Shared Album sync to new Mac solved!

TidBITS Talk
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I thought this could resolve a weird problem that might just happen to you with a new Mac.

I took delivery of a shiny new MacBook Pro 14" M2 last Friday. I’m slowly installing my apps from scratch, as I need them. But of course all the Apple apps are already installed. Including Photos. I opened Photos and in what seemed like an instant all my photo library was there on the new MacBook (because of course I logged in to my Apple ID, so everything in iCloud was ready and waiting). But when I looked at my shared albums—nothing! Just a blank page.

I spoke to one Apple supporter after another (and, by the way, the usual first class Apple support failed because, despite their assurances, the link in the emails I was sent after each session which was meant to take me back to the ‘expert’ team in order to continue discussing the same case just didn’t work, so I had to go around the houses every time I called back).

It wasn’t until the third adviser (Kiril, I love you) that they suggested trying to create a new shared album. Instantly, all my shared albums appeared! And within minutes all the shared photos had downloaded to my new Mac. Problem solved after a week’s delay.

Is this issue somehow related to the fact that shared albums are not actually stored in your own account? At least, they don’t seem to be: if you access Photos through the iCloud website there is no sign of shared albums—which I’ve always found frustrating and weird.

Anyway I hope this tip saves someone a whole load of frustration.
Kevan

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This is the kind of thing that would have “just worked” in the old days. “Create new item to force a sync” is also necessary in iCloud sometimes, and for me it’s just as unacceptable as “reboot to fix the problem.” Not obvious, not discoverable, indicative of poor engineering.

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Thank you! This worked a treat. Apple’s Support site says to disable the icloud share, wait 10 minutes, restart, and re-enable photo share. That didn’t work. Your method worked immediately. Thank you thank you thank you (2 years later :unamused_face:)

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Hi! What a heart-warming message to receive! Delighted the tip was useful. Thanks for posting.

What is frustrating is not so much that the issue occurs but that Apple support don’t universally know how to fix it.