Photos - Can't figure out how to turn off iCloud or ensure that I have all originals on my mac.

[punkwood]

I'm am trying to turn off iCloud syncing and ensure that all of my photos are local and that they are the originals. Attached are my current settings (on 12.7.6). The first is from the photos app, the second is from the system settings, the third is a banner showing at the top of the photos section of icloud.com (it seems there are too many places that icloud is options are scattered about, it is confusing). Lastly is the email I received after turning syncing off in iCloud.com

Now, looking at my photos app, it seems my full library is in there. But are they originals? Or, as this email I received implies, do I need to download my photos from the cloud now? The email seems to be specific to downloading the photos to iOS devices though, which I don't intend to do. If not, are the ones in my photos app the originals? And how do I know?

I don't want to wake up 29 days from now to a photo library lost. Any assistance would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Madonepro]

I would turn iCloud back on, select download originals, and leave it at that. If you don't want to use iCloud, once you have selected download originals, open up the Photos App, go to Library, then select All Photos on the title bar, the command A, and drag to a folder, maybe call it Photo's, and once all the photos have been copied over, have a look to ensure they are the originals. You can then put that folder wherever you like.

If you actually want to use the photos app, I would do the first suggestion above.

It's highly likely you have exceeded the 'data allowance' that you have. So if you know you have not paid any extra for iCloud, it's quite probable, you have exceed the free 5GB amount with that volume of photos and videos.

 

[punkwood]

Thank you. Some clarifying questions:

I would turn iCloud back on

Do you mean turn iCloud back on in the photos app? Or also in my system settings and in icloud.com?

select download originals, and leave it at that.

Once I select this, will I see it downloading originals, or will it seem as if nothing happened?

If you actually want to use the photos app, I would do the first suggestion above.

I would like to continue using the photos app. So by the first suggestion do you mean just turn iCloud on, select download originals and leave it at that? I am not sure how I want to use iCloud at the moment, I just know that I want to start fresh and know that what I have on my harddrive is all of my originals, and not have to wonder about what is or isn't in the cloud. Then I have a ton of photo rearranging to do. Once all is clean and the way I want it, I may then start using iCloud again to sync them. But at the moment I am unsure what versions of what photos are where.

It's highly likely you have exceeded the 'data allowance' that you have. So if you know you have not paid any extra for iCloud, it's quite probable, you have exceed the free 5GB amount with that volume of photos and videos.

Where does this come into play? It seems like it shouldn't be relevant for what I initially want to do, which is simply have all of the original versions of photos (with no duplicates of optimized versions) on my HD. Although I do see how this will be relevant if/when I decide to sync again.

I also really do not want my photos to sync to my iPhone, and it seems that syncing must go both ways. I cannot just have photos I take on my phone go to my photos app, the photos app must also go to my phone.

 

[Madonepro]

can I suggest you visit this link.https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/icloud/mm7e90c1ba48/icloud

 

[Brian33]

@punkwood , I understand your concern! I would be wondering whether I had all the originals, also.

In your Photos.app settings, how long a time period did you have BOTH "iCloud Photos" checked AND "Download Originals to this Mac" selected (turned on)? Minutes? Days? Weeks?

If you were previously using Photos.app setting "Optimize Mac Storage" and then changed it to "Download Originals", then unchecked "iCloud Photos" soon after, I would wonder if there had been enough time for all files to be downloaded. On the other hand, if you had "Download Originals" turned on for weeks before unchecking "iCloud Photos", I would be less concerned (but I'd still wonder...).

I think your question is an important one. There should be a way to know for sure that all originals were downloaded, but I don't know of one.

@Madonepro 's idea of dragging ALL items from the Library view in Photos.app into a folder SHOULD put one file into the folder for each photo or video. You could then verify that the folder contained 9370 photos + 324 videos = 9694 files in total (according to your email). This may take awhile!

To attempt to decide if they were originals or thumbnails, you could sort by size and look at the smallest ones. If some were "significantly" smaller, they might be thumbnails. But I don't really know how small (or large) thumbnail files would be, so again, it's still difficult to know for sure.

(Side note: know that if you drag items from Photos.app into a folder, the folder should contain all the originals, but it will NOT preserve any edits (e.g., cropping, rotating, color adjusting, etc.) that you have done. Thus this isn't a very good backup strategy if you care about your edits. Another way of "getting" all your photos is to use the Photos.app menu item "File-->Export--> and from there you can choose "Export x Photos" to get edited versions, or "Export Unmodified Originals for x Photos" to ignore edits. (I forgot to mention you first need to go to the Library section on the left side, then hit Cmd-A to select All.) You can have them numbered sequentially which may be helpful.)

I'll think about it some more. If I come up with any other ideas, I'll let you know.

 

[Honza1]

I am not sure what is so challenging here...
If you choose iCloud Photos AND check the checkbox "Download originals to this Mac", you will have originals on your Mac. I do.
On iOS the option to have originals or smaller versions is "Optimize iPhone Storage"(smaller) and "Download and keep originals" (originals).
BTW: did you look inside the Photos Library for folder "Originals"? And did you look inside that? These originals, depending what format you have chosen, are either jpg or heic image and if you take live photos, also mov file with the same name.

If you choose iCloud photos on your Mac and iPhone, photos will sync both ways. I have iCloud photos on 2 macs, iPad, and iPhone and, as far as I can say, I have all the same photos everywhere synced relatively quickly. Use it all the time among the devices.
For sensible Photos libraries (I have 65GB) this seems to work fine. Those with much larger ones have bit more of challenge ;-)

 

[punkwood]

I am not sure what is so challenging here...
If you choose iCloud Photos AND check the checkbox "Download originals to this Mac", you will have originals on your Mac. I do.
On iOS the option to have originals or smaller versions is "Optimize iPhone Storage"(smaller) and "Download and keep originals" (originals).
BTW: did you look inside the Photos Library for folder "Originals"? And did you look inside that? These originals, depending what format you have chosen, are either jpg or heic image and if you take live photos, also mov file with the same name.

If you choose iCloud photos on your Mac and iPhone, photos will sync both ways. I have iCloud photos on 2 macs, iPad, and iPhone and, as far as I can say, I have all the same photos everywhere synced relatively quickly. Use it all the time among the devices.
For sensible Photos libraries (I have 65GB) this seems to work fine. Those with much larger ones have bit more of challenge ;-)

Turning everything on and having it all sync up and downloading originals is well and good. lt is all of the confusing messaging that begins to appear when you want to turn it all off, especially as I am unsure how long I had certain options turned off or on for, what is in the cloud and what isn't and so forth.

However, it seems that turning it all on, letting the originals download and starting from there is the way to go. The thing is nothing happens when I choose to download originals, which makes me think I already have them all downloaded.

 

[Honza1]

Turning everything on and having it all sync up and downloading originals is well and good. lt is all of the confusing messaging that begins to appear when you want to turn it all off, especially as I am unsure how long I had certain options turned off or on for, what is in the cloud and what isn't and so forth.

However, it seems that turning it all on, letting the originals download and starting from there is the way to go. The thing is nothing happens when I choose to download originals, which makes me think I already have them all downloaded.

It's likely you have all downloaded. But, sync photos seems to be low priority process and make take serious time. I am not sure if there is any progress bar for it. I would watch the size of the photos library (in Finder) and number of photos (in Photos) and if nothing changes over few hours, assume all is done. Stupid method, but should be reasnably reliable.

 

[punkwood]

Ok so I turned on iCloud on the mac and "download originals to this mac" and it started doing its thing. This is what it looks like currently. This new number has gone up by about 2000 photos, now matching what it shows in icloud.com. It is moving pretty quickly. Odd thing is, icloud.com still has the banner up at the top saying that iCloud photos is turned off. Perhaps that will change once this update is complete? Or is it still considered off because I still have the feature turned off on my phone?

I figure having finished this process I'll at least know I have all originals on the mac, and everything is also stored in iCloud and all is safe.

I am upgrading my computer next month so will wait until doing that to mess with turning iCloud off again. However, it seems that after this process finishes, I should simply be able to turn the feature off and be good to go, with all originals on my mac.

 

[Brian33]

Yes, it looks like it's working. Good!

Odd thing is, icloud.com still has the banner up at the top saying that iCloud photos is turned off. Perhaps that will change once this update is complete? Or is it still considered off because I still have the feature turned off on my phone?

I can't explain that banner message. It could be a bug. Or maybe, as you say, because it's turned off on your phone. Usually people want iCloud Photos turned on for their phone, so that any new photos will get automatically uploaded to iCloud (and then downloaded to your Mac, in your case). Remember on your phone you can turn on iCloud Photos (Settings-->iCloud-->Photos--> turn on "Sync this iPhone") without storing the full-size originals on the phone (same screen, make sure that "Optimize iPhone Storage is checked).

I am upgrading my computer next month so will wait until doing that to mess with turning iCloud off again. However, it seems that after this process finishes, I should simply be able to turn the feature off and be good to go, with all originals on my mac.

Good plan, I think. And yes, once the sync finishes you should have all originals on your current Mac.


When you get your new computer, you might use Migration Assistant (either during setup or later) and I'm pretty sure that it will copy your Photos Library (which will have all originals) and Photos.app settings to your new Mac. It may do some checking with iCloud photos, but no photos will need to be downloaded. This is what I would do.

If for some reason you don't want to use the migration process, you can "manually" copy the "Photos Library.photoslibrary" "file" to the new mac's Pictures folder, and IIRC, double-click it in Finder on the new Mac -- that should set it as Photos' "System Library" and again, it shouldn't need to download all the photos. Check Photos' settings, though, as they will be back to default.

Alternatively, on the new Mac you can sign into iCloud, open Photos settings, turn on iCloud Photos (make sure you have Download Originals enabled), and then Photos will begin downloading your entire library. This will likely take longer than the previous two methods, but it will work.

Enjoy!

 

[punkwood]

Thanks for the response. I will definitely use the migration assistant. Further, the downloads have finished and the message has changed. I clicked manage and now see where photos is turned off, in my account settings (I thought turning it on in the photos app would be enough).

I clicked "turn on..." and the photos app now says "Restoring from iCloud..." so we will see what that does.

Perhaps I should have left it as it was before clicking turn on...

 

[punkwood]

Ok, a few minutes later and I see this. I think this saga is over for now. Thanks to everyone who responded.

 

[punkwood]

The saga continues:

I am going through my library and trying to get all of my albums organized and am finding since doing all of this that many photos in my library are now showing as blurry. When I login to icloud they are the same there as well. These are photos that were not such before.

What could be going on? I have "download originals" enabled on my mac, and my phone has syncing turned off.

Just when I thought I was out...

 

[Brian33]

Oh no! We are assuming that the blurry look is because the original is not downloaded. Unfortunately, that seems likely to be the case. I wonder what happens if you try to “export original“ on that photo?

Given that you have “download originals“ selected on your Mac, could it be that the original is, or was, on the phone, but never got uploaded to iCloud?

I would log into iCloud.com with your Mac (so you have a large screen) and look at one of the “blurry“ photos in iCloud. Try to determine if the original is there online. I believe you can download an individual photo from iCloud; do that and then open it on the Mac to see if it looks full size.

You might also tell whether it is original or thumbnail from the size of the image file. Different photos will have different file sizes, but they will all be bigger than the size of the thumbnails.

Also, I would try to determine if the original was still on your phone, by looking at the image file size.

Hopefully, determining where the originals are will give us a clue about how to get them onto your Mac.