Google Takeout is a way to export and download your data from Google Photos. At minimum the export should include all the original photo files. Although the Google Takeout archive is initially organized into year-month-day folders, we can quickly move the photo files from those folders and reorganize them in a different way.
These details are for Ubuntu and Microsoft Windows, the details will be slightly different for other computers.
The Tools:
- Command Prompt aka Terminal
- ExifTool — download this amazingly wonderful photo software
The Steps:
- Make and download an archive of your photos
- Extract all files from the archive
- Move all photo files into a different folder structure
The Steps in laborious detail:
Make and download an archive of your photos
- Open a web browser at the Google Takeout "Download your data" page.
- Click the
SELECT NONEbutton. - Select
Google Photos All photo albums - Click the
NEXTbutton. - Review the
Customize archive formatoptions. - Click the
CREATE ARCHIVEbutton. - Make a working folder on your computer
google-photos-takeout. - Download the archive to your working folder.
Multiple files may have been created, download them all —
google-photos-takeout$ ls takeout-20180307T192645Z-001.zip takeout-20180307T192645Z-002.zip takeout-20180307T192645Z-003.zip takeout-20180307T192645Z-004.zip takeout-20180307T192645Z-005.zip takeout-20180307T192645Z-006.zip takeout-20180307T192645Z-007.zip
Extract all files from the archive
- { On Microsoft Windows,
- Open a
File Exploreron your working foldergoogle-photos-takeout. - Select all the
takeout-*.zipfiles. - Open the Right Click (context) menu, and click
Extract All…. - Change the
Files will be extracted to this folder:to be your working foldergoogle-photos-takeoutand clickExtract.Extracting the archive files may take many many minutes. }
- { On Ubuntu,
- Open a command prompt.
- Change directory at the command prompt to the working folder
google-photos-takeout. - Use the following unzip command, at the command prompt, to extract all the archive files —
google-photos-takeout$ unzip -q takeout-*
Extracting the archive files may take many many minutes. }
The folder Takeout now contains year-month-day folders, some only containing .json files and others containing both .json files and photo files. (Changing photo dates in Google Photos seems to move the photo files to a new year-month-day folder, and leaves-behind the old year-month-day folder and .json file).
Move all photo files into a different folder structure
Now the photo files have been exported from Google Photos, they can be moved around: maybe into year-month folders, maybe into a folder hierarchy of year folders and month subfolders etc.
- Open a command prompt.
- Change directory at the command prompt to the working folder
google-photos-takeout. - Move all the photo files from the
Takeoutyear-month-day folders into year-month folders, and rename any duplicate files (moving the photo files may take many many minutes).Use the following ExifTool command, at the command prompt —
google-photos-takeout$ exiftool -q -q -r -d %Y-%m/%%f%%-c.%%e "-directory<filemodifydate" "-directory<createdate" "-directory<datetimeoriginal" Takeout
- Look at all the new folders you made —
google-photos-takeout$ ls 1929-07 1978-05 1987-12 2002-08 2013-07 1931-06 1978-09 1988-01 2002-12 2013-08 1938-06 1979-01 1988-02 2003-01 2013-09 1940-06 1979-07 1988-07 2003-05 2013-10 1944-03 1979-08 1988-08 2004-06 2013-11 1948-06 1979-09 1988-12 2004-12 2013-12 1950-06 1979-10 1989-03 2005-07 2014-02 1951-09 1979-12 1989-05 2005-11 2014-03 1951-11 1980-01 1989-08 2005-12 2014-04 1952-01 1980-04 1990-01 2006-11 2014-05 1953-08 1980-05 1990-02 2006-12 2014-06 1954-06 1980-06 1990-03 2007-01 2014-07 1954-07 1980-07 1990-04 2007-08 2014-08 1954-08 1980-08 1990-06 2007-09 2014-09 1955-10 1980-12 1990-08 2007-10 2014-10 1956-07 1981-06 1990-11 2007-11 2014-11 1957-01 1981-07 1991-10 2007-12 2014-12 1957-03 1981-09 1992-10 2008-01 2015-01 1957-06 1981-11 1992-11 2008-02 2015-02 1957-07 1981-12 1993-01 2008-04 2015-03 1957-09 1982-05 1993-04 2008-06 2015-04 1959-12 1982-07 1993-07 2008-07 2015-05 1963-11 1982-08 1993-10 2008-08 2015-06 1966-11 1982-09 1993-12 2008-11 2015-07 1967-10 1982-10 1994-03 2008-12 2015-09 1968-05 1982-11 1994-07 2009-01 2015-10 1968-10 1982-12 1994-10 2009-02 2015-11 1968-12 1983-01 1995-06 2009-03 2015-12 1969-12 1983-03 1995-12 2009-04 2016-02 1970-01 1983-04 1996-05 2009-05 2016-03 1970-05 1983-05 1996-06 2009-06 2016-04 1970-06 1983-06 1996-07 2009-07 2016-05 1970-08 1983-07 1996-09 2009-08 2016-06 1970-12 1983-08 1996-12 2009-09 2016-07 1971-06 1983-09 1997-03 2009-10 2016-08 1972-01 1983-11 1997-06 2009-11 2016-09 1972-06 1983-12 1997-07 2010-03 2016-10 1972-07 1984-03 1997-08 2010-04 2016-11 1972-11 1984-04 1997-09 2010-05 2016-12 1972-12 1984-05 1997-12 2010-07 2017-02 1973-02 1984-07 1998-01 2010-08 2017-03 1973-06 1984-08 1998-02 2010-09 2017-04 1973-12 1984-09 1998-04 2010-10 2017-05 1974-03 1984-10 1998-06 2010-11 2017-06 1974-06 1984-12 1998-07 2010-12 2017-07 1974-07 1985-03 1998-08 2011-01 2017-08 1975-02 1985-05 1998-12 2011-04 2017-09 1975-12 1985-06 1999-02 2011-05 2017-10 1976-01 1985-07 1999-04 2011-06 2017-11 1976-05 1985-08 1999-06 2011-09 2017-12 1976-06 1985-09 1999-07 2011-10 2018-01 1976-07 1985-11 1999-10 2011-12 2018-02 1976-09 1986-01 1999-12 2012-04 Takeout 1976-11 1986-02 2000-08 2012-05 takeout-20180307T192645Z-001.zip 1976-12 1986-08 2000-09 2012-08 takeout-20180307T192645Z-002.zip 1977-02 1986-09 2000-12 2012-09 takeout-20180307T192645Z-003.zip 1977-06 1987-02 2001-05 2012-10 takeout-20180307T192645Z-004.zip 1977-10 1987-05 2001-06 2012-11 takeout-20180307T192645Z-005.zip 1977-11 1987-06 2002-02 2012-12 takeout-20180307T192645Z-006.zip 1977-12 1987-07 2002-03 2013-01 takeout-20180307T192645Z-007.zip 1978-01 1987-10 2002-04 2013-03 1978-03 1987-11 2002-07 2013-05
- Check there are photo files in the new folders:
google-photos-takeout$ ls 1972-07 20121029-009-0.jpg 20121029-012-0.jpg 20121029-010-0.jpg 20121029-013-0.jpg
- Alternatively use the following ExifTool command to move all the photo files from the
Takeoutyear-month-day folders into a folder hierarchy of year folders and month subfolders —google-photos-takeout$ exiftool -q -q -r -d %Y/%m/%%f%%-c.%%e "-directory<filemodifydate" "-directory<createdate" "-directory<datetimeoriginal" Takeout
- Alternatively … read through the ExifTool examples and learn how modify those commands to reorganize your photo files.
- Remove folders and files that are no longer needed:
google-photos-takeout$ rm -R Takeout google-photos-takeout$ rm takeout-*.zip
Summary:
However Google Takeout archive is organized, we can move our photo files out of Google Takeout archive and try to reorganize them in the way we need.