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Level 3

519 points

How do I force scanning faces in photos

After upgrading to macOS Sierra a couple of weeks ago, the Photos app did rescan my whole photo library for faces.

But it stopped somehow near the end of it because it since then displays this message when I select the Persons/Faces album (translated from my language to English, so it might be slightly different in English):

15,726 Photos scanned

"Photos" continues to scan 1,260 remaining photos when you are not using the app and your Mac is plugged in to a power outlet.

Fortunately there is a button named ""Show album 'Persons'" below that message so that I eventually can get to the person album, but I would like to have all my photos scanned.

Upgrading to the latest macOS version did not fix it although the Photos app did upgrade the library.

Is there a way to force the Photos app to either continue the scan or force it to do a full rescan?

Thanks,

Andreas

P.S.: I am using an iMac (no laptop) and I am running on macOS 10.12.2.

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Dec 18, 2016 4:55 AM

Best reply

CircleK22

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Sep 4, 2017 12:55 PM

Also had the same problem. I bought a new Mac and decided to use photos instead of the app I used on all previous macs and without fail: Picasa. Unfortunately, if there is no "force scan" option or the bug is not fixed by apple to complete facial scans in a timely fashion, then the best thing for Mac users to do is to resort to using another product. Picasa scanned all of my photos and in little time. Bugs me (no pun intended) that I cannot use an Apple app product on their hardware without issues (not the 1st time). I guess iPhones bugs trump all others. I hope to run into fewer bugs in the future.

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21 replies

léonie

Level 10

194,743 points

Dec 18, 2016 11:00 AM in response to probe_droid

Have you checked, if your Photos Library contains media items that cannot be processed by Photos? These might be holding up the show.

A good indicator for incompatible items is a smart album with the single rule "Photo is unable to upload to iCloud Photo Library". If this album is not empty, save the items outside your Photos Library and then remove them from the library.

probe_droid Author

Level 3

519 points

Dec 18, 2016 3:06 PM in response to léonie

While browsing some of my videos it popped up a message that it cannot be processed because if cannot be found. This might be the root cause of the stuck issue, although it was only a handful of items.

The tip with the smart list did unfortunately not work as I do not use iCloud Photo Library, so the album is empty.

léonie

Level 10

194,743 points

Dec 18, 2016 3:49 PM in response to probe_droid

The tip with the smart list did unfortunately not work as I do not use iCloud Photo Library, so the album is empty.

It is not necessary to be using iCloud Photo Library for this test. The smart album will collect photos and videos with problematic formats. iphoto and Aperture allowed to import media types, that Photos cannot process and that need to be removed from the Photos library. So it is good, that the album is empty.

I hope you found the culprit with the missing video.

léonie

Level 10

194,743 points

Nov 8, 2017 11:33 AM in response to bdjufynot

That looks promising! Which version of MacOS X and Photos do you have installed?

Nov 9, 2017 12:35 AM in response to léonie

Photos 3.0 with High Sierra

léonie

Level 10

194,743 points

Nov 9, 2017 2:15 AM in response to bdjufynot

Thanks! The same version as I have.

How do I force scanning faces in photos