Open Photos to see your photos

[jayducharme]

Is Apple ever going to fix this absurd problem? I was hoping that this issue would be fixed with Sierra and a Photos update. I've sent a lot of feedback to Apple about it. But evidently, usability is no longer a priority.

For those unfamiliar with it: try to access your Photos library from Mail or Final Cut. The icon is there, but when you click it, you get the message that's the title of this thread. To make matters even worse, there's no longer an easy way to find your photos within the app's package. Previously, your photos were logically sorted in the Masters folder, and then into folders by date. Now the folders have indecipherable names and seemingly no rational organization. I think Apple really wants everyone to go back to using iPhoto.

EDIT: I was wrong about the Master's folder; it's still there. But there's another one within the Resources folder as well; that's the one I had been looking into.

 

[robgendreau]

I dunno what you're referring to. In Mail if I click the little image icon when composing a message I get the media browser (the same one you see in the Finder when say you wanna put an image into a Pages doc). And I can access the images in Photos or Aperture. I do NOT get a message to open Photos.

And as far as the package where Photos stores images in a managed library, that's how it's supposed to work. If you want to access images outside of Photos in the Finder than you should be using a REFERENCED library, not a MANAGED one. Turn off the "copy into" option for imports in Photos prefs. Then you store your photos where you want them. You are NOT supposed to be mucking about in the package; changes there can result in problems with accessing the images in Photos.

 

[jayducharme]

I dunno what you're referring to.

I'm referring to this:

That's what I see when I try to add images in Mail or any other app. I can open Photos and drag images from there into Mail -- and that's the only app where that works. Other apps won't accept images dragged directly from Photos.

If I have a lot of videos from my iPhone that transfer over into Photos, the only practical way to pick and choose which to bring into Final Cut is to open the Photos package. I don't "muck about" in the package; I simply browse to the correct folder and from there I can drag the videos or images directly into any app I choose.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Hmm. I am able to browse within Mail, as you expect you should. Have you actually opened Photos at all? It may be because the library needs to be migrated/updated from an earlier version.

 

[Partron22]

I'm referring to this:

That's exactly what I see, and I do not use Photos for my pix.
When I want a photo in an email, I look for it in Finder, and drag it into the message area.
Apfelkuchen has probably got the right of it.

 

[jayducharme]

Hmm. I am able to browse within Mail, as you expect you should. Have you actually opened Photos at all? It may be because the library needs to be migrated/updated from an earlier version.

I use Photos regularly. I still have my old iPhotos library and when I click on that in the dialogue box, all of those pictures appear. Just nothing for Photos.

 

[robgendreau]

Something's wrong. The media browser isn't able to access your Photos library for some reason. Should look like this:

 

[26139]

Something's wrong. The media browser isn't able to access your Photos library for some reason. Should look like this:

View attachment 659619

Mine also looks like this.

All pics available.

OP, have you moved your Photos folder or anything?

 

[jayducharme]

have you moved your Photos folder or anything?

From the launch of Photos, my collection has been stored on my external TB hard drive. iPhoto never had a problem with it, but evidently Photos -- even though it seamlessly syncs and saves my media to that location -- is having issues accessing that data through other apps.

 

[robgendreau]

Have you tried creating a new library with a few test photos and then opening that instead of your system library?

 

[jayducharme]

Have you tried creating a new library with a few test photos and then opening that instead of your system library?

No. I'll give that a shot. Thanks.

 

[jayducharme]

I found the problem, and it was absurdly simple. There's a button in Preferences with the words "Use as System Photos Library". I had never clicked it because I assumed since I only had one Photos library, that would be the default. It would probably be more intuitive if the words were next to a radio button so I could see if it was checked or not. Once I clicked the "Use as System" button, it greyed out and everything works like it should.