I’m trying to decide how to import my Google Photos Takeout backup. I see two general ways:

  • Import it by uploading it to Immich (immich-go, etc.)
  • Add it as an External library

Has anyone done it one way or the other? Any recommendation, pros/cons or gotchas?

  • @[email protected]English
    49•2 months ago

    I recommend using this: https://github.com/TheLastGimbus/GooglePhotosTakeoutHelper

    A couple years ago, Google decided that instead of exporting the photos with EXIF data exactly as you’ve uploaded them, which was the original behavior and how platforms such as OneDrive do it, they are going to completely delete all EXIF from the image and instead also create a .json containing the original data, in a non-standard format. This script is an open and free version of a paid tool that goes through each image, finds the corresponding .json, and puts the EXIF data back on.

    If you don’t do that, when you reupload these photos into a new service, the date will be reverted to the day you’ve downloaded them and location data will be missing entirely.

    • @[email protected]English
      5•2 months ago

      Yes! I imported 23k media files into a new platform, and the takeout process was such a pain. My destination was built to handle the zipped or unzipped media, but occasionally issues cropped up,like when files spanned archives but the json was on the previous one. That resulted in orphaned files with upload dates instead of date taken.

      Ultimately, I think I had the best experience extracting all 123GB and uploading the albums/folders that way.

      Would have been SO much easier with an API that allowed cloud to cloud.

    • @krnl386English
      1•2 months ago

      Google reminds me more and more of Microsoft of the 90s. That’s exactly the kind of compatibility breaking asinine move MS would do 30 years ago. Sigh…

    • Avid AmoebaOPEnglish
      1•2 months ago

      I wonder if this is worth doing even if I import with immich-go which seems to combine this data too.

  • @[email protected]English
    11•2 months ago

    Immich-go is stupid easy.

    Just dump all your takeout zips in the same folder as immich-go and run the import. Lmk if you need help.

    It ingested 60+ zips with 100gb of photos when I used it.

    • @[email protected]English
      3•2 months ago

      Jumping in to second immich-go, just used it recently. I had no issues other than Google Photos not giving me the data for shared albums (most of mine), which seems to be a Google Takeout issue.

      • Avid AmoebaOPEnglish
        1•2 months ago

        Could you elaborate, what shared albums? Shared with you? Are you referring to this problem?

        • Avid AmoebaOPEnglish
          1•2 months ago

          To answer my own Q, yes, anything shared by others with you isn’t in the takeout backup. You have to go to each such album and do Download All. Then you can import it with immich-go with the correct album name. If you already have that album, it will just add the missing content to it.

  • Chaphasilor [he/him]English
    3•2 months ago

    Used immich-go for this too. Had no problems, and the dev is really open to feedback. All the metadata was there (except for labeled persons), and albums were also created correctly. It even inported archived photos into Immich’s archive!

  • @[email protected]English
    2•2 months ago

    If you import it as external library, Immich will not be able to modify or delete any of the files, but you will see the files just like you see ones uploaded using immich. It is up to you to decide what is better