Emerald Gladiator
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Safari

Q: Unable to access Photo.app media from other apps

Hi. I migrated from iPhoto to the Photos.app as soon as it was released. The migration process seemed to go well and I have access to all my photos and videos now in the new Photos.app. The iCloud Photos Library too has all the photos. It's all nicely synced. There is a glitch though. Applications like Apple Mail have a media browser that allows you to access the photos in the Photos.app. In my case only some of them are showing up. Example: I have an album in the Photos.app called "Funny Pictures". There are at least 100 pictures in the album but in the media broser only around six show up. Other albums are empty. Others seem to be full.

 

I checked out this support article: OS X: If you can't see iPhoto images in other apps - Apple Support and pretty much did all of the steps. I say pretty much because there is one step which requires you to locate the AlbumData.xml file and move it to the desktop forcing the creation of a new one. I opened the Photos Library package but there was no AlbumData.xml. I checked out my wife's Macbook Air and she has the file along with a bunch of other preference files and bric-a-brac that I don't have for some reason.

 

Obviously something is wrong. Apparently the migration process got messed up somehow.

 

If anyone could point me in the right direction I really appreciate the help.

 

GL

iPhoto '11, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Jan 9, 2016 9:03 AM

by léonie,Solvedanswer
léonie léonie
Level 10 (109,032 points)
iCloud
A:

The link you posted -  OS X: If you can't see iPhoto images in other apps - Apple Support

is a troubleshooting article for iPhoto Libraries.  The Photos Libraries have a different format, so it is not surprising that you cannot find AlbumData.xml .

 

On the third point I don't have "optimize storage" enabled but it appears that the app is trying to sync and is stuck. It has been in that position now for a long time.

You may have items in your Photos Library that cannot upload to iCloud.

 

Check, if there are any photos that cannot upload to iCloud Photo Library.

You can use a smart album with these constraints:

Screen Shot 2016-01-09 at 21.32.20GMT.png

 

It will find all items that are having an incompatible format and all referenced photos or videos.  Not all image formatscan be used with iCloud, and referenced photos can also not be uploaded to iCloud Photo Library.

Posted on Jan 9, 2016 2:11 PM

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Emerald Gladiator

Q: Unable to access Photo.app media from other apps

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  • Helpful answers

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jan 9, 2016 9:20 AM in response to Emerald Gladiator
    Level 10 (109,032 points)
    iCloud
    Jan 9, 2016 9:20 AM in response to Emerald Gladiator

    If photos do not show in the Media Browser, check, if your current Photos Library has been enabled as the System Photo Library in the Photos > Preferences > General.  "Use as System Photo Library" needs to be grayed out.

     

    After importing new photos, it is best to quit Photos and the application that will access the photos. This will force Photos to update the library databases for the Media Browser, and closing Safari or other apps will force them to refresh the caches read from the Media Browser.

     

    Also, you are using iCloud Photo Library.  Do you have "Optimize Storage" enabled? Is Photos still downloading photos from iCloud, or is the sync complete?

  • by Emerald Gladiator,

    Emerald Gladiator Emerald Gladiator Jan 9, 2016 10:13 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Safari
    Jan 9, 2016 10:13 AM in response to léonie

    Hi Léonie, Thanks very much for your response. Yes, I did check earlier. My photos library has been enabled as the system photo library.

    screenshot_27.png

     

    As to the second point you mentioned, this has been an ongoing issue for as long as I can remember. There has been ample opportunity for syncing and refreshes to occur.

     

    On the third point I don't have "optimize storage" enabled but it appears that the app is trying to sync and is stuck. It has been in that position now for a long time. I don't know how to unstick it. The odd thing is that pre iCloud Photos Library everything I had was in iPhotos. Then I upgraded to the Photos.app and then I turned on iCloud Library. So everything in iCloud Library had to be uploaded from this current library and the photos that I am unable to access in the Mail Media Browser have uploaded to iCloud. I know because I went and looked. They are all there.

     

    screenshot_26.png

     

    Obviously something is wrong. Also the fact that I have no AlbumData.xml file. This is one of the points mentioned in the Apple Support article. Do you have any idea what I could do to make Photos.app create that file? I've tried everything I could think of.

     

    Many thanks,

     

    GL

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Jan 9, 2016 2:11 PM in response to Emerald Gladiator
    Level 10 (109,032 points)
    iCloud
    Jan 9, 2016 2:11 PM in response to Emerald Gladiator

    The link you posted -  OS X: If you can't see iPhoto images in other apps - Apple Support

    is a troubleshooting article for iPhoto Libraries.  The Photos Libraries have a different format, so it is not surprising that you cannot find AlbumData.xml .

     

    On the third point I don't have "optimize storage" enabled but it appears that the app is trying to sync and is stuck. It has been in that position now for a long time.

    You may have items in your Photos Library that cannot upload to iCloud.

     

    Check, if there are any photos that cannot upload to iCloud Photo Library.

    You can use a smart album with these constraints:

    Screen Shot 2016-01-09 at 21.32.20GMT.png

     

    It will find all items that are having an incompatible format and all referenced photos or videos.  Not all image formatscan be used with iCloud, and referenced photos can also not be uploaded to iCloud Photo Library.

  • by Emerald Gladiator,

    Emerald Gladiator Emerald Gladiator Jan 9, 2016 1:54 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Safari
    Jan 9, 2016 1:54 PM in response to léonie

    Hi Léonie, I created the smart folder. No photos matched either of the two criteria. The other criteria did turn up photos. A bit embarrassed. I didn't notice that article was referring to iPhoto. Regarding the jammed sync: I went to iCloud.com and clicked on "all photos". It started syncing. The message that was jammed is no longer there. It's all synced up now. But the situation with accessing the photos from the media browser in Apple Mail is the same. Would there be any preference files that might be causing this?

     

    GL

  • by Emerald Gladiator,

    Emerald Gladiator Emerald Gladiator Jan 9, 2016 2:09 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Safari
    Jan 9, 2016 2:09 PM in response to léonie

    Hi Leonie,

     

    I got the idea to look at the "Hidden Photos" Album. All the missing pictures were there! I have no clue how they got there. I have put a few in there from time to time. Very few. None of these. For sure. And not over 600 photos. So I "unhid" all of them. It seemed faster than going through the whole lot. I have my photos back now and they are visible in the media browser in Apple Mail.

     

    The thing I REALLY don't understand is: This is one of the first things I checked. I went to the Photos.app and looked to see if the photos I couldn't see in the media browser were there or not. They were there and were not hidden! Before I restored all of the hidden photos I again did the same check. They were all visible in iPhoto. Go figure.

     

    In any case I thank you for your help. You got me thinking along the right lines. Sometimes you just need someone to bounce ideas off of.

     

    Best, GL

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Jan 9, 2016 2:11 PM in response to Emerald Gladiator
    Level 10 (109,032 points)
    iCloud
    Jan 9, 2016 2:11 PM in response to Emerald Gladiator
    Would there be any preference files that might be causing this?

    The Media Browser might not be able to access the photos while they are still being synced. I'd wait for the syncing to finish.  Let the Mac run over night with Photos open.

     

    And then restart the mac to clear caches, before you try again to access the media browser.

     

    Missing photos in albums could be caused by a library corruption, but to fix this you may need to repair the Photos Library.But I'd wait with this, because repairing will resulting in your library uploading to iCloud again,  see:                 Repair your library      

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jan 9, 2016 2:24 PM in response to Emerald Gladiator
    Level 10 (109,032 points)
    iCloud
    Jan 9, 2016 2:24 PM in response to Emerald Gladiator

    Great you could solve it.  The "Hidden Photos" are quite confusing in Photos, because they are not hidden everywhere.  They are only hidden when browsing the Moments, Collections, Years, but they are clearly visible in the albums and smart albums.  It is really peculiar, that the Media Browser did not show the hidden photos in your album.

    I have hidden quite a few photos in my library, because otherwise the Year view will not show the places, if there are too many locations in a year - and I noticed, that the hidden photos are no longer showing the location informaton in the albums, unless I unhide them.  There is still a lot to do to make "Hiding" useful.

  • by Emerald Gladiator,

    Emerald Gladiator Emerald Gladiator Jan 9, 2016 10:33 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Safari
    Jan 9, 2016 10:33 PM in response to léonie

    Hi Léonie, I wasn't aware that the photos were not hidden in all instances. Yes, that does make it strange. Stranger yet, I didn't hide at least 550 of the 650 or so hidden photos. I have no clue how they became "hidden". Do you have any idea how this could have happened?

     

    GL