Importing Photos library on an external drive using iMovie

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Importing Photos library on an external drive using iMovie

Hello folks. I am unable to import my Photos Library stored on an external drive. I'm running Sonoma 14.6.1, iMovie 10.4.3, and Photos 9.0.

From searching the archives I have checked the following:

External drive is formatted MAC OS Extended (Journaled)

I have set the external drive as the System Photo Library.

iMovie has full access to Photos.

However when I try to import the library, the library is greyed out.

Any thoughts? Thanks for any help in advance.

[Re-Titled By Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 14.6

Posted on Jan 28, 2025 7:33 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Feb 5, 2025 8:39 AM in response to invisiblehand

Hi,

You can import Photos library media into iMovie, but you cannot import the Photos library itself into iMovie, which is what you would be doing when trying to import into "Project Media".

Go into the Photos app General preferences and confirm that the library has been designated as the System Photos Library. If it is the system Photos library, the you can access its contents from the Photos library item in the iMovie project side bar.

Alternatively, you can File/Export photos and videos from the Photos app to your desktop, and from there drag them into iMovie.

-- Rich

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Importing Photos library on an external drive using iMovie

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