How do I scroll through my photos outside Photos on Mac?

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Level 1

4 points

How do I scroll through my photos outside Photos on Mac?

I just had my data migrated from my pc to my new Macbook Air and they didn't put my photo library into "Photos"; instead it remains in a folder in my Docs. I can open it just fine, I can see the (tiny) thumbnails, but if I open one of the images, I can't figure out how to move to the next image in the series (on my PC I just used the right-pointing arrow, but that doesn't do a thing on the Mac). Instead, I have to close the photo I'm viewing, which does not return me to the thumbnails but kicks me back out to the desktop, and then reopen the folder, reopen the thumbnails, choose the next image, repeat... Please, is there any easy way to scroll through my images? (The thumbnails are tiny and I also can't magnify them so just peering at them's not an option, although I'm open to magnification suggestions!)

MacBook Air, iOS 9.3.5

Posted on Aug 29, 2016 8:52 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Old Toad

Level 10

215,190 points

Aug 30, 2016 12:56 PM in response to TomK1178

Select one of the image files in the folder and press the Space bar to view the photo with Quicklook. You can scroll thru the photos using the up and down arrow on the keyboard.

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Answer 2

Aug 30, 2016 12:55 PM in response to TomK1178

Preview is the default image viewer on Mac. Unlike built-in image viewing app on Windows system, Preview won't switch to next photo automatically. You need some extra steps to view multiple photos with Preview.

First you need to select all the photos in the folder. (Command + A), photos thumbnails will be highlighted. From the context menu, choose Open With, and select 'Preview', all the selected images will open in a single Preview.app window, with thumbnails on the left panel for quick navigation between images. (press up/down arrow on keyboard to move to next/prev image). And you can find some 3rd parties apps such as 'ViewPic' on the Mac App store for easier images viewing.

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Answer 3

Rysz

Level 8

44,443 points

Aug 29, 2016 9:36 AM in response to TomK1178

If the images are tiny, you might be just looking at the thumbnails.

If the images have been properly migrated to the Photos app on your Mac, you should have just a single file in Users > your account > Pictures > named Photos Library. Photos, at its heart, is a database program. Users should not be interacting with the library except thru the Photos interface.

Photos User / Help guide:

https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/?lang=en

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Answer 4

TomK1178 Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 30, 2016 12:59 PM in response to TomK1178

The spacebar/up&down arrow worked perfectly-- thanks!! The Preview tip was also really helpful. Not only did my stuff not get migrated right but I spent ~5 visits/10 hours at the Apple Store trying to get it straightened out and they finally just gave me a new computer and I got to self-migrate! So my Photos are not where they should be *sigh* At least now I can actually scroll through them-- I appreciate the help, everyone!

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