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Import from Google Photos with Google Takeout

Export your Google Photos library with Google Takeout and bring all of it, with its details, into your library.

Google no longer lets other apps read a whole Google Photos library. Instead, you ask Google for a copy with Google Takeout, then hand that copy to Magpie. It takes two sittings: one to request the export, and one, a few hours or days later, to import it.

Request your export from Google

  1. Go to Google Takeout (takeout.google.com) and sign in with the Google account that holds your photos. On the Imports page, Open Google Takeout takes you there.
  2. Google starts with every product selected. Use the option to deselect all, then scroll down and tick only Google Photos.
  3. Leave all photo albums included, so the whole library comes across. You can narrow it to certain albums if you only want part of it.
  4. Go to the next step and set up the export:
    • Destination: have Google email you a download link.
    • Frequency: export once.
    • File type: .zip. Don’t choose .tgz; Magpie can’t read it.
    • File size: the largest size offered (50 GB), so there are fewer parts to download.
  5. Create the export. Google gathers it in the background. For a large library this can take a day or more, and Google emails you when it’s ready.

Google only keeps the download for a limited time, usually about a week. Download the parts soon after the email arrives.

Download every part

A big library comes in several .zip parts, with names that end in numbers like -001.zip and -002.zip. Download all of them into one folder on your computer.

  • You don’t need to unzip them. Magpie reads the .zip files directly.
  • Keep the parts together. A photo and the file that describes it can end up in different parts, so import them all at once.
  • If you already unzipped them, that’s fine too. You can choose the unzipped folder instead.

Import it

  1. Open Imports from the sidebar.
  2. Under Move a whole library, choose Google Takeout (whole library).
  3. Click Choose .zip files and select every part at once. If you unzipped them, click Choose an unzipped folder instead. You can also drag the parts or the folder onto the box.
  4. Wait while Magpie opens your archives and reads dates, places and albums. Nothing is uploaded yet.
  5. Check the summary. It shows how many photos, videos, Live Photos, edited copies, albums and people were found, and what will be left out.
  6. Click Import … files (the button shows how many) to start.

Keep the tab open while it runs. See Follow an import while it runs.

What comes across

Google keeps a small description file next to each photo. Magpie reads it and keeps:

  • Dates. When the photo was taken. If the photo file has its own date with a time zone, that date is used, and Google’s fills in when the file has none.
  • Places. The location Google had for the photo, when the file itself has no location.
  • Descriptions you added in Google Photos.
  • People. The names of people you had named in Google Photos are kept with each photo.
  • Favorites. Photos you starred in Google Photos become your favorites.
  • Archived photos. They come in, but stay out of your timeline, as they did in Google Photos.
  • Albums. Magpie notes which albums each photo was in and recreates them by name. If you already have an album with the same name, the photos join it.
  • Live Photos stay together as one item.
  • Edited copies. When Google exported both the original and an edited version, they’re kept together, with the original shown in your timeline.

A photo that sits in several albums appears in the export several times. It’s uploaded once and added to each album.

What’s left out

  • Photos in Google’s trash.
  • Files that aren’t photos or videos, such as Google’s own web pages and spreadsheets.
  • Description files with no matching photo. The summary counts these. The photos themselves still come across.

Albums, not Folders

Google Photos albums stay albums in Magpie. This import does not make Folders, and it has no Keep my folders switch. If your photos are in Google Drive folders, use Google Drive instead.

If something goes wrong

  • “One of these is a .tgz archive.” Request a new export from Google Takeout and choose .zip as the file type.
  • “One of the files isn’t a readable .zip.” That part may still be downloading, or the download was cut short. Download it again from Google, then choose all the parts again.
  • “This doesn’t look like the export we expected.” You may have chosen the wrong files, or only some of the parts. The photos and videos can still come in, but without Google’s details. Choose all the parts at once to keep them.
  • A date looks wrong. If you changed a photo’s date in Google Photos, the date stored inside the photo file can win over Google’s.

For more, see If an import goes wrong.