You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Photos library not visible in iMovie

Creating a new post because I've tried all the solutions from earlier posts.


Running latest versions of Photos and iMovie (versions at bottom). Photos library not available in iMovie. It's not visible in the Project Media / Libraries panel on the left side of iMovie. Here's all the solutions I've tried, in order. After each one, closed and reopened both Photos and iMovie to check if the solution worked.


  1. Checked for newer versions (I am running the latest)
  2. Held Option and opened Photos to select the photo library (there was only 1 available).
  3. In Photos Preferences, confirmed that photo library is in use as System Library.
  4. In Photos Preferences->iCloud, confirmed "Download Originals to this Mac" was enabled.
  5. Tried to Repair Photos Library via cmd+option and open Photos app (and waited to re-download Photos from iCloud
  6. Deleted iMovies Preferences by holding cmd+option and opening iMovie to delete Preferences
  7. Deleted cache files from \users\<username>\Library\Saved Application State\... && \users\<username>\Library\Caches\...




Photos Version 5.0 (131.17.170)

iMovie Version 10.1.14

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Jul 4, 2020 2:39 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 4, 2020 2:52 PM

Make sure that iMovie is authorized to access the Photos library. Go to System Preferences/Security & Privacy/Privacy/Automation. Photos should be listed under iMovie in the display box to the right. Make sure that there is a check next to Photos.



-- Rich

Similar questions

3 replies

Photos library not visible in iMovie

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.