MacOS – How to attach video from Photos app to Gmail message

gmailmacosphotosvideo

I'm using the new Photos app on OS X Yosemite. I've imported multiple photos and videos from my iPhone 5 and they are now in my Photos library.

I would like to attach one of the videos in my Photos app to a Gmail message. I've tried dragging the video from Photos to my Desktop, but I get the following error:

Export Error

I've also tried searching for the filename in Finder (IMG_2671.MOV), but that yields no results. Does anyone know how to get this working?

Best Answer

The Apple Photos app keeps all photos, thumbnails, application settings and other image/video meta-data in it's own package file located at ~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary. As such, you won't find the original images or videos in a normal Spotlight search.

Native OSX applications can present themselves to Photos as a compatible extension. You can see these when right-clicking on a photo or video and selecting share.

Exporting the video from Photos

As gmail is not a native application with this capability (and a quick google search suggested no alternatives), you'll need to export the video and attach it manually.

Select the video in Photos and choose File -> Export

Export Menu

You can choose to export the video unmodified. However, as you'll be attaching the video to an email, you may want to choose Export 1 Video and select a smaller Movie Quality so the video will fit within gmail's attachment size limit of 25mb.

Export Options