Problem attaching photos in Safari

Nice work, Barb!

You're narrowing this down. This tells us the issue is user specific. It also means you wouldn't need to reinstall the macOS, since the issue is only happening in your user account.

Try removing the app's saved state by relaunching Safari and holding the Shift key on your keyboard. Release the key once the Safari window reappears/opens. This is a simple way to remove an app's previously saved state.

In the browsing window of Safari, if you move your curser inside of the window by the Photos, Favorites, and Shared albums. Can you scroll inside of that? It didn't appear that you could, until we just tested it out a few times, so we wanted to share that with you.

If it continues after this, Contact Apple Support (they'll have your back).

Have a lovely upcoming weekend, cheers.

Hello Kelownagurl,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Based on your post, when you want to browse and attach photos in the Safari app, it only provides a folder. We'll do our best to assist with this.

It sounds like Safari has opened and saved the last location where it accessed photos in a previous session. What options do you see in the browse viewer? Do you see any arrows around the folder option? If so, select the arrow to see if it provides you more access to your documents.

Do you have any issues sharing from other apps? Like this: Use the Share menu on Mac

Let us know for more help, take care!

Hey Kelownagurl,

We'll get to the bottom of this!

Try removing Safari's saved state by quitting Safari and relaunching it while holding the Shift key until it opens up. Test the issue.

If it persists, then we'd isolate if you can accomplish this in safe mode: How to use safe mode on your Mac

Depending on the results in safe mode, use sections, 'If the issue continues in safe mode' and 'If the issue doesn't continue in safe mode'.

Reboot the Mac normally again, then test it out.

Should it continue, then we'll want to test this in another user account on your Mac. If you don't already have another Administrator user account, this explains how to create one: Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac Log in to the newly created user and see if you can reproduce the issue there, then log back into your user. This explains how to delete the user account once testing has been completed: Delete a user or group on Mac

If the issue happens in another user and in safe mode, then you may need to reinstall macOS. Make sure you've got a backup of your data: Back up your Mac Then reinstall your OS: How to reinstall macOS

In case you continue to struggle with this, then we'd recommend to Contact Apple Support

Wishing you the best, take care.

Hi Barb,

You're so welcome for the help!

A few more things to check: Make sure you're attempting to browse within the Media folder > Photos and not within the Pictures folder on your Mac. When you browse in Safari, look in the sidebar of the browsing window and make sure you've selected Media > Photos. Which should open the Photos Library for you to access those folders within it. (We're using Big Sur.)

Could be helpful:

Get help with the Photos app on your Mac Under section, 'If the Media Browser isn't showing your photos and videos'.

In case you have multiple Photo Libraries: Designate a System Photo Library in Photos

Also, if you haven't deleted that other temporary test user yet, you could always download one image and add it to the Photos Library within that user to test it out. That way you won't have to sign in to iCloud to access all your photos. You could simply download any image to test.

We also wanted to explain that reinstalling macOS should be simple process, timing consuming though; depending on your network speed. Reinstalling would only replace the existing macOS files, which is very different from erasing the data and reinstalling.

You've done some awesome troubleshooting here. It might not hurt to make a call and Contact Apple Support for other suggested steps or solutions.

Take care of yourself!

Hi Kelownagurl,

If you don't have any other options, then next we'd check for the Develop menu in the menu bar when in the Safari app. If you have this menu active, make sure file restrictions are set to 'Disable Local File Restrictions'.

In case you don't see this Developer menu, go to Safari menu > Preferences > Advanced and check the 'Show Develop in the menu bar'.

Hoping this solve it for you, cheers.