Finder -> Share… -> Add to Photos does nothing

I have a MacBook Pro that has inherited material through Migration Assistant since Mac OS 10.0 Cheetah at least, and maybe earlier. Some OS operations do not work properly on the admin account which has that inheritance, but work fine on a new admin account. One example is:

  • Finder -> Share… -> Add to Photos (and maybe other extensions) where nothing happens at all. It has worked at sometime in the past.

An upgrade from Sequoia to Tahoe this week made no difference.

The problem may be inherited software or something else completely. I'd appreciate help in finding the cause.

Machine: MacBook Pro 14 inch Nov 2023 with M3.

OS: Tahoe 26.2 .



MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 26.2

Posted on Dec 24, 2025 8:09 AM

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4 replies

Dec 24, 2025 8:28 AM in response to curious-one

That does work for me. However, I used it for the first time just now. I add pictures from Finder by dragging them to the Photos Icon. Or, I make and name a new album in Photos and drag the picture files directly to that album. Sometimes I actually use File>Import, especially if I want to preserve folder organization. To me, Share seems sort of awkward in comparison.


In any case, to narrow things down, try these steps:

  • Restart the computer (of course)
  • Re-start in Safe Mode. This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes, and it often helps. Safe Mode is different for different computers, so see this: 

           Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support 

  • Use another library if you have one, or make a small test Library with a few pictures in it and see if the same thing happens. You can create a new Library by closing Photos and then option-clicking on the Photos icon.
  • Make a new user and see if the same problem recurs with it.  This is a bit harder, because a new user can't access a different user's stuff. You would need to temporarily move your Library out of your own user's Pictuers folder up to the general "Users" folder. 
  • Rebuild your Photos Library--close Photos and re-launch by option-command-clicking the app icon. If you use iCloud Photos, it’s possible that this will cause a re-sync that lasts long enough to make you nervous.


The idea is to find out if the problem is with the Library, with your account, or with caches and login items, and stuff like that. One of these steps may fix the problem, but their failure to work also helps figure out what's happening.


Let us know what happens…

Dec 24, 2025 9:58 AM in response to curious-one

Have you checked, if if you have set up a System Photos Library in the account, where the "Share > Add to Photos" is not working? "Add to Photos" will try to add the selected photos to the System Photos Library, not necessarily theist library you have opened in Photos.

If you have more than one Photos Library in that account check all Photos Libraries for the photos you have just shared from the Finder. Make sure, that the library where you want the photos to be saved to has been enabled as the System Photos Library, in the Photos > Settings > General tab, when this tis library is open in Photos.


Dec 25, 2025 1:45 AM in response to curious-one

You're welcome, curious-one. It is great, that it is now working again.

The System photo Library has been around, since Photos has been released. But usually we have not to worry about it. Photos will create a new library, when we first launch it on a new Mac and make it the System Photo Library automatically. But this will not happen, when we are moving libraries between user accounts or copying between devices, because we may not want to switch the system library, every time we are switching between libraries. It is an expensive operation, because the System Photo Library is very special. It is the only library that is visible in the Media browser and can be accessed by other apps. And it is the only library that can sync with iCloud Photos. See the paragraph "Designate a library as the System Photo Library" here: Create additional photo libraries in Photos on Mac – Apple Support (UK) - Apple wrote: "consider carefully before changing your System Photo Library."




Finder -> Share… -> Add to Photos does nothing

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