adss
Level 1 (8 points)
Photos for Mac

Q: Can't relink missing photos in Apple Photos

In both iPhotos and Aperture there were options to "Relocate Originals" and, most importantly, "Locate Referenced Files".

Question: Where are these features in Apple Photos?

Problem: I have several photos that are shown in the Missing category of Photos. I obviously need to re-point them to the actual source image files which I can see in Finder.

 

How can I achieve this? I tried to rebuild the Photo database but did not make a difference.

 

Thank you in Advance.

Adrian

ibook, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Oct 21, 2016 6:55 PM

by léonie,Solvedanswer
léonie léonie
Level 10 (108,955 points)
iCloud
A:

You can reconnect missing referenced original files, but not missing managed originals.  Have your photos been imported as referenced images?

  • Referenced: If you try to edit a referenced image where the original file is missing, Photos will prompt you to reconnect. Click the "Find Original" button and select the missing original.
    Screen Shot 2016-10-22 at 11.46.36 GMT.png
  • Managed: It is more work to reconnect missing managed files. The only option is to find and reimport the original. Then copy and paste all metadata from the old version of the photo (titles, captions) and delete the old version.

 

A common reason for missing managed originals are cleaning applications that modify the Photos Library directly.  Or keeping the Photos Library in a synced folder like Dropbox or on a drive with a filesystem that is not MacOS Extended (Journaled). Do you remember, when the originals started to be missing and what happened before they vanished?

Posted on Oct 22, 2016 2:54 AM

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adss

Q: Can't relink missing photos in Apple Photos

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  • Helpful answers

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Oct 22, 2016 2:54 AM in response to adss
    Level 10 (108,955 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 22, 2016 2:54 AM in response to adss

    You can reconnect missing referenced original files, but not missing managed originals.  Have your photos been imported as referenced images?

    • Referenced: If you try to edit a referenced image where the original file is missing, Photos will prompt you to reconnect. Click the "Find Original" button and select the missing original.
      Screen Shot 2016-10-22 at 11.46.36 GMT.png
    • Managed: It is more work to reconnect missing managed files. The only option is to find and reimport the original. Then copy and paste all metadata from the old version of the photo (titles, captions) and delete the old version.

     

    A common reason for missing managed originals are cleaning applications that modify the Photos Library directly.  Or keeping the Photos Library in a synced folder like Dropbox or on a drive with a filesystem that is not MacOS Extended (Journaled). Do you remember, when the originals started to be missing and what happened before they vanished?

  • by adss,

    adss adss Oct 22, 2016 11:41 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 22, 2016 11:41 PM in response to léonie

    Thank you Leonie... it was an issue for managed photos; which, until I read your reply, I did not pick it that it was importing in that "setting" as a default; now changed.

     

    So, I have now deleted the managed photos and redone the activity of importing as referenced; fortunately I only had <100.

     

    Thank you so much for this.

     

    PS. Pity that we cannnot changed from managed to Referenced as per Aperture (ie. Relocate files)

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 22, 2016 11:49 PM in response to adss
    Level 10 (108,955 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 22, 2016 11:49 PM in response to adss
    PS. Pity that we cannnot changed from managed to Referenced as per Aperture (ie. Relocate files)

    The support for referenced photos is very poor in Photos compared to Aperture. I switched to using only managed photos.You cannot use iCloud Photo Library with referenced photos, there is no versatile reconnect tool (we have to track the missing photos down on our own), and if you want to delete a referenced photo from your library, the referenced original will not be deleted. You have to remove it manually.