Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Cannot access Photos file directly


Recommended Posts

I have about 20K pictures in my Photos file. I can access Affinity when I am editing an individual picture in Photos.

However, if I open Affinity directly and go to File-Open my 20K Photos file does not appear.

Yesterday I contacted Apple and they entered my computer and they tried several things but could not correct the problem and suggested that I contact you. The problem existed when I had the High Sierra operating system and continues now that I have Mojave. 

I bought Affinity in the Apple Store about 2 years ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, v_kyr said:

See Where Photos Files Are Stored on Mac and similar articles.

Note this from that article:

Quote

This package folder is not intended to be user-facing which is why it is hidden, nonetheless you can access your files directly if you so desire.

There is a good reason the contents of the Photos Library.photoslibrary package is hidden: Apple warns that modifying its contents directly can damage the databases & other support files Apple Photos needs to function correctly, which in extreme cases can cause unrecoverable loss of photos stored in it. If you must access the contents directly (& see below for why that rarely is necessary) as the article mentions, you should copy files from it to some other location outside the Photos Library if you wish to edit them, & work directly only on those copies.

As @v_kyr mentioned, instead of copying you can use the Media item in the sidebar to open one or more photos from your Photos Library (or your iPhoto or Photo Booth libraries if you still have them) in your Affinity app (or any other app that supports the Media sidebar category). Each photo will open in its own tab or window so you can edit it. However, the "Save" option will be greyed out (to prevent damage to the library) but "Save as" won't be so you can save it to some other location & if desired import that back into the Photos library as a new photo.

Much simpler is to use the extensions provided with Affinity Photo to either edit your Photos Library photos directly from within Apple Photos or the 'Edit in' extension to send the photo to Affinity Photo for more extensive editing, where "Save" will send the photo back to Apple Photos where you can either accept or decline to save the edited version to the library.

Using a third party extension never overwrite anything in the 'Masters' folder. Instead, the library's resources, databases, search indexes, etc. are updated so that you see the edited version in Apple Photos instead of the original master version. Photos treats all edits, whether done with its editing tools or with third party extensions, the same: there is just one level of 'undo' in the app after a photo is edited, that being to discard all edits & revert to the original.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.