Pick photos from Google Photos

Use Pick from Google Photos when you want a few photos from Google Photos, such as last weekend’s party, without waiting for a full export. You choose them in Google’s own page and Magpie copies them into your library. It works on every plan.

For your whole Google Photos library, use Google Takeout instead. See Import from Google Photos with Google Takeout.

How to pick

1. Open Imports in the sidebar and choose Pick from Google Photos.
2. Google asks whether Magpie may see the photos you pick. Sign in if it asks, and allow it. Magpie only sees what you pick, and only for this one import.
3. The page now says Finish picking in the Google Photos tab…. Choose Open Google Photos. It opens in a new tab.
4. In Google Photos, choose your photos and videos, then press Done there.
5. Come back to the Magpie tab. It updates by itself and shows Copied counts as the files arrive.

Each photo appears on your timeline as soon as it is ready. Once copying has started you can close the tab: it carries on without you. If you change your mind, choose Cancel. Nothing more is copied, and anything already copied stays in your library.

If you never press Done in Google Photos, the import is canceled after a while and nothing is added.

If you say no to Google’s question, or sign-in doesn’t finish, nothing is imported. You are back on Imports with a message. Choose Pick from Google Photos to try again.

Up to 2,000 at a time

You can pick up to 2,000 photos and videos in one go. For more than that, or for everything, use Google Takeout. You can also pick several times: photos you already brought in are skipped.

Why photos arrive without a location

Google removes the place a photo was taken from the files it hands to apps like Magpie. So picked photos arrive without a location, and you can add one yourself later. The date still comes across: Magpie reads it from the file, or, if the file has none, from the date Google gives.

Google Takeout does not strip locations. If places matter, bring those photos in with Takeout.

Duplicates

A photo you have already brought in, from Google or from anywhere else, is not added twice. It is counted as a duplicate and linked to the one you have. See Duplicates, skipped and failed files.

Storage

Picked files count toward your storage like any other upload. A file that doesn’t fit is not copied, and the summary tells you how many. Free up space or change your plan, then pick again.

When some picks don’t import

When the import ends, the summary lists what didn’t come across and why:

• Didn’t fit in your storage. Free up space or change your plan.
• Google’s permission ran out. Google’s permission lasts about an hour, so a very large pick can run out before the last files are copied.
• A video was still processing at Google. Try again once Google has finished with it.
• Google didn’t send the file, even after a few tries. Pick it again in a little while.
• You no longer have access to the library. Ask the owner to add you back.
• Not a kind of photo or video we can import, or its contents didn’t match its type.
• Too large, or empty.
• The library is being deleted.
• Couldn’t be saved on our side. Pick again to try once more.

If the whole import stops, the page says why. Either Google’s permission ran out before we could get your list of picks, or Google didn’t send the list even after a few tries. Choose Pick again to try once more.

When Pick again is offered on the finished import, choose it. Pick the same photos: anything already copied is skipped, so only the missing ones come across.

On a phone

It works in your phone’s browser too. Google Photos opens in a new tab. After you press Done, switch back to the Magpie tab.