Photos App Problems

[djh80]

Is anyone having these problems when using Photos on an iMac...after importing new photos from an iPhone or my Canon 90D camera when I try to share them by email or iMessage, or try to drag one to my desktop or try to print them on my Epson photo printer an error message pops up that I need internet connection. This is random and does not occur on every photo. I've tried twice in the past year to enlist Apple Support to fix this software problem and they have said both times, they can't determine what is causing the problem and that they will be "studying" to find a fix. This response just came yesterday after spending hours on the phone with an advisor who was trying to help but was not an engineer. This is extremely frustrating because there is no pattern to determine which photos will behave in this manner and which ones are ok for sharing, printing or moving to desktop. The alert popup reads as follows:
"Internet connection Required:
An internet connection is required to download a larger version of this item for printing"
Any feed back on this would be very much appreciated. Thank you

 

[gilby101]

Is your Internet connection active?
Do you use iCloud for your Photos?
If No and Yes: Your Mac only has a low quality compressed copy of the photo and needs to download the full photo from iCloud.

If not that, then how do you import your photos from each of iPhone and camera?

 

[djh80]

Thanks for responding glibly 101. Internet connection is active...no problem there. I do not use iCloud for Photos but use a 5TB external hard drive to import all of my photos from my iPhone or my Canon 90D camera. Been doing that for years so as to not tie up storage on my iMac internal hard drive. Photos has been working fine on the external hard drive until these problems surfaced recently.

I import directly from my iPhone via the cord to the lightning jack on the back of the iMac or from my Camera flash drive inserted in to the lightning jack on the back of my iMac directly into Photos on the external hard drive which is connected to my iMac and is my chosen "library". Sorry, but I am 80 years old and not very tech savvy, so I may have explained this procedure that I follow terribly.

Do you think if I started to use iCloud that this problem may resolve itself/. The Apple support person that was helping me on this, didn't think that using or not using iCloud was causing the problems.

Thanks for your help on this

 

[gilby101]

Do you think if I started to use iCloud that this problem may resolve itself/. The Apple support person that was helping me on this, didn't think that using or not using iCloud was causing the problems.

You have been using Photos without iCloud for years. Don't change that - it would just introduce new complications.

Web search suggests that you are not alone in this, though I could not find any mention of the fix for it. A useful suggestion (also non-iCloud) is in https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254782926 which is suggesting a corruption in the photo library.

Here is the Apple discussions reply:

Just to be sure, In Photos>Preferences>iCloud is "iCloud Photos" un-checked? How about Photos>Preferences>General>Importing-- have you checked "Copy Items?"

If both are "yes," it may be that the Photos database has lost some connections. Try rebuilding your Photos Library by closing Photos and then command-option-clicking the Photos icon. This will bring up a dialog (sometimes hidden behind other windows) offering to repair the Library. It will take a few minutes.

Or you could try making a new user to see if the same problem recurs with it.

Or use another library if you have one, or make a small test Library with a few pictures in it and see if the same thing happens.

You should try re-starting your computer in Safe Mode. This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes. Safe Mode is different for different computers.

The idea is to find out if the problem is with the Library, with your account, or with caches and login items, and stuff like that. One of these steps may fix the problem, but their failure to work is also diagnostic.

Before doing anything, make a copy of the library and keep it safe. Just in case you make things worse. Then:

Try repairing the Photos library with the command-option-clicking.
If that doesn't help try a new small library with a few photos.
Also try using another user and then safe mode.

Let us know how you go.

ps. I have recently joined the octogenarians club.

 

[NoBoMac]

which is suggesting a corruption in the photo library

Or not... sorta?

Wonder if might be related to how Photos has changed over the years. A fair amount of edits/changes are stored in a database and not on the photo, so dragging to desktop might be "breaking" the connection.

Guess on my part. I'm a select and export guy for archive and or sharing purposes. Have not printed a photo on a printer in ages.

And: apologies if I missed it, but, what version of OS?

 

[djh80]

OS is Tahoe 26.4.1. Thanks for all of the suggestions but none of them work. I've tried to repair the library to no avail. I can't even export these files anywhere as the prompts come up that I need an internet connection or that the the export failed to create a file. My frustration is overwhelming at this point. The issue of whether or not my photo library was corrupted when this same problem occurred over a year ago prompted me to buy a new 5TB SST hard drive and start a new library of photos in Jan. 2026. Now this new one is behaving just like the old library. I do believe the issue is imbedded in the Photos software and the Apple engineers are just ignoring trying to fix it.

 

[NoBoMac]

Sure sounds like iCloud Photos IS on and you are trying to print smaller/optimized file vs original size.

Optimize storage in Photos on Mac

In Photos on your Mac, set iCloud Photos to optimize storage space on your Mac.

support.apple.com

I too keep Photos library on an external drive and have never run into this, so at a loss right now as can't think of anything that would need internet in Photos other than iCloud Photos.

 

[gilby101]

I too keep Photos library on an external drive and have never run into this, so at a loss right now as can't think of anything that would need internet in Photos other than iCloud Photos.

I also am at a loss, but a web search shows that this is not a new problem. Just rare and without (as far I can find) a solution.

 

[NoBoMac]

OP can maybe sign into iCloud (icloud.com) and look under Photos if anything is hiding in there. Maybe at some point turned it on and then off shortly after, hence messing up things with internal Mac Photos databases, "virtual" files.

 

[djh80]

Thank you NoBMac and gilby101. I just wanted to close the loop on this issue. While the Apple engineers don't apparently have a fix anytime soon on this Photo App glitch, I was able to find out today from a very astute Apple support, senior advisor that I'm not the only one that has been experiencing this, and he was confident that at some point in time in the future, the Apple engineers will be issuing a Software Update that may take care of this problem. In the meantime, this great senior advisor gave me a workaround to be able to take these photos that will not text, Email, allow prints or drag to my desktop. It's a very simple procedure to just simply take a screenshot of the particular photo and then re-import back into my photo library on my hard drive and then edit it as necessary. The file then that is produced is able to be shared by text or email and I can also print. So in the interim till the fix is secured for the software glitch, I can continue with normal processing of all my photos. YAY!! so I will not be rejoining this thread until I hear back from Apple that they will be issuing a software update for this Photo App problem. Thanks again for all your help. djh80