photos revert to original not showing

The option revert to original is not highlighted or showing on my Mac or iPhone. I read that one of the reasons is that the photo is in the cloud and I have to wait for it to be downloaded, but do I have to do something to get it downloaded? because I wait and nothing happens.

MacBook Air (M2, 2023)

Posted on Sep 3, 2023 10:51 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 3, 2023 11:18 PM

Are you using iCloud Photos o your Mac?

To force a download from icloud, double click the thumbnail to view it enlarged.

If nothing happens, check, if something is preventing the download from iCloud.

  • Look, if Apple's cloud service
  • Test, if the photo is still in iCloud at all. Try to find it in Photos on your iCloud webpage at www.icloud.com . Is the photo still there?
  • Check you are having plenty of free cloud storage and local storage on your Mac.
  • Check, if you have antivirus software or a firewall installed, that could be blocking the access to Apple's servers.
  • Check, if your current Photos Library is stored in a supported location. If the library is on an external drive, the drive needs to be formatted and connected as described here: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
  • Check for incompatible image files and video files in your library. These need to be removed and converted to a more compatible format. If there is a status message in the status bar indicating "Unable to upload" or "On your Mac only", try to identify the problematic items. See: Check the status of your library in Photos for macOS - Apple Support



7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 3, 2023 11:18 PM in response to lovechispa

Are you using iCloud Photos o your Mac?

To force a download from icloud, double click the thumbnail to view it enlarged.

If nothing happens, check, if something is preventing the download from iCloud.

  • Look, if Apple's cloud service
  • Test, if the photo is still in iCloud at all. Try to find it in Photos on your iCloud webpage at www.icloud.com . Is the photo still there?
  • Check you are having plenty of free cloud storage and local storage on your Mac.
  • Check, if you have antivirus software or a firewall installed, that could be blocking the access to Apple's servers.
  • Check, if your current Photos Library is stored in a supported location. If the library is on an external drive, the drive needs to be formatted and connected as described here: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
  • Check for incompatible image files and video files in your library. These need to be removed and converted to a more compatible format. If there is a status message in the status bar indicating "Unable to upload" or "On your Mac only", try to identify the problematic items. See: Check the status of your library in Photos for macOS - Apple Support



Sep 3, 2023 11:53 PM in response to léonie

Many thanks for your answer.

I have checked all your suggestions but nothing worked for me.

  • I am using iCloud Photos on my Mac and my iPhone. I have the same problem in both and with all the photos I previously edited.
  • I already enlarged the thumbnail.
  • I checked the iCloud webpage and the pictures are there.
  • I have around 1 TB available of 2TB in my iCloud.
  • I have 113 GB available of 494 GB on my Mac.
  • The photos library is on my Mac. I have nothing on an external drive.
  • The photos are JPG

Please any other suggestions?


Sep 4, 2023 12:31 AM in response to léonie

Thanks for your suggestions again but they are not working for me.


As for your question about the kind of edits: I cropped and made adjustments to the photos I am trying to revert to original.


In order to check what you mention, now I have tried the following:

  • In an original photo (not edited) I edit it with cropping, filter and adjustments and click done.
  • I quit photos
  • I open photos again and click on edit that photo. I see revert to original is available.
  • I click on revert and photo comes back to original.

Therefore, my conclusion is that "revert to original" works with all cropping, filter and adjustments, but somehow it is not working with the photos I edited a few days ago.


On the other hand, the photo library is not shared.


Sep 4, 2023 12:15 AM in response to lovechispa

What kind of edits do you have applied? "Revert to original" is not available, if you only applied edits with the Crop tool or applied a filter. "Revert to original" is only available, if you have applied adjustment from the "Adjustments" tab in Photos or have used a third-party editor. To revert a cropping or a filter, open the Crop tab or the Filter tab.


Could it be that the edits you want to revert are cropping or filters?


Or is your iCloud Photos Library a shares iCloud Photos Library? I had occasionally problems to revert the shared photos to the original or to apply further edits to them.


Sep 4, 2023 06:29 AM in response to lovechispa

It is behaving differently on my Mac. When I use "Revert to Original", the adjustments are reverted, but the cropping persists. We may have different system versions installed.


Can you export the photos, where "Revert to original" is not available? If you have not yet tested it, Try to use "File > Export > Export unmodified original".

Can Photos export the original or can Photos not access it at all?


This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

photos revert to original not showing

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