Option to show sidebar in Photos on Mac is greyed out.

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exactly as answered by the previous two posts

I made the Photos window bigger, and the sidebar reappeared, and the View/Sidebar menu item was no longer dimmed.

Thanks to patstewart2b's post on April 28, 2016.

just make the size of the windows on photos bit bigger it should pop up by itself ok i just did on mine ok

the application window was too small. Once I dragged the corner to enlarge it, all kinds of wonderful things happened, including the sidebar option.

LN

SpringfromNC wrote:

Easy fix: just make your "Photos" window WIDER. It needs to have enough room to have sidebar.

again exactly as answered by the previous posts - correct but redundant

I made the Photos window bigger, and the sidebar reappeared, and the View/Sidebar menu item was no longer dimmed.

Thanks to patstewart2b's post on April 28, 2016.

just make the size of the windows on photos bit bigger it should pop up by itself ok i just did on mine ok

the application window was too small. Once I dragged the corner to enlarge it, all kinds of wonderful things happened, including the sidebar option.

LN

I tried to maximize the window, but that didn't work either (after trying a score of other things). I expanded the window at the sides, and voila! the sidebar menu was no longer greyed out, and I was able to access it. Thank you so much! Who knew?

I tried the above, but my photos app won't let me grab it and drop it onto desktop? I've been having the same trouble within the Photo app trying to grab an album and bring it to the top of my photo albums? Help?!

Have you tried the key combination option-command-S instead?

As a bow drawn at venture I'd try to delete the cached preferences files for the Photos.app and then restart the Mac. This file can influence the graphical user interface.

I'd delete the complete folder ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Photos/ and restart the Mac, then try again.

Your user library may still be hidden.To reveal the hidden User Library:

• Bring the Finder forward by clicking on the Desktop or the Finder icon in the Dock.
• Select your user/home folder (with the house icon in the Finder sidebar)
• With that Finder window as the front window, press the key combination ⌘J to bring up the View options.
• In the View options panel enable ’Show Library Folder’. That will make your user library folder visible in your Home folder.
• Open your Home folder, then the Library folder, then Containers.
• Move the complete folder ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Photos to your desktop. Move the entire folder, not just the contents.

Now restart the Mac and try again. If all is well, delete the folder from the Desktop.

Wow! Thanks. Scary, but it worked.

Great! You're welcome 🙂

Thank you!

Hello

I'm new to asking questions of a Community but I wondered if you could help me on this same problem of a greyed out Sidebar in Photos? I'm following the instructions you gave to 66sweep but I cannot find any Library in my Home Folder. I am not very adept at exactly what a Home or Library Folder is so any basic help in getting the sidebar in Photos to appear would be very welcome. Many thanks.

Have you tried to unhide the Library folder as I described?

Your user library may still be hidden.To reveal the hidden User Library:

• Bring the Finder forward by clicking on the Desktop or the Finder icon in the Dock.
• Select your user/home folder (with the house icon in the Finder sidebar)
• With that Finder window as the front window, press the key combination ⌘J to bring up the View options.
• In the View options panel enable ’Show Library Folder’. That will make your user library folder visible in your Home folder.
• Open your Home folder, then the Library folder, then Containers.
• Move the complete folder ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Photos to your desktop. Move the entire folder, not just the contents.

Now restart the Mac and try again. If all is well, delete the folder from the Desktop.

It should look like this:

Yes it worked! Very nice clear instructions - thank you so much.

You're welcome 🙂

I had imported photos from iPhoto to Photos and "show sidebar" was greyed out. I tried everything. An apple advisor figured out that the application window was too small. Once I dragged the corner to enlarge it, all kinds of wonderful things happened, including the sidebar option.

Once I dragged the corner to enlarge it, all kinds of wonderful things happened, including the sidebar option.

In Yosemite and El Capitan you can drag any side, not just the corners to enlarge a window. Very convenient if the corners are hidden.