Photos 11 on macOS26.2 : How to stop videos replaying in edit mode

TRATRA wrote: …It's annoying that the iPhone's Photos edit feature does not loop, and the MacOs one does, whilst I prefer to edit on the mac. I searched some more and there are related posts on Reddit about this, some people even seem to like the "autoloop" feature !

This is clearly not a feature of Tahoe, since Videos in Photos don't loop for me-- even if I want them to. Again, when I set Loop in QuickTime and save as a new video, that loop feature seems to stick when reloaded as a video in QT. But if I load that same "loop-set" video in Photos, there is no looping. I'm in Tahoe 26.3

So-- what makes yours different? Here are some, maybe, relevant checks:

• Do you use any "Cleaner" apps or "Virus killer" apps or VPN on your Mac? These have been known to cause trouble.
• Where does your Mac's Photos Library reside-- in the Pictures folder of your internal drive, or on an external drive? or on a network? on iCloud drive?
• Are you using iCloud Photos to synchronize your devices? If so
• …Do you have “Optimize Storage” checked in Photos’ Settings
• …Do you see all your Mac’s Photos  pictures at iCloud.com?
• …Do you have more than 10% free storage on your iCloud account?
• What is your storage on this Mac? At System Settings>General> Storage, my Mac says 745 GB of 1TBB used. What does yours say? Is your  free storage on your Mac less than 10%?

To narrow things down, try these steps:

• Restart the computer (of course)
• Re-start in Safe Mode. This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes, and it often helps. Safe Mode is different for different computers, so see this: 

           Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support 

• Use another library if you have one, or make a small test Library with a few videos in it and see if the same thing happens. You can create a new Library by closing Photos and then option-clicking on the Photos icon.
• Make a new user and see if the same problem recurs with it. Since the new user can't access your other account, you can just add some videos to the new user's empty Photos. If you prefer to use your own Library you can temporarily move the Library out of your own user's Pictures folder up to the general "Users" folder. 
• Rebuild your Photos Library--close Photos and re-launch by option-command-clicking the app icon. If you use iCloud Photos, it’s possible that this will cause a re-sync that lasts long enough to make you nervous.

The idea is to find out if the problem is with the Library, with your account, or with caches and login items, and stuff like that. One of these steps may fix the problem, but their failure to work also helps figure out what's happening.

Let us know what happens…

TRATRA wrote: Have you noticed my question is about editing videos in Photos, not playback?

Yeah, I thought that's what we we've been talking about. It sounds frustrating. As I've said, videos do not auto-loop for me in Tahoe 26.3, Thumbnails, Preview, or Edit Mode.

My Photos Library is my System Library, residing on iCloud and synchronizing across devices

Am I misunderstanding? A Photo Library cannot work if it's in iCloud-- the Library must be local. The normal place for a Photos Library is in the user's Picture folder. It can be located in other folders, but not the iCloud Drive folder. Many people operate with their Photos Library on an external drive, but in that case the external drive must be formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. The drive must be connected directly to the Mac by cable, not networked, clouded, NASed, etc. If we use iCloud Photos, then our Library is copied to iCloud, but that doesn't affect the local operation.

The only other thing I see that's different is that I don't use Optimize storage. I can set up a new user on my Mac and have it use Optimized storage. However, you seem resigned to this looping in Edit Mode.

TRATRA wrote: @Richard.Taylor : I got an email stating you had posted a reply. I can see it when I follow the link, but it's gone when I log in to answer. I have now idea how that can happen.

You can go here

https://discussions.apple.com/community/applications-services/photos

and then find your post. Or, you can just Google the title and it will come up.

You say : "Am I misunderstanding? A Photo Library cannot work if it's in iCloud-- the Library must be local. The normal place for a Photos Library is in the user's Picture folder. It can be located in other folders, but not the iCloud Drive folder."

This is confusing. I have had my System Library on iCloud for years now and never had any problems, until now.

Here's the explainer from Apple : https://support.apple.com/en-us/108782 it also explains about Optimize Storage.

It should say "iCloud Photos keeps [a copy of] every photo and video you take in iCloud." 

There is a Photos Library on your Mac, on your Phone, on your iPad, and at iCloud.com. Photos uses iCloud to keep all of those exactly the same. Optimize may not keep full sized originals local, but when you go into edit mode it downloads them from iCloud.com. Often you see a little circle on the lower right filling as it downloads. Once an original downloads, it remains in your local Library until space is needed or Photos is pretty sure you're through with it. What happens when you go into Edit mode with non-videos?

In case you didn't see this:

the Library must be local. The normal place for a Photos Library is in the user's Picture folder. It can be located in other folders, but not the iCloud Drive folder. Many people operate with their Photos Library on an external drive, but in that case the external drive must be formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. The drive must be connected directly to the Mac by cable, not networked, clouded, NASed, etc. If we use iCloud Photos, then our Library is copied to iCloud, but that doesn't affect the local operation.

So, where is your Photos Library located? Is it in the Pictures folder or on an external drive? If it's on an external drive how is that formatted?

This is what a video in edit mode looks like for me-- how about for you?

I'm not sure, but here's something to try: In Settings>apps>Photos, do you have Auto-Play Motion turned on? Do you have Loop Videos turned on? I have those turned off, and I don't have them repeating during edits.

Let us know if this is the culprit…

TRATRA wrote: …The setting you mention seems to apply to iOS; I can’t find an equivalent in macOS. The issue only occurs on the Mac, not on iPhone.

Drat-- My usual mistake is talking Mac stuff when it should be phones!

I think I always get emails from posts I'm following. The little bell at the top right of the thread should be filled blue for you to be following. For some stuff (not this) I sometimes have to comb through Junk.

Are you talking about videos or Live Photos? For Live Photos,

the scroll bar at the bottom has a menu button at the right that lets you choose Live effects.

As far as I can see, there's nothing about looping in Photos. I even tried loading a video to QuickTime and setting Loop. When I open that video in QT, it loops, but when I load it into Photos it doesn't loop there, nor does it auto run.

Does this happen for all pictures?

Oops--pushed the wrong button…