can't delete videos in photos

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Level 1

4 points

can't delete videos in photos

I have approx 5000 videos in the Photos app. I am also diligent about archiving my video files separately from Photos. So, I have them organized in folders by year, with subfolders for months. However, because they are also in my Photos Library, the files are duplicated on my system. I want to delete them from Photos to free up disk space.

In theory, this should be simple. I go into "Videos" in the sidebar, select a bunch of files, right-click and select "delete x videos". This is not working for me, however. I tried doing a 'select all' and delete, and Photos crashed. So I decided to do smaller batches. I select 50 of the video files, and delete. It says they're being moved to "recently deleted", but they don't actually disappear from my Photos library. In some cases, bizarrely, I would delete 50 videos, and it would actually ADD 10 more videos to the library.

What is going on here? Why can't I delete them?

I've also tried going to my library in Finder, I select 'show package contents', go to 'originals', but the subfolder system is very busy, and videos aren't stored separately from photos... so I would have to scroll through every subfolder, and search for the video files to delete them.

NOTE - when I try to delete them, I'm not in an 'album', so I'm not merely trying to remove them from the album. I'm in the "Videos" tab, so if I delete, the files should actually be removed.

I finally managed to delete about 1000 of the files by doing them in small batches, but then Photos crashed due to an "unexpected error". When I re-opened the app, all 5000 videos were there again.

Posted on Mar 23, 2016 7:16 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,388 points

Mar 23, 2016 9:35 AM in response to ringrob

Do you have the iCloud Photo Library enabled? If not try repairing the library according to the instructions in this Apple document: Repair Your Library. The reason I ask is stated in the warning below:

Warning: If you use iCloud Photo Library with Photos, this action will cause Photos to upload all your pictures again (from Fix missing or incorrect thumbnails in Photos - Apple Support).

Then try deleting the videos as follows:

Deleting Photos from a Photos 1.3 Library

1 - regardless of where you are in the library, i.e. Moments, Collections, albums, smart albums or projects, select the photo(s) you want to delete and use the key combination of Command+Delete to move the photos to the Recently Deleted smart album.

2 - click on the Recently Deleted smart albums in the sidebar.

NOTE 1: If you're using Photos 1.2 or earlier use the File ➙ Show Recently Deleted menu option.

3 - in the Recently Deleted album you can opt to let the photo automatically delete after the 30 day waiting period is up, delete them immediately or restore them to the library.

NOTE 2: deleting a photo from an album, slideshow, book, etc., with the Delete key only deletes the photo from that item. There is no key combination that will delete a photo from a project and move it directly to the Recently Deleted smart album.

NOTE 3: Deleting a photo from a Moment or Collection (the Photos window) or the All Photos window deletes ALL occurences of that photo in the library.

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