I accidentally moved my photo library to my iCloud drive, and now my photos are no longer available on my MacBook. I would like them back in my MacBook and I have the space for them. Could anybody please guide me on what to do?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.3
Then wait, until the copy is complete. It may take a long time.
After being on iCloud Drive, your library may need repairing. The iCloud syncing may have broken internal links. But if you moved the library to iCloud Drive, while running macOS 15.3 and not an older system version, iCloud will have recognized the library as incompatible with iCloud and kept it local, without upload to iCloud. Then the library should still work.
Once the library is back in Pictures, double click it to open it in Photos.
Then wait, until the copy is complete. It may take a long time.
After being on iCloud Drive, your library may need repairing. The iCloud syncing may have broken internal links. But if you moved the library to iCloud Drive, while running macOS 15.3 and not an older system version, iCloud will have recognized the library as incompatible with iCloud and kept it local, without upload to iCloud. Then the library should still work.
Once the library is back in Pictures, double click it to open it in Photos.
I have a Photos Library in my iCloud Drive, just to show people what not to do. I can move it back and forth to Pictures without getting stalled. But this Library isn't my System Library, and it isn't connected to iCloud, and it isn't being used by Photos when I move it. So, be sure that the Photos app isn't active.
Let us know:
muguy, if I understood the OP correctly, the Photos Library package has been moved to iCloud Drive, where it is in an unsupported location and Photos cannot work with it. We do not know yet, if iCloud Photos has been enabled at all.
When you enable iCloud sync your photos remain on your Mac and sync to iCloud. If you elected to optimize photos, then your library images are replaced with optimized versions on device with originals in iCloud. You can disable optimization to have your originals download again in photos > settings > iCloud in the photos app menu.
So, i tried moving the photo library from iCloud back to Pictures, but the move just never happens, I just get "preparing to move to pictures" but it just continues like that and doesn't do anything else
I don't know whether I am using iCloud photos, but I my photos are across all-apple devices, so i suppose so. The problem is with my mac only. The photos are still in my iPad and iPhone libraries. My iCloud drive is turned on, and my photos are set to save to cloud. "Optimise Mac storage" is turned on at System settings>Apple iD>icloud>drive. Should it be off? I don't have access to my photos' settings to check whether optimised storage is turned on for iCloud because right now, photos settings are greyed out.
Accidentally moved photos to iCloud from MacBook. Need them back
