spinning wheel on photos

With the amount of information you've provided it's impossible to offer a solution. We can't see your computer so we need to know the details of your problem and setup, i.e.:

• what system version are you running?
• how much free space on your boot drive?
• how big is your library, i.e. how many photos?
• what fixes have you tried?
• where is your library located?
• did you apply any updates or upgrades just prior to the problem occurring?
• are you running a "managed" or "referenced" library?
• what type of Mac?
• have you run any "cleaning" or "optimizing" apps on your Mac?

Douglas,

• Quit out of Photos app if you have it open on the Mac
• Re-launch Photos app and immediately hold down Command+Option keys
• When the Repair Library message appears in the app “You are about to repair the library “Library Name” – choose “Repair” to start the library repair process

Try, if you can open Photos on a different Photos library. This will tell you, if the library is corrupt or there is a different problem.

Force quit Photos, if it is still spinning, then hold down the option key while you start Photos again. When the library chooser panel comes up select to create a new library. Does Photos work with a new library?

• If yes, make a backup of the Photos Library and then repair it. Don't repair without a backup of the library.
• If no, test in a different user account.