Hi,
How do I recover photos that I deleted in Photos on my MacBook Pro? I am using MacOS Big Sur 11.1.
It used to be easy because in there was a a Trash or Recently Deleted folder that I would just click on and all my deleted pictures were there for a finite period of time. That option is no longer there (or, at least, I can't find it) and the undo button is greyed out.
Hope someone can help. Thank you!
MacBook Pro with Touch Bar
No, it is the same functionality in Catalina.
In an album, the default is remove from album. To actually delete the image, you need to hold the cmd key down as well.
Or you can delete as normal in the library views, without the CMD key.
No, it is the same functionality in Catalina.
In an album, the default is remove from album. To actually delete the image, you need to hold the cmd key down as well.
Or you can delete as normal in the library views, without the CMD key.
Thank you for your reply FoxFifth.
That is not listed in the sidebar for me! (It used to be). It is not empty - I just deleted 5 or 6 items to try again and included the screenshot of what I have ('recently deleted' is not there). Any way to get it to appear?
Hi,
That is a good question! How can I tell?
The way I've always done it is by highlighting the picture and clicking the 'delete' button. In the past that worked and it would delete the photo and then it would show up in the side bar under 'recently deleted'. That has not been happening for quite a long time (since I haven't had the 'recently deleted' folder in the side bar) so has that changed? If I hit the 'delete' button does it now only remove it from the album? I looked to see if there were options to 'move to trash' and I don't see that. Usually, to remove it only from the album (not deleting it), I go under image and then select 'remove from album' which works fine. Can you clarify how to delete a photo (if, in fact, the 'delete button' does not delete it)? Thank you!
The delete function has been removed from the drop down menu. However, if you hold down the CMD key and select Image in the menu bar you will see the last item changes from 'Remove from album' to 'Delete Photo'.
I think the functionality changed under Big Sur.
Yes! The functionality seems to have changed and I have been unknowingly removing pictures from the album instead of deleting them as I had intended by using the 'delete button'.
When I use click the command and delete button at the same time it deletes the photo and the side bar now shows the 'Recently Deleted' I had been missing.
Why did they do that???
Thank you all for helping me resolve this issue! I appreciate the help.
Yes, the functionality seems to have switched some time ago but I'm not sure at which version. I just thought they eliminated it!
That is very confusing to have different methods of deleting depending on where you are in Photos - in album view you have to click the 'command' and 'delete' button to delete something and in library view you simply hit the 'delete' button to delete it. I'm glad you told me that.
Thanks again for the help!
I'll have to try that. (I do maintain albums like you)
I thought I had been 'deleting' photos and items for years - but apparently not. Now I'm going to have to re-delete those items properly.
Thanks for the tip!
I think the reason - you can have one photo in multiple albums. If the default was to delete the image, then it would also be deleted from all the other albums. This might not be what was intended.
If you want to delete from the library (remove the image completely) - then veiw it and delete it from the library.
If you are interested in the album, then view it from there, but accept that the default will be to only remove it from there, not delete it from the library.
Recently Deleted should be at the bottom of the Library section of the sidebar in Photos. See screenshot below. It may not appear if it is empty.
Hi
Where are you deleting the items from. If deleteing from an album, are you sure you are not just removing them from the album, leaving them still in the library?
If you are using a laptop, the 'delete' button is actually a backspace button!
To delete a photo you need to press CMD-Backspace.
If you are like me and maintain albums for all of your photos then you can create a smart album with rule 'album is not any' and it will show you all the photos you thought you had deleted!
Got it.
Now, I need to break my old habits and remember how to properly delete vs remove from album.
Thanks!
How do I recover a photo deleted in Photos on my MacBook Pro?
