Sharing Photos from Mac to external source (eg., Facebook, Shutterfly, 3rd party photo vendor)

Hello


In my Photos app, I have created various photo albums to best sort and organize, as follows:

[Year]\ [name of event, eg., Christmas 2025]


When working in Photos, this album structure allows me to easily find all albums. When in Apple Mail, and if trying to send photos, I can easily find the albums and attach the photos desired.


However, when working through Safari and with a 3rd party such as Facebook or Shutterfuly, when I browse to find the Photo Album that I want specifically, rather than seeing a list of Albums, instead I only have access to all my (thousands!) of photos. This was not always the case and I am not sure if the change is as a result of an OS update in the last year?


In my Finder window, I have "Pictures" which will only point to the Photos library and I have Photos which as noted above, displays every photo in my Photos app, not allowing album selection.


The only workaround that I could find was to export the Album wanted and then through the 3rd party, navigate to that specific folder and upload the photos. When working on a photo book for significant (albumed) events over a year, this process seems tedious.


Any help is appreciated.

Thank you,

MacBook Air 15″, macOS 15.6

Posted on Nov 1, 2025 2:43 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 2, 2025 8:06 AM

Yep-- this has been a problem since macOS 13 Ventura, and no one knows why it doesn't get fixed. Until it does, I do one of three things:

  1. I use the search filed in Safari. I have attached keywords, titles, and captions to my pictures that have clues about the contents, so the Search Field may find them. Search also works for categories that Photos recognizes, like cat or church or river, etc, to help narrow down the hunt.
  2. I prep the pictures for a search, like #1. I may select them all in Photos ahead of time and add a keyword like "TheseHere" so I can get them on a search.
  3. I select the pictures in Photos and export them to a Finder folder. Then I point the "File Picker" in Safari to that album. 


Also, I have left feedback about this for Apple, here:

Feedback - Photos - Apple


2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 2, 2025 8:06 AM in response to mirkymirk

Yep-- this has been a problem since macOS 13 Ventura, and no one knows why it doesn't get fixed. Until it does, I do one of three things:

  1. I use the search filed in Safari. I have attached keywords, titles, and captions to my pictures that have clues about the contents, so the Search Field may find them. Search also works for categories that Photos recognizes, like cat or church or river, etc, to help narrow down the hunt.
  2. I prep the pictures for a search, like #1. I may select them all in Photos ahead of time and add a keyword like "TheseHere" so I can get them on a search.
  3. I select the pictures in Photos and export them to a Finder folder. Then I point the "File Picker" in Safari to that album. 


Also, I have left feedback about this for Apple, here:

Feedback - Photos - Apple


Sharing Photos from Mac to external source (eg., Facebook, Shutterfly, 3rd party photo vendor)

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