How do I select different Libraries in Photos 5, Mac OS 10.15.4

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How do I select different Libraries in Photos 5, Mac OS 10.15.4

How do I select different Libraries in Photos 5, Mac OS 10.15.4?

I am in the process of migrating from a 2012 Mac Pro (OS 10.13.6) to a 2019 Mac Pro (OS 10.15.4). Upon launching Photos for the first time, I had to "steer" the application to the location of one of my Library's. After a long conversion process, there it was. OK fine, then.....

Holding down the option key, I launched Photos again and steered it to another Library, that worked also. In my previous version of Photos if I held down the option key and launched Photos it would let me select from my various Library's. This no longer works. Now when I hold down the option key and launch Photos, It ONLY "knows" about the last Library I used. If I want to see a previous Library I must go through the search process again to tell Photos where that library is located even though I used that same Library only 10 minutes ago.

In other words, when you get the window caused by holding down the option key at start up it's not remembering recently located Library's, only the most recent one.

Posted on May 24, 2020 2:11 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

210,615 points

May 24, 2020 2:34 PM in response to Ziatron

It should show you every library that's on your hard drive or any attached external HDs.

Boot into Safe Mode (How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support) by booting with the Shift key held down and check there to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing some system cache cleaning, volume verifying and directory repairing.

If it's still not working correctly log into another user account, Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac, and see if the problem persists (this tells us if the problem is limited to your user account or is system wide).

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Answer 2

Ziatron Author

Level 5

4,193 points

May 24, 2020 6:27 PM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad,

I think I have it fixed. I want to tell you about my solution to see if it seems to make sense to you. Please let me know what you think.

Inside of Apples Pictures folder I had another folder called "Photos Libraries", that folder contained all of my Library's.

I have now moved my Libraries out of my "Photos Libraries" folder and put them directly into the Apples Pictures folder.

When I hold down the option key on start up all of my Library's are now there! I still need to go through and update many of my library's but it's good to have things working again. I wonder if Apple has gotten more particular about where the Library's go?

I have other pictures unrelated to Apple's Photos app. I keep them in a folder in Apples Pictures folder, called "NOT Photos App". Does this seem reasonable to you?

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Answer 3

Ziatron Author

Level 5

4,193 points

May 24, 2020 3:14 PM in response to Old Toad

I'm not sure my Mac Pro booted into safe mode. I've done this procedure in the past, it's not hard. I tried using the wireless keyboard that the Mac Pro came with, as well as a wired Apple keyboard. In both cases, I never saw "Safe Mode" shown on the screen.

When I booted with the shift key held down, I had to enter my computer password twice. I tried Photos again, it still has the same problem. Also, in my attempt at booting into "Safe mode", I noticed that my microphone no longer functioned for dictation purposes. Booting normally restored the microphones function.

I read that a Mac can have a firmware passcode that can prevent safe mode from functioning. Never heard of this before I researched today.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/342974/mac-sierra-not-able-to-start-in-safe-mode

Do you think I actually booted into Safe Mode or not? The boot-up time was about a normal.

I guess Apple has eliminated the familiar start up chime?

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Answer 4

Ziatron Author

Level 5

4,193 points

May 24, 2020 3:53 PM in response to Old Toad

Yes, I was going into Safe Mode. (In past Mac's the safe mode notification was more noticeable.)

In Safe Mode or a normal boot, The "Choose Library" window is still only showing the most recent Library that I manually steered to as a choice.

My Photos Library's are located as follows:

Home folder / Pictures / Photos Librarys

ALL of my Library's (about 10) are in the same folder on my start up hard drive.

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Answer 5

Old Toad

Level 10

210,615 points

May 24, 2020 3:21 PM in response to Ziatron

This is like what you should see in the Safe Mode login screen:

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

210,615 points

May 25, 2020 8:43 AM in response to Ziatron

That should work fine.

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How do I select different Libraries in Photos 5, Mac OS 10.15.4

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