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Trying to sync photos from MacBook Pro to iPhone - photo albums are not shown

Hello, I am trying to sync photos from my MacBooks Photos to my iPhone after I got a new iPhone. When I opened the Finder, no photo albums are shown for the iPhone. Let me attach a picture below as a reference. Can anyone help? By the way, my Photos album is stored in an external hard drive. You can see that the MacBook Pro can see the drive to bring up Photos. Thanks in advance!


iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 14

Posted on Nov 1, 2020 5:51 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 2, 2020 3:09 AM

Is your Photos Library on your Mac your System photos Library?

In Photos, when browsing your Photos Library, you may want to check the Photos > Preferences > General. The option "Use as System Photos Library" should be greyed out. is your library the System Photos Library?


The external volume with your System Photos Library should always be plugged in, whenever you are signed into your user account, so he background processes can create previews for the Media Browser.



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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 2, 2020 3:09 AM in response to rigbylancaster

Is your Photos Library on your Mac your System photos Library?

In Photos, when browsing your Photos Library, you may want to check the Photos > Preferences > General. The option "Use as System Photos Library" should be greyed out. is your library the System Photos Library?


The external volume with your System Photos Library should always be plugged in, whenever you are signed into your user account, so he background processes can create previews for the Media Browser.



Nov 2, 2020 6:39 AM in response to léonie

Thanks for responding. First of all, I am not using iCould photo sharing. I prefer to keep my photos locally. That's why I keep an external drive.


You are right that I didn't select my drive as the system photos library. I will give it a try. However, the point of having an external drive is that I don't need to take it everywhere when I don't need the photos. I understand the background process for Photos when plugged in. If you can clarify any problem of plugging or not plugging the external drive, it will be great!


Thanks again.

Trying to sync photos from MacBook Pro to iPhone - photo albums are not shown

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