Media browser showing only one Photo album in macOS Monterrey 12.6.1

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Level 1

87 points

Media browser showing only one Photo album in macOS Monterrey 12.6.1

Every time I try to upload a photo to a website, the macOS media browser shows me photos from only one album and it does not show the other albums—redacted screenshot of Finder > Media > Photos below.

The "Pictures" tab in the sidebar is unhelpful because it does not allow me to see inside my Photos library—redacted screenshot of Finder > Favorites > Pictures below.

The posts from 2015-2021 about this (either lead to pages that Apple Support pages that do not exist (404 errors) or else suggestions that do not apply (e.g., "use as system photo library" is greyed out in Photo Preferences).

Curiously, the media browser shows my albums in the Photos library when I select the "Movies" tab—redacted screenshot of Finder > Media > Movies below.

So the media browser seems to have the access it needs, but something about the "Photos" tab is not showing what it can access.

How can I access my other photo albums from the media browser if I cannot even see (and therefore cannot select) the other albums?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Dec 10, 2022 8:43 AM

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Answer 1

xser Author

Level 1

87 points

Jan 24, 2023 7:18 AM in response to PRP_53

Unfortunately, neither (1) updating to Ventura13.2 nor (2) the alleged solutions on similar posts are working. Latest screenshot from Safari below.

(Curiously, now I cannot even scroll on this website when I click "Reply" to your comment. I had to use Firefox to post this. Safari wouldn't work. And, for what it's worth, I get the same issue when trying to upload photos from Firefox—although from the Firefox upload window, both "Music" and "Movies" show up under "Media" in the sidebar (unlike in Safari), and both of those media browsers show the folder/album selection window pane above the file selector pane. Firefox screenshots below.)

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Answer 2

PRP_53

Level 10

90,937 points

Jan 24, 2023 7:22 AM in response to xser

1 - Restart in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.

2 - Safe Mode will also eliminate Third Party Software, extensions and drivers from loading. It will only load the Minimum amount of Core Apple Processes to allow the the computer to function at a reduced Level of Performance

3 - Does the issue present in this mode ?

4 - Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.

Still issues >>>

5 - If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up. To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.

6 - If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.

Still have the same issues >>>>>

7 - Download the Application Etrecheck directly from the Developer.

This is a Diagnostic Tool that makes no changes to the computer.

It makes a coherent and readable inventory of both the Hardware and Software used on the computer

The application is free or paid from added features.

The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information.

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Answer 3

PRP_53

Level 10

90,937 points

Jan 24, 2023 2:34 AM in response to xser

Q - " Update 1: Installing macOS Monterrey 13.0.1 (22A400) didn't resolve the issue.

A - Heads up, Apple released Ventura 13.2 Monday Jan 23, 2023

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support (CA)

About the security content of macOS Ventura 13.2 - Apple Support

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Answer 4

xser Author

Level 1

87 points

Jan 24, 2023 9:04 AM in response to PRP_53

Thanks for these troubleshooting tips @P.Phillips. Results below.

(1-3) Reproduced the issue in Safe mode.

(4) Reproduced the issue after restarting (not in Safe mode).

(5-6) Reproduced the issue in the dummy account. Screenshot below (annotated on separate device to which the screenshot was AirDropped).

(Note: I did realize this time that in all my screenshots, the tops of photo thumbnails are cut off, indicating the the album window pane may exist, but be out of view. I cannot expand the window tall enough to see it, even when I reorient my display to portrait instead of landscape—the tops of the photos/thumbnails remain cut off no matter how tall I make the upload/file browser pop-up window).

(7) Etrecheck found nothing related to Safari or Photos. Just some unrelated stuff from Microsoft and from the company software on this device.

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Answer 5

khai8888

Level 1

8 points

Jan 24, 2023 7:51 AM in response to xser

Also confirming Ventura 13.2 does not fix the problem. I'm starting to understand what's happening and it's going to result in Apple saying it's a "feature, not a bug." They want us to all to use the search field to find the photo we're looking for. Type in what you want to filter out your photos. That's all fine and dandy, but I really wish Apple would have provided a way to opt-out of this or an option to choose the old multi-album media browser for photos. The worse part is that keyboard navigation does not work in the photo browser (although to be fair, I'm not sure if it worked before, but I'm pretty sure it did).

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