Photos: can't "Show Referenced File in Finder"

Totally agree. I used that function all the time in iPhoto instead of the File - Export menu. Much faster for copying the originals to a folder than going the export way.

Basic functions that were actually very useful have been removed in Photos compared with iPhoto.

How can I edit RAW photos that were exported from my Camera?

For this I need to find source file and open it in Lightroom or Photoshop. Photos app doesn't allow me to do this, "Show Referenced File in Finder" is disabled. The one way I do it now is searching by image name in a Library package, but this flow confuses me.

File -> Export -> Export unmodified Original

Yes, like many I used the 'Reveal in finder' option in IPhoto as I liked to be able to find my stuff. I think I am competent to manage this without corrupting the original file! If the new application cannot cope with users wanting to access their own image files, then it isn't really fit for purpose. Any talk about issues with cloud sync are just ridiculous. I guess its all free though, so you get what you pay for.

I now just used Win 10 in parallels instead, and that lets me do what I want, not what I am allowed ;-)

I now just used Win 10 in parallels instead, and that lets me do what I want, not what I am allowed ;-)

Your point ebbing? OS X lets you do what you want. But different applications (on either OS) work differently from the OS. Or can't you tell the app for the OS?

No need to be so defensive! My point isn't ebbing at all Terry, in this instance though, I can find, manipulate and still view my images without fear or corruption the original image file in the Win10 photo app, whereas the feature is no longer there in Photos.

I'm agnostic regarding preferences to OS's and apps, but you must agree that making a copy of an image which is not 'simply' and 'easily' accessible (and offering to delete the original) is a retrograde step. As we all know, apps will come and go over time, but people will want to have access to their digital images without being tied to a specific application. In fact in the real world of IT, enterprises are doing what they can to get rid of this vendor specific integration and instead opt for modular and agile solutions. Take html and web browsers for example. I guess if the photos team were developing that it would only work in Safari lol!

I think in this case its clearly a feature that users use and want, so instead of trying to pretend they don't know what they need, maybe it would be easier to concede the point and put it back ;-)

but you must agree that making a copy of an image which is not 'simply' and 'easily' accessible (and offering to delete the original) is a retrograde step

Certainly would be. But that's not what's happening here.

File -> Export -> Export Unmodified Original or Option-Drag from the Photos window.

Simple and easily accessible.

Pomme de Terror wrote:

I think in this case its clearly a feature that users use and want, so instead of trying to pretend they don't know what they need, maybe it would be easier to concede the point and put it back ;-)

The feature is there, but to use it you need to manage your photos collection yourself. You do this by storing your photos outside the Photos library. To learn how to do that, refer to the Photos help topic Where are my imported files?, & the linked Change where Photos stores your files one.

The feature is there, but to use it you need to manage your photos collection yourself.

which means the feature is not there, because we are discussing "Reveal in Finder" for managed images, as it was possible in iPhoto. In Photos the reveal in Finder is limited to referenced photos, which are not well supported in Photos, compared to Aperture.

Going "Referenced" is risky in Photos,because the tool to reconnect missing originals is very basic and does not work well. And it is not possible to make an image referenced after it has been imported as managed. So turning a managed library into a referenced library is lossy. And it cannot be used with iCloud Photo Library.

léonie wrote:

which means the feature is not there, because we are discussing "Reveal in Finder" for managed images, as it was possible in iPhoto.

The problem with "Reveal in Finder" in iPhoto is that users can & too often have used that to alter the original with some other app, defeating one of its key features, that being non-destructive editing. That has caused more than a few iPhoto users grief when they realize they have permanently altered the original & have no way to return it to its original state.

Going "Referenced" is risky in Photos,because the tool to reconnect missing originals is very basic and does not work well.

Which is my point: if you decide to manage your photo collection manually, it is your responsibility to avoid deleting originals or moving them to various & sundry locations you can't easily keep track of, figure out alternatives for the features managed libraries provide, & so on.

Basically, you either learn how to do everything safely & reliably on your own or let the app do it for you.

Basically, you either learn how to do everything safely

And that's my point. There is simply no safe way to use a referenced library in Photos. In Aperture it is well supported, but not in Photos. It is nearly impossible to reconnect originals, if you have to move the library to a different drive or to restore it from a backup.

And there is no point in using a referenced library in Photos. In iPhoto or Aperture it is possible to edit the EXIF tags of referenced photos and the new metadata tags will update in the library. Photos ignores the metadata changes to referenced originals.

As an added complication, some OPs reported, that referenced libraries needed much more storage when migrated from iPhoto or Aperture to Photos, because the originals were added to the model resources folder.

léonie wrote:

And that's my point. There is simply no safe way to use a referenced library in Photos.

To the extent that is true for Photos, it is also true for iPhoto.

If anyone reads through this whole discussion (as I have) about "show in finder" and is still hoping for a solution, I want to add that I found another support site that said Spotlight will find photos in the finder by name. Right click on photo to get the image name and then use spotlight to find the file. If there are multiple files with the same name it shows all of them. Use Show in Finder from Spotlight and voila, there is the file tree too. I just tried this on a newly imported photo and the files are still indexing so it may take some time to find the new photo.

I'm not an "expert" user but a long time one and it is annoying when I have a steep learning curve when upgrading to a new operating system. This Photos change was one of those. Former events from iphoto did not show up in my Albums, however once I played around with copying some of the former events to albums and then deleting them, all of a sudden an album named former events popped up on my album screen and they are just as easy to browse as in iPhoto. Sorting now seems to be done exclusively with Albums.

As a normal user, which apparently Apple engineers are not, I have frequent need to access photos and I have found that exporting them is extremely cumbersome. To upload photos to websites that don't accept drag and drop, you can drag the files themselves to the upload folder. Thumbnails are currently not dragging and dropping pictures from Photos to Wordpress as they did with iPhoto so for now I'm having to find the file name in the library and drag that over.

It would appear there are a few knowledgeable "experts" here and sometimes their advice is don't touch this you will mess it up! Yeah, thanks IT guy. Just like Do It Yourself forums that advise hiring a professional. I confess, I never used Spotlight to find anything, just the find function in the finder. Now I will use it to workaround this issue of not having the "Show in Finder" option in Photos. I may also use "Show Package Contents" and why not give me the benefit of the doubt? If someone is knowledgeable enough to search for answers, they are probably fine with trying to use those answers.

I read about changing to managing the files myself, but that seems like a ridiculous burden just to be able to access an original file. I won't use iPhoto iCloud for my photo library, because I already have to pay for storage just to back up my phone, and I'm not willing to pay for 30,000 images I can store on my own computer hard drive and back up with Time Machine.

I also had to log out of iCloud, restart my iPhone and my computer, and log back into iCloud to get My Photo Stream to download new photos to the new Photos application. Found that advice here though. Spotlight is still indexing--I hope this also works with newly imported photos! I see they are in the same Photo library as the older photos just need Spotlight to get the new files indexed so it can find them. Whew, good luck users!

I'm delighted that you have found solution that works for you and that, one which will, with only a tiny slip, trash your Library. If you keep working on it you'll eventually figure out the Media Browser that makes the whole thing irrelevant. Whew, good luck user!

Ellen D. wrote:

As a normal user, which apparently Apple engineers are not, I have frequent need to access photos and I have found that exporting them is extremely cumbersome.

Dragging a photo & dropping it on the desktop is extremely cumbersome?!? 😮