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photos and photo albums do not show in iMovie

photos and photo albums do not show in iMovie


MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 17, 2020 5:57 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 17, 2020 6:10 AM

Have you enabled your Photos Library as the System Photo Library?

  • Open Photos, if it is not running.
  • Go to the menu "Photos > Preferences > General".
  • Click "Use as System Photo Library". This option should be grayed out.
  • Then restart Photos and iMovie.


If you are using iCloud Photos, you will only be seeing the photos and videos, that have been downloaded from iCloud. Before you try to use items in iMovie, browse them in Photos, to force a download from iCloud.


7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 17, 2020 6:10 AM in response to mpoolie

Have you enabled your Photos Library as the System Photo Library?

  • Open Photos, if it is not running.
  • Go to the menu "Photos > Preferences > General".
  • Click "Use as System Photo Library". This option should be grayed out.
  • Then restart Photos and iMovie.


If you are using iCloud Photos, you will only be seeing the photos and videos, that have been downloaded from iCloud. Before you try to use items in iMovie, browse them in Photos, to force a download from iCloud.


Feb 19, 2020 2:21 AM in response to mpoolie

Can other applications see the photos from your Photos Library? For example the Preview.app?

As a test: Launch Preview, the go to the File Menu, click File > Open, then scroll down all the way, until you are seeing "Media" in the sidebar of the Open dialog and click Media > Photos and wait for your Photos Library to appear.

Does your Photos Library appear after some time?


If even Preview cannot show the Photos Library, there may be a problem with the library. What have you already tried with Apple Support?


What is the file format of the image files? Does iMovie have access to Photos? You may want to check the System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy for "Photos".

Does

Feb 18, 2020 11:52 AM in response to mpoolie

To cover the bases, make sure that you are updated to iMovie 10.1.14, as that version fixed an issue that prevented media from appearing in the Photos library browser when using iMovie on macOS Catalina.


Along the lines of what I think that léonie is saying, if you are using Optimized Storage with iCloud Photos, that also could cause Photos app media from not appearing in iMovie.


-- Rich



Feb 19, 2020 1:07 AM in response to Rich839

Thanks for your reply, Rich. My photos are stored in my Pictures folder and I am not using iCloud storage. Also I am using the updated version of iMovie 10.1.14

I have spent over 2 hours speaking with Apple Support technicians and despite all their efforts I am no further forward. I have been given a link to a Senior Technician who may be able to help.


mpoolie

Feb 19, 2020 5:38 AM in response to léonie

Hi Leonie,


Your last suggestion has worked. I went into System Preferences >Security and Privacy>Privacy for Photos and found that Photos was not checked. After checking Photos I went back into iMovie and my Albums were there. I will now be able to continue with my iMovie projects. Thanks forall your help and you have succeeded whereas Apple support did not! Thank you very much! Mpoolie

photos and photo albums do not show in iMovie

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