Photos for Mac - Consolidate not working

Running macOS Ventura 13.3.1; Photos 8.0 (541.0.120)


Trying to consolidate just under 15k pictures.

I select all "Referenced" pictures and do a File/Consolidate.

NOTHING happens. No error messages, no warnings, nothing get consolidated even if I let this run for hours.

Mac mini, macOS 13.3

Posted on Apr 8, 2023 06:41 PM

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5 replies

Apr 9, 2023 01:13 PM in response to Old Toad

Hi Old Toad, thanks for chiming in!


>Are you able to select a photo and use the File ➙ Show Referenced File in Finder menu option?

Yes


>Have you tried doing about 100 photos only?

Initially tried consolidating just under 18 K pictures. A little over 2K pictures were consolidated with no problems. Of the 15k or so remaining referenced ones, I have tried 1 at a time, a few at a time, about 100 at a time, or all at once. None of these approaches work.


>Where are the referenced files located?

All the referenced files are in the ~/Pictures/Originals folder. Within that folder they are in subfolders by:

YYYY/MM/Activity name/yyyy mm Activity name 01.JPG (in sequence augmenting counter no. 02 ... to nn.JPG)


So they are in the same folder ~/Pictures as the "Phots Library" library.


I have used the Apple Mac Photos library repair tool on the library with no issues noted/reported. I have also run external tools on the library to make sure there is not a single referenced picture in the Photos library that does not correctly point to the appropriate file on the "Originals" folder described above.


I even tried installing a copy of the "Originals folder. and a copy of the Apple Mac Photos library on a newly configured MacBook Air I own and I see the same behavior (no pictures get consolidated). For what it's worth my main Mac is an M1 Mac mini and the MacBook Air is an M2.


Apr 10, 2023 10:25 AM in response to 55HDiaz

All the referenced files are in the ~/Pictures/Originals folder. Within that folder they are in subfolders by:
YYYY/MM/Activity name/yyyy mm Activity name 01.JPG (in sequence augmenting counter no. 02 ... to nn.JPG)

Were the referenced image files always in that location or did you move them there from where they were originally?


Did you consolidate the one file you could find in the Finder?


Apr 10, 2023 11:33 AM in response to Old Toad

>Were the referenced image files always in that location or did you move them there from where they were originally?

Years ago, when I was using Apple Aperture, the originals were moved to their current location in the ~/Pictures/Originals folder. When I imported the library into Photos, I had many problems with the application being unable to find the original files. It took me a lot of time and effort to get the Photos library to be able to find every single referenced picture.


I do suspect there may be some inconsistencies at the MySQL database layer that the Photos repair tool has not been able to correct. I have not been able to find any tools that might help me explore this further and I am hesitant to go change anything at the database layer as I'm not familiar with MySQL and don't want to risk totally mucking up the Photos library.


I think the Photos software is being slowly improved over time. A few months ago, on earlier Photos versions, any attempt to consolidate reference pictures into the Photos library resulted in the application crashing. This is no longer happening.


>Did you consolidate the one file you could find in the Finder?

I can find each and every referenced file at this time but have been unable to consolidate any of them.


Apr 10, 2023 12:01 PM in response to 55HDiaz



You might try importing one folder of photos into the library as a "managed" library and see if they are identified as duplicates (you can import them any way) and the see if they are identified as duplicates in the Duplicates folder (it may take a while for the scan to comolete). Then select a pair of duplicates and merge. See if the new file is kept and the metadata is transferred from the old file to the new one. If that happens you import all of the folders again and go thru the same process to move the metadata to the new files.

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Photos for Mac - Consolidate not working

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