Before following any of these steps, it's a good idea to create a backup of your photo library, even if you use iCloud Photos. You can use Time Machine, use a third-party backup solution, or copy the library to an external drive. By default, your photo library is stored in the Pictures folder within your home folder.
Photos is part of the Mac operating system. You can avoid or fix many issues by running the most up-to-date version of macOS. Learn more about updating the software on your Mac.
If you use RAW images in Photos, learn more about the digital camera RAW formats supported by iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
It is known to work with Mac OS X versions 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) through 10.14 (Mojave – see notes below), and has been tested on a wide variety of phones. Although you should be careful with all drivers that you install on your computer, HoRNDIS has been tested at least well enough for the author (and many others) to run full time on their. Reboot your Mac and hold Command-R to enter Recovery Mode. Choose Terminal from the Utilities menu. Enter the command “resetpassword” (all one word, and lowercase). Select your hard drive in the tool that pops up. Select your user account from the drop-down menu. Click the button to reset home folder permissions.
You might see an alert message when you first open Photos or migrate an existing iPhoto or Aperture library. Learn what to do if Photos can’t copy or create a library.
Use the Media Browser to make images from your photo library available in other apps, like Pages and iMovie. The Media Browser shows only the contents of the Photos library designated as the System Photo Library. If you have more than one Photos library—and the one you're using isn't set as the System Photo Library—the Media Browser won't show its contents.
Follow these steps to designate the current library as the System Photo Library:
If you're experiencing other issues—like missing or blank photo thumbnails, unexpected behavior, or if Photos won’t open—try to see if it's an issue with your library by following these steps.
Create a new Photos library and see if your issues persist:
To return to your main Photos library, quit Photos. Then open it again while holding the Option key, select your main library, and click Choose Library.
Alternatively, you can open Photos in another user account on your Mac and note whether Photos opens successfully.
If Photos opens with the new library, or in a different user account, it might mean that there's an issue with your library. Follow the steps to use the Photos library repair tool on your main Photos library.
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