual suspects using a smart album, where you are searching for filename extensions that might indicate incompatible files, for example files you have migrated from Aperture or iPhoto, i.e. videos or audio files you imported a long time ago, photos you saved from the web, or photos shared with you.

How to Weed out Legacy Media in Photos for Mac - Apple Community

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Some items won't sync on Mac Photos

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