Full Disk Access and the Photos library

macOS keeps the Photos library private from other apps. Today Shutterfold reads the original photos and videos inside the library, so it needs Full Disk Access. Without it, the Photos library shows Needs Full Disk Access and the scan cannot count it.

Turn on Full Disk Access

1. In Shutterfold, click Open Privacy settings. Or open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Full Disk Access.
2. Find Shutterfold in the list and turn it on. If it is not in the list, click the + button, then choose Shutterfold in Applications.
3. Enter your Mac password if macOS asks.
4. Quit Shutterfold and open it again. macOS gives the new access only to a new start of the app.
5. Click Scan for free again.

You can turn Full Disk Access off at any time, in the same place.

What Full Disk Access lets the app do

Full Disk Access lets an app open folders that macOS protects, such as the Photos library and Mail. Shutterfold uses it only to read.

• When it opens, Shutterfold looks in a few known places to suggest sources: Pictures, the cloud folders and connected drives.
• It reads files only in the sources you add.
• It never writes, moves or deletes anything in a source. See what the scan reads and never writes.

Some folders could not be read

If the result says macOS kept Shutterfold out of some folders, Full Disk Access is off. Turn it on with the steps above, open Shutterfold again and scan again. The scan cannot see the files in a folder that macOS keeps closed, so it cannot count them until you do.

Photos that iCloud keeps in the cloud

With Optimize Mac Storage on in Photos settings, iCloud keeps some full-size originals only in the cloud. Shutterfold reads the originals on this Mac. It does not count the photos that are only in iCloud yet, and the report says so.

To count every photo today, open Photos, then Settings, then iCloud, and choose Download Originals to this Mac. This needs enough free space for the whole library.

A later update reads the library through the Photos permission that macOS gives apps. Then Shutterfold also counts the photos that are only in iCloud, and it no longer needs Full Disk Access.