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Grebus Author

Level 1

10 points

Photos on my iMac(Monterey OS)

I accidentally deleted my Photos app by moving it from Pictures to the trash. I moved it back but I could not find my photos. I did a restore from my time machine backup (I did get Photos to open with this file) but I noticed that I have a Photos Library folder under users-my name-Photos Library (this has a Photos icon) and also an iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary folder. There are also two Photos items under Pictures. They are Photos Library.photoslibrary which uses the icon and Photo Library.photolibrary (1) that has a folder icon and includes a database file and an external file. When I click on the Photos icon on the dock my photos open up as they should and it looks like it is using the folder from user-my name folder and not from the Pictures folder.

How do I return things back to normal? Can I delete the two folders currently under Pictures and move the Photos Library (the work that works) from under my user name to the Pictures folder? Hopefully, my request is not too confusing and any assistance is appreciated. Photos does work but I am trying to clean-up any duplication and get everything back in the correct place.

iMac 27″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Dec 21, 2021 3:42 PM

Top-ranking reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,954 points

Posted on Dec 22, 2021 12:43 AM

First - any library with the extension "photolibrary" (or migratedphotolibrary) without the "s" is an old iPhoto library - you can ignore these for now.

Now open up photos so that is viewing the photos you want. Go into photos>preferences, and look at the location (circled). This tells you exactly which library you have open and where it is.

If that is not in the pictures folder, you probably want to move it into the pictures folder. It is possible photos created a new empty library in the pictures folder with the same name (photos library.photoslibrary) if it has don't delete it, but move it into a temporary folder (just to make sure you don't accidentally delete something you need). Don't open photos in between moving the two libraries.

Now you can drag the correct library into your pictures folder. Open it by holding down the option key while starting photos.

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Photos on my iMac(Monterey OS)

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