Photo Library not reachable on MacOS after Dropbox sync

Hi Heather11, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

It sounds like you might have upgraded to the new Dropbox desktop application for Mac OS. You can confirm this by checking the location of the Dropbox folder and seeing if it's in CloudStorage.

Due to the change, Apple no longer allows Photos Library to be stored over cloud-storage services. It would need to be moved to a local folder on your machine.

If you have any further queries, feel free to message back.

Hi Jay - thanks for your response. How do I move Photos Library to a local folder on my machine? Perhaps this question is better posed to Apple support?

Can you clarify - in order to restore Photos Library to its previous functionality, it seems I would have to uninstall Dropbox - is that the only solution you are aware of?

Thanks again!  

Is the Photos library missing entirely, or is the app itself saying that it can't be stored where it is, and needs to be moved? This thread might have information helpful to you.

Hi Jay,

Photos Library is still there, but it is not working properly - it is no longer syncing with my iPhone. The Photos Library icon has a grey cloud with a line through it. When I click on the Photos Library icon, it says: 

"The library could not be opened. Photos Library 2.photoslibrary  is in Dropbox, and needs to be moved to a folder on your Mac to open".  I don't understand how to move it a folder on my Mac to open it. 

Sorry to jump in here, Heather11, but have you reached out to Apple's support, to see if they can give you further info?

Hi Hannah - thanks for the question! Yes, I have reached out to Apple Support. They say since it's an issue with Dropbox/a third party app, they cannot solve the problem. They did give me some options to try and I still need to run those: 1) Turning off the Dropbox app and then trying to re-load Photos Library, 2) Delete the old Photos Library and create a new one 3) Uninstall Dropbox and use iCloud. 

Has anyone with a MacBook running Ventura tried any of these options yet? 

Since the photo library needs to be moved, have you physically tried dragging the library to a folder outside of Dropbox?

I’m having a similar problem. Once Dropbox took my photo library my photos app on the mac stopped working.  I’ve spent three hours with three different apple support techs and everything we try comes back to Dropbox being the problem. How can I stop Dropbox from syncing my photos? I want to just leave them on the computer.  

Hi Lb00, did you try the steps in my previous post above to see if this helps?

I just spent two hours on the phone with apple support in one ear and Dropbox chat on my screen. (Previously I had spent four hours with two different apple support people trying to figure out why photos wouldn’t open).  But this support person figured out that problem was Dropbox. When Dropbox backs up photos, then the photos app won’t open. I wasn’t able to disable the Dropbox backup because (apparently) I clicked on an email giving Dropbox permission to back up my system while I was on a computer at work (not my home computer).  I have a temporary fix for the moment until I can disentangle myself from Dropbox back ups totally.  (We put the photo library in Movies).