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I want a local copy of my photos stored in iCloud to my MacBook, but when I do I get a zip file (that I can't unzip - My Mac says its not a legit file) and a folder with all the photos. Do I need to keep both? Why does it do this?
Mac mini, macOS 12.7
If you're downloading a bunch of pictures from iCloud, it can't send a folder. What's supposed to happen is that iCloud sends the pictures in a folder that's been compressed in a zip file in order to keep the pictures all together. Then when you get the zip file it gets unzipped, and you have the folder with all the picture, and the zip file disappears.
That last step seems to have gotten confused. I would look to make sure that all the pictures are in good shape, before trusting it. In fact, I'd be tempted to trash the whole thing and start over. It's hard to know what else didn't work in the transfer.
How many pictures? I think I'd keep the transfers as small as practicable. If there's a little glitch then that can mess up the whole thing. Small batches are safer.
downloading iCloud Photos creates a zip file and downloads the photos
