iMovie not opening up correct Photos Library

Question

Level 1

0 points

iMovie not opening up correct Photos Library

The update that made iPhoto become Photos has been causing all kinds of problems. The latest issue is in iMovie. I'm working on a project and I need my Photos to link to iMovie so I can add the photos into the movie project. iMovie is opening up the wrong Photos Library. I have made the Photos Library I want the "System Library", but iMovie keeps opening up a different Photos Library. I know I can drag and drop by opening up Photos and doing it that way, but I shouldn't have to open up two separate programs to do this. These two programs should be working together seamlessly - like they used to.

MacBook (13-inch Mid 2010), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Apr 24, 2015 12:30 PM

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Answer 1

Rich839

Level 8

47,250 points

Dec 31, 2016 4:48 PM in response to jGilbo

Hi,

Before launching iMovie, open your current Photos app (the "systems library" one), and park it on the dock. Then open iMovie and see if it reads it.

If that doesn't work, try moving your old Photos library to an external drive and then disconnect the drive from your computer. Then see if iMovie will link to the Photos library that you want.

-- Rich

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Answer 2

JmEgydio

Level 1

4 points

Jan 1, 2017 8:33 AM in response to JmEgydio

UPDATE: ˜12h later, opened the same files & apps, I did nothing... and voila! iMovie was reading Photos as it should.

I did try to restart fews times yesterday. I am not sure and I did not check, but I would guess it is related to photoanalysisd (background process). Just a wild guess.

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Answer 3

knightem

Level 1

4 points

Jan 8, 2016 6:31 AM in response to jGilbo

This happened to me after upgrading to El Capitan.

All of my photos were imported into the new Photos Library, but when I opened iMovie, it still showed my iPhotos Library with only the old pictures in the sidebar. Photos library was set as the system library, and if I tried to go through the menu to set a new library through iMovie, they were greyed out and I couldn't select the correct one.

What I ended up doing (simultaneously, so I'm not sure which one of these fixed it)

Hold down command and option while opening Photos. Dialog appears to Repair the library, do that.
Open the App store and download the update to iMovie

If you want to try just the second one go for it. Good luck; glad I got mine working.

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Answer 4

GeeD

Level 6

9,173 points

Jan 8, 2016 10:41 AM in response to jGilbo

As knightem has hinted, only the Photos System Library is visible from iMovie. To designate a different system library see:

Designate a System Photo Library in Photos - Apple Support

Geoff.

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Answer 5

knightem

Level 1

4 points

Jan 8, 2016 10:52 AM in response to GeeD

That was the problem though; my new Photos Library was set as the system library, but iMovie was still displaying only the old iPhotos Library. When I went into the photos library preferences to confirm, the "Use as System Library" button was greyed out because it was already selected.

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Answer 6

GeeD

Level 6

9,173 points

Jan 8, 2016 10:57 AM in response to knightem

If you are using iMovie 9 ('11) or earlier I'm not sure but I don't think it will interface with Photos since Photos did not exist when these versions of iMovie were current. I think you will have to locate the photos in the photos library manually and import from there or drag and drop into the project.

Geoff.

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Answer 7

May 26, 2016 11:53 AM in response to jGilbo

I checked everything:

- Photos app uses my system library
- iMovie is updated to the current version

Still: iMovie shows some other (old) library that I haven't used for ages. How can I tell iMovie to use the correct photos/media library?

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Answer 8

JmEgydio

Level 1

4 points

Dec 31, 2016 12:53 PM in response to jGilbo

Same problem here. Tried to repeat the task in Final Cut, same issue. Bug is on Photos, thus I did not try to reinstall iMovie. I ended up importing the pictures I wanted on iMovie.... between two Apple apps... dumb! waste of time! unacceptable! (drag and drop did not work?!?). Just hope an update is upcoming. So annoying.

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