Photos in Messages on my Mac disappear after closing down computer

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Level 1

23 points

Photos in Messages on my Mac disappear after closing down computer

My problem similar to one that many others have posted in the past. I am having problems sending photos in Messages from my MacBook Pro. The recipient gets the text message but the photo does not arrive and continually says "downloading" which never happens. Sometimes I receive photos from other people and I can see them fine until I log out of my computer. The next time I open Messages I just get this icon:

When I click on the "i" it opens a File Transfer window with nothing in it.

What is going on here? I never had any problems until the past week or so.

MacBook Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6), 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB Memory

Posted on Aug 7, 2018 9:33 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 14, 2018 1:22 PM in response to Paradox_E_Q

HI,

To Show the Dates or even the most recent Time of changes to the folders in the Attachments folder you may need to reveal the Modified column.

IN a Finder window go to the View Menu > Show View options.

This reveal a panel that can be used to change what is seen.

I have included that panel in this view of the attachments folder with some of the sub folders set to reveal.

If there are no dated items for Today (open chats/Conversations should show) or any recent dates there is a good chance this folder is not being updated.

This might be because either the final Folder has lost the Permissions needed for your Login to Write to that Folder or one of the folders used to get the data there.

9:22 pm Tuesday; August 14, 2018

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Sierra)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 MacBookPro 15" 2016 (High Sierra 10.13.x)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 iPhone 6 iOS 11.x and an iPad (2)

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Answer 2

Aug 9, 2018 11:43 AM in response to Paradox_E_Q

Hi,

For your "saved" pictures that are sent look in ~/Library/Messages/Attachments

This folder is where incoming File Transfers including pics are kept.

Open a Finder Window

Use the Go Menu > Go to Folder

Type (Copy and Paste) the above location into the Dialogue box

If recent pictures are not there it sounds like your computer is not writing them to that location.

Go to the View Menu and Show Path Bar.

Now click on the Messages icon in the Path Bar (Bottom of window)

Right Click the Attachments Folder and choose Get Info.

In the info Panel scroll to the bottom.

It should list your account Name and it should say Read and Write.

Highlight this Line.

Unlock the panel.

Use the Cogwheel like icon at the bottom edge.

This should say "Make yourname (me) the Owner" but it should be greyed out if you already own the Folder.

If it does not make yourself the Owner.

How things get written here is dependent on another route.

In View Menu > Go to Folder enter in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages

In here should be an Alias that open the ~/Library/Messages/Attachments folder (check the Path Bar to confirm)

Use the Back arrow to return to the ... Data/Library/Messages folder.

Click on the Data icon and the check you Own the Library folder and have Read and Write permissions.

If you need to change things within the Containers Folder then use this Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder - Apple Support as it is likely you have lost Ownership or Permissions on more than one folder and the files they contain.

7:43 pm Thursday; August 9, 2018

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Sierra)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 MacBookPro 15" 2016 (High Sierra 10.13.x)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 iPhone 6 iOS 11.x and an iPad (2)

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Answer 3

Paradox_E_Q Author

Level 1

23 points

Aug 13, 2018 4:49 PM in response to Paradox_E_Q

Ralph,

I did everything that you indicated up to the point where you said to Go to Folder ~Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages.

Your next direction was that there should be an Alias that opens the ~/Library/Messages/Attachment folder (check the Path Bar to confirm). The problem is that I don't see anything labeled "Alias" and checking the Path Bar did not clear anything up for me.

Then you said to Use the Back arrow to return to the ...Data/Library/Messages folder. And then Click on the Data icon and then check you Own the Library folder and have Read and Write permissions. My problem with this step is that I don't see any Data icon to click on.

Could you further clarify your directions? Thank you.

Paradox_E_Q

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Answer 4

Paradox_E_Q Author

Level 1

23 points

Aug 13, 2018 5:26 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Ralph,

I don't know exactly when this Message + photos problem began. I only just noticed it last week but it could have been going on for a number of weeks.

I didn't mention in my prior answer that when I was following your step by step directions that I found there are lots of photos stored in the ~/Library/Messages/Attachments folder. They are in no particular organized order so that I can't tell which is which based on date but I did stumble upon a few very recent photos that either I received from someone else or I sent to someone else. So I suspect that all of the photos are actually in there somewhere.

When I currently open my Messages app on my MacBook Pro I don't see any photos from anyone all the way back for as long as I have been using Messages on my iPhone, iPad, or computer (that would be many years). There are hundreds of photos, all of which are accessible on my other devices and used to be accessible on this computer. If I receive or send any new photos they all remain accessible and visible as long as I don't log out of my user account on the computer. If I log out everything that was previously visible is gone.

I never tried to change permissions for anything on my computer. However, this is a relatively new computer for me (2 months) with an upgraded operating system compared to my old MacBook Pro. I suspect that this change happened either when I set up the new computer or when I updated my husband's computer to High Sierra.

My husband and I both use my iCloud account so that we can share our Contacts and Calendar. Last week, not long after I updated his operating system, his computer would no longer synch Contacts or Calendar with my computer or all of his portable devices (iPhones and iPads). It took me awhile to figure out that I actually needed to delete that iCloud account from his computer, iPhone and iPad and then add the accounts back. Then synching returned to normal.

Paradox_E_Q

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Answer 5

Aug 14, 2018 1:02 PM in response to Paradox_E_Q

Hi,

Picture of part of the route to the Containers ... Messages folder

The Path Bar reads Hard Drive Name/Users/myshortname/Library/Containers/com.iChat/Data

This can be written as ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages.

I seem to have missed the leading slash after the Tilde (~) which has not helped.

I apologise for that.

In the pic the Data folder has it's reveal Triangle set to the reveal position showing the Library inside which is also in the reveal position.

The final Messages folder is out of site.

This picture is inside the Messages folder

The incorrect path (~Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages) if placed in the Go to Folder dialogue box should have reported:-

That the Folder can't be found.

Sorry again for the confusion.

9:02 pm Tuesday; August 14, 2018

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Sierra)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 MacBookPro 15" 2016 (High Sierra 10.13.x)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 iPhone 6 iOS 11.x and an iPad (2)

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Photos in Messages on my Mac disappear after closing down computer

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