The edit button in the Photos app is gray so that I cannot access it. I have updated iOS, restarted, repaired the Photos app, made sure that the file type is compatible (they are all .jpg files), and it is still unavailable to use. How can this be fixed?
Mac mini, macOS 15.3
"You can partition the drive so that Time Machine and the Photos Libraries are on different volumes. But that's a bad idea in the long run-- if the drive dies, you've lost your pictures AND the backup. You backup should be on a separate drive,."
Richard already answered with sage advice. I keep a *separate* Photos library backup on a third drive for a belt and suspenders approach.
"You can partition the drive so that Time Machine and the Photos Libraries are on different volumes. But that's a bad idea in the long run-- if the drive dies, you've lost your pictures AND the backup. You backup should be on a separate drive,."
Richard already answered with sage advice. I keep a *separate* Photos library backup on a third drive for a belt and suspenders approach.
Mac2day wrote: On an external SSD in a folder to save space on the Mac mini internal drive. I'm attempting to drag/drop a photo into Photos to edit. A photo will load into Photos but the Edit button is grayed out.
And how is your SSD drive formatted? To avoid damaging the Photos Library an external drive must be formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Additionally, the drive can not have had Time Machine on it since it was formatted. There have been so many problems with using incompatible drives that the newest macOSs won't even allow a Library on a non-Mac formatted drive to open, since there is a chance of damaging the Photos database. See this:
Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
If this drive is in a an incompatible format, stop running Photos with it immediately! A Photos Library can sit on an incompatible drive, but running it may corrupt the database.
Here is a screenshot for an example. This photo is a .jpg format stored on an external SSD in a folder to save space on the Mac mini internal drive. This is where all my photos are. I'm attempting to drag/drop a photo into Photos to edit. A photo will load into Photos but the Edit button is grayed out.
Time Machine should NOT be on an EXFAT drive, in fact I thought that TM usually takes over the drive and reformats it. You should also not use a TM drive for anything but TM.
Photos does monochrome pictures just fine.
But this picture says
So have you saved it? I'm not sure Photos lets you edit other people's pictures…
But you have to fix the drive before doing anything else with the Photos Library.
You can partition the drive so that Time Machine and the Photos Libraries are on different volumes. But that's a bad idea in the long run-- if the drive dies, you've lost your pictures AND the backup. You backup should be on a separate drive,.
Thank you for the link. I will follow the suggestions. Can I partition my drive so that Time Machine is located on one partition and the other partition formatted correctly with my photo folder? Or do I need two separate drives?
Where is your Library stored?
Are you using iCloudPhotos?
Time Machine is located on the drive. The formatting is ExFAT. Thank you for the article. I'll setup again accordingly.
Is this an RGB* jpeg or a greyscale? It could be that Photos cannot edit greyscale.
*It looks sepia toned which implies RGB...
I tried several .jpg photos to attempt to test a variety.
Yes, I agree. A separate drive is best. Thank you again! Very much appreciated!
Unable to edit in photos app
