No utilities or duplicate version in Photos app on MacBook Air

Old Toad wrote: See if you and see Utilities/Duplicates in the View ➙ Collections menu.

I hadn't thought of that! But this is Sonoma-- was there even a Utilities section in Sonoma?

So, I apologize, again, cweil! We have been talking about different things! I found this:

which is either Sonoma or Ventura. Everything is in "Photos," and there is no Utilities section.

So the significant point is that the Duplicates view does not appear in the "Photos" section in the Sonoma sidebar if Photos has not found any duplicates.

See if you and see Utilities/Duplicates in the View ➙ Collections menu.

If not give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

The Duplicates folder does not appear in the Photos app if there are no true duplicates detected. A true duplicate is a second copy of the exact same image. That will include image duplicates that may differ in resolution.

Remove duplicate photos and videos on Mac - Apple Support

If you don't see the Duplicates folder in the Photos sidebar, then one can assume there are no true duplicates in the library. However, depending on the size of your library, duplicates may take some time to appear as Photos analyses your photos

Photos taken in quick succession or photos taken in a burst on the iPhone may not be identified as duplicates because those may have small differences in the image that expose them as unique images.

If you are trying to rid your library of very similar photos, then you will have to do that manually. That's probably the best way to deal with that situation.

Regarding the guidance you got about a Utilities folder: the only Utilities folder that I'm aware of on the Mac by default is located at /Applications/Utilities.

cweil wrote: … look at a duplicates folder in sidebar which does not exist.

The Duplicates view is indeed in the Utilities folder in Photos' sidebar. Your signature indicates you're using the Sonoma OS. The newer Sequoia looks a bit different, so I went searching for a Sonoma screenshot-- if this isn't Sonoma, it's close:

The Duplicates view appears only after Photos finds duplicates. This can take a week or more of scanning. In order to preserve battery life and to not interfere with your work, Photos doesn't do much scanning unless it is plugged in and not being used.

In "Duplicates," Photos shows pictures that are either exact or very similar-- "similar" is why you need to be very careful about deleting or merging them. Here's an example of two pictures that Photos offers to merge

but which are clearly not exact duplicates, and I want to keep them both. The pictures I used at the top are also not exact duplicates--they look the same and have the same titles, but one is higher resolution than the other.

If you want a second opinion in finding duplicates, you can use a 3rd Party app like PhotoSweeper ($15) which works quite well. PowerPhotos ($30) is a versatile Photos accessory app that includes a duplicate finder.

Be very careful about using other 3rd party apps that "Clean" or "remove duplicates." Lots of problems, including corrupted Photos Libraries, have been reported after using some of these.

Do you see any items below the Utilities listing in the sidebar? If not look for the arrow next to Utilities.

Click on it and the contents of the Utilities section will be shown.

Then, as D.L. Johnson pointed out, the Duplicate album won't show unless Photos has found a duplicate.

If the Photos app has not identified any duplicate pics, then the Duplicates action will not be displayed in your sidebar.

Richard.Taylor wrote:

Old Toad wrote: See if you and see Utilities/Duplicates in the View ➙ Collections menu.

I hadn't thought of that! But this is Sonoma-- was there even a Utilities section in Sonoma?

It was there in Ventura so I'm assuming there was there in Sonoma also.

Maybe we're talking about different things. Include a screenshot to help us out…