iCloud Photos Folder Slow Performance

I have about 14,000 photos and videos on my iCloud library (38GB), and the slow performance of the PC (Win 10) iCloud photos folder has been driving me nuts for years! Every time you open the folder, the green bar at the top address bar / path moves slowly toward the right while Explorer is processing the folder, until after about a minute the images sort by "Date modified" like I wanted.

And that was the problem! At some point I had chosen to Sort by -> Date modified. How dare I sort a folder! If I go back to Sort by -> Name (right click on empty background/white of the iCloud photos folder, Sort By -> Name, and Descending) the folder works instantly! Lucky for us, the name (Descending) will put the latest photos on your "Photo Reel" to the top of the folder, which is what I wanted anyway, but no more sorting by ACTUAL date stupid Windows peasant (me)!

it seems icloud is a slow nightmare. Had a crazy busy summer and fall- then traveled for a month. Before i left had iphone upload to cloud, which leaves "smaller files" on the iphone and full images in the cloud, so I'd have max iphone storage with spotty or no internet while traveling.

After I returned to US, switched my iphone to back up to icloud so photos would be backed up- MY PC was getting new hard drives. I take a LOT of photos, and hate to try to edit on tiny iphone screen-

Now trying to download full images from the cloud to save on my PC. It is taking hours to get even 100 photos downloaded via my broadband. Has anyone figured out to make this less painful and slow?

Am I correct that downloading directly from my iphone to PC would only give me the compressed versions?

thanks!

Hello, I have the same issue. The problem is when many photos are selected for "offline" download. Support, nobody helped me with that. In case that only hundreds of photos are selected, sync speed is fast. Apple, please support Windows users as this issue is here for many years. Thank you.

I have the same issue. 11,000 photos in my library, and I am trying to use "Always keep on this device".

iCloud Photo Library task churns 20-40% CPU, downloading one photo every 15-30 minutes, with Windows Explorer responding very sluggishly.

Mind bendingly slow indeed.

Apple does not seem to care about this issue - it has behaved this way for years as near as I can tell.

I have an high end PC with Windows 11 and plenty of storage tons of memory and awesome internet service. I also have 79,000 photos and videos in iCloud photos.

Opening iCloud Photos with Windows explorer takes 15 minutes up to hours to load and sort by date. Most of that time Windows explorer is hung.

After it eventually comes back, I often cannot open or copy even 1 file at a time. It times out and throws an error. Sometimes it works for the first few and then hangs intermittently after that, or sometimes every time after. It's getting worse over time.

I'd really like to be able to make a copy of all my iCloud Photos that is separate from Apple, one a disk I own, or maybe to another cloud storage provider. (Just in case someone in my family deletes something on iCloud by mistake.) That's my end goal, but not close to achieving it.

Try this one (automatic destinations) and please let us know. Thanks.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/help-with-windows-file-explorer-constantly/09323e30-f7a6-40d1-9132-baa3ed796f38

Hi Caesium78,

We recommend reviewing your settings to ensure your photos are download. Keep File Explorer open during this process as closing it may stop any ongoing downloads: Set up and use iCloud Photos on your Windows PC - Apple Support

In iCloud for Windows 11.1 or later

New photos and videos you add to iCloud Photos are shown on your PC automatically. To download the file from iCloud when you view it, double-click its thumbnail. You can also keep your photos downloaded on your PC with these steps: 

1. Open File Explorer.

2. In the Navigation pane, click iCloud Photos. 

3. Select the images you want to keep on your PC.

4. Right-click the selection and choose "Always keep on this device."

If you change a photo or video on another device or on iCloud.com, it updates automatically on your PC. 

In older versions of iCloud for Windows

New photos and videos you add to iCloud Photos will automatically download to your PC. You can also download older photos and videos with these steps: 

1. Open File Explorer.

2. Click iCloud Photos in the Navigation pane. If you don’t see iCloud Photos, click Pictures in the Navigation pane, then double-click iCloud Photos.

3. Click the Notification area in the taskbar, then click Download Photos in the iCloud Photos notification. Choose the photos and videos you want to download by year.

Your photos and videos download to the location you set in iCloud Photos Options.

Regards.

I can not even get iCloud to download a simple,iPad created, empty folder to my PC. I am really questioning why I use iCloud

elipitbull, I have the exact same problem! Sure hoping to hear some advice that can fix this!!