HT205069: Fix missing or incorrect thumbnails in Photos

Learn about Fix missing or incorrect thumbnails in Photos
Chad Nankervis

Q: Thumbnails missing in Photos 2 on Sierra

Hi all! After searching for photos by date, I've noticed a huge chunk of my photo library is without thumbnails. This is after upgrading to Photos 2 on OS Sierra. I've already tried repairing the library, but no use.

 

Sorry, I'm not about to individually open 40,000 photos so I can repair the thumbnails.

 

Apple, please fix!!

Screen Shot 2016-09-25 at 2.58.41 PM.png

Mac Pro (Late 2013), macOS Sierra (10.12), Photos

Posted on Sep 25, 2016 3:09 PM

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Q: Thumbnails missing in Photos 2 on Sierra

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  • by Chad Nankervis,

    Chad Nankervis Chad Nankervis Sep 25, 2016 3:55 PM in response to Chad Nankervis
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 3:55 PM in response to Chad Nankervis

    My guess here is that my over 40k photo library is simply taking forever to update, but it's been almost a week already. To make things even better, the update dialog leaves no clue to how long is remaining.Screen Shot 2016-09-25 at 3.54.55 PM.png

  • by MattThorn,

    MattThorn MattThorn Sep 27, 2016 11:40 PM in response to Chad Nankervis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 11:40 PM in response to Chad Nankervis

    I have the same problem. I just tried the old "open application while holding down option-command and clicking the 'rebuild' button" technique. (Actually I don't know if it says "rebuild," since I'm running Japanese.) It's a slow process. I'll let you know if it works. (Since this rarely worked under earlier versions of the OS, I do not have high expectations.)

    screenshot.png

  • by MattThorn,

    MattThorn MattThorn Sep 30, 2016 7:14 AM in response to MattThorn
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 30, 2016 7:14 AM in response to MattThorn

    Well, I got mixed results with the rebuild. There are a lot more thumbnails in People now, but many are still missing. And it's not just People. I assume it's because my photos are saved in iCloud, but any time I scroll back in time, I see blank boxes, but if I stop scrolling, they (usually) fill up--slowly--as I watch. But sometimes they just stay blank. Maybe all the thumbnails will finally be loaded by the time a new version of Photos comes out?

  • by Chad Nankervis,

    Chad Nankervis Chad Nankervis Sep 30, 2016 10:20 PM in response to Chad Nankervis
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 30, 2016 10:20 PM in response to Chad Nankervis

    Rebuilding the library didn't help, but rotating all of the images (you'd better have a sick Mac for this!) and then undoing (or rotating them back) regenerated the thumbnails after a bit of time.

  • by mikechehab,

    mikechehab mikechehab Oct 6, 2016 2:15 PM in response to Chad Nankervis
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 6, 2016 2:15 PM in response to Chad Nankervis

    Hey Chad!

     

    I have a similar issue, I tried rebuilding (did not help), I tried rotating and rotating back to original place, also did not help, I am still missing the thumbnails in my Photos App, and they load very slowly eventually If i let it open on a particular day, or date... etc.

    I cannot do this for 45,000 photos, its not doable !

    Is there another suggestion to this? another workaround?

    Thank you!

  • by Chad Nankervis,

    Chad Nankervis Chad Nankervis Oct 6, 2016 10:19 PM in response to mikechehab
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 6, 2016 10:19 PM in response to mikechehab

    I had to leave my Photos app open and running for days for it to regenerate all the thumbnails. It really does take ages.

  • by goofyloni,

    goofyloni goofyloni Oct 14, 2016 12:12 AM in response to Chad Nankervis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 14, 2016 12:12 AM in response to Chad Nankervis

    there are so many posts about this issue now ... i don't understand why apple isn't fixing it - the only thing i did is upgrade to sierra - no cleaning up before that ... and i miss a whole bunch of fotos now. and nobody can tell me what happened and why they've disappeared.

  • by mikechehab,

    mikechehab mikechehab Oct 14, 2016 1:00 AM in response to goofyloni
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 14, 2016 1:00 AM in response to goofyloni

    I resolved the problem! All i had to do is rotate them and be patient (18 hours). And rotate them back to place (18 hours). The thumbnails show up normally now!
    The generating preview took some time, and thats all!

     

    Mike

  • by goofyloni,

    goofyloni goofyloni Oct 14, 2016 2:02 AM in response to mikechehab
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 14, 2016 2:02 AM in response to mikechehab

    ok, i'll try that - but am not happy that we, customers, have to deal with this 36 hours!!!!! ... and apple is not providing help at all.

  • by mikechehab,

    mikechehab mikechehab Oct 14, 2016 3:36 AM in response to goofyloni
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 14, 2016 3:36 AM in response to goofyloni

    I know, it ***** right??
    GOOD LUCK, Let me know what happens!

     

    Mike