Blog

Plain explanations of what goes wrong with Google Takeout photo exports, what the .json files are, and how to get your dates and places back.

• Why Is immich-go Missing My Geotags?
  8 September 2026

  Locations vanish on Immich import when the sidecar cannot be matched, or when the GPS is all zeros. Here is how to tell the two apart.

• Why Is My Photo Date Off by a Few Hours?
  8 September 2026

  Your photos are a few hours out after a Takeout export. It is almost always a timezone conversion, not corrupted data. Here is how to get it right.

• Why Is My Google Takeout Missing Photos?
  8 September 2026

  Missing photos in a Takeout export usually means an incomplete download, a shared album, or a part you have not unzipped. Here is the checklist.

• Why Does Windows Explorer Show the Wrong Date for My Photos?
  8 September 2026

  Explorer shows file dates, not photo dates, and Takeout photos have no photo date at all. Here is what the columns mean and how to fix them.

• Why Does Apple Photos Show the Wrong Date After Importing My Takeout?
  8 September 2026

  Apple Photos reads EXIF and ignores Google's .json files, so everything lands under today. Here is the fix, and why order matters.

• Why Do My Photos Show No Date at All?
  8 September 2026

  A blank Date taken field means the photo has no EXIF date inside it. That is normal for Takeout exports, and it is fixable.

• Why Do My Google Takeout Files Have Such Strange Names?
  8 September 2026

  Truncated sidecar names, (1) counters in odd places and 46-character cut-offs. Here is what the naming actually means.

• Why Do All My Photos Have the Same Date After a Takeout Export?
  8 September 2026

  Every photo shows the day you downloaded the export. That is your computer guessing, because Google left the date out of the file. Here is the fix.

• Why Did Takeout Only Export Some of My Albums?
  8 September 2026

  Missing albums are usually shared albums, or the result of selecting specific albums in Takeout. Here is how the album folders actually work.

• Why Did My Starred and Favourite Photos Disappear?
  8 September 2026

  Favourites are recorded in the .json sidecars, not in the photos. Here is how to find them before you delete the sidecars.

• Why Did My Photo Captions Disappear After Takeout?
  8 September 2026

  Captions you typed in Google Photos are in the .json files, not in the pictures. Here is where to find them and how to keep them.

• Why Did My Google Takeout Download Link Expire?
  8 September 2026

  Takeout links last about a week and allow only a few download attempts. Here is how to get your export back and how to avoid losing it again.

• Why Are My Photos in Folders Named by Year?
  8 September 2026

  Google organises your export into Photos from 2015, Photos from 2016 and so on. Here is what those folders mean and how to build a better structure.

• Why Are My People and Face Tags Missing From Google Takeout?
  8 September 2026

  Named people appear in the .json sidecars, but face grouping itself does not export. Here is what you actually get back.

• What Should I Do First After Downloading Google Takeout?
  8 September 2026

  The first hour decides how painful the rest is. Here are the four steps to take before you import anything anywhere.

• What Is the Easiest Way to Fix Google Takeout Metadata?
  8 September 2026

  Scripts, exiftool commands and web uploaders all work in theory. Here is an honest comparison and the option that needs no command line.

• What Is the Best Way to Export Google Photos?
  8 September 2026

  A practical order of operations for exporting Google Photos, with the settings that avoid the usual failures.

• What Happens to My Albums When I Leave Google Photos?
  8 September 2026

  Albums become plain folders in your export, and album membership is not stored in the photos. Here is what survives and what does not.

• What Are the Archive and Trash Folders in My Google Takeout?
  8 September 2026

  Your export has more folders than you expected. Here is what Archive, Trash, Bin and the untitled folders actually contain.

• Is There an Easier Way Than exiftool to Fix Takeout Dates?
  8 September 2026

  exiftool can do it, but the command is long and Google's sidecar names make it fragile. Here is the same result without the terminal.

• Is There an Alternative to GooglePhotosTakeoutHelper?
  8 September 2026

  GPTH works well but needs Python and a command line, and it breaks when Google changes the export format. Here is a desktop alternative.

• Is Google Takeout Missing Timezone Information?
  8 September 2026

  Google Takeout stores the moment a photo was taken, but not the timezone it was taken in. Here is what that means and how to avoid photos landing on the wrong day.

• How Do I Move Google Photos to iCloud and Keep the Dates?
  8 September 2026

  Google's direct transfer to iCloud works, but it is not always complete. Here is what to check and how to fix the dates if your photos land in the wrong year.

• How Do I Move Google Photos to an External Hard Drive?
  8 September 2026

  Copying a Takeout export to an external drive keeps the wrong dates. Fix the metadata first, then copy once, and the drive is a real archive.

• How Do I Move Google Photos to a Mac With the Correct Dates?
  8 September 2026

  Apple Photos files every Takeout import under today. It reads EXIF, and Takeout photos have none. Here is the fix, in one run.

• How Do I Move Google Photos to OneDrive Without Losing the Dates?
  8 September 2026

  Takeout can deliver straight to OneDrive, but the photos arrive without their dates. Here is the step most people miss.

• How Do I Move Google Photos to Another Google Account Without Losing Metadata?
  8 September 2026

  Copying a Takeout export into a second Google account loses your dates. Google ignores the .json files on upload. Here is what to do first.

• How Do I Import Google Takeout Into digiKam?
  8 September 2026

  digiKam reads EXIF, not Google's .json sidecars. Write the metadata into the photos before you build your digiKam library.

• How Do I Import Google Takeout Into Nextcloud Properly?
  8 September 2026

  Nextcloud Memories sorts by EXIF date, which Google Takeout photos do not have. Fix the files before you upload, not after.

• How Do I Get the Correct Date Into My Google Takeout Photos?
  8 September 2026

  The real dates are in the .json files next to your photos. Here is the easy way to write them back into the pictures, without the command line.

• How Do I Get My Google Photos Onto a Windows PC With the Right Dates?
  8 September 2026

  Windows sorts by file date, and Takeout gives every photo today's date. One run fixes the whole folder.

• How Do I Fix the Dates on a Very Large Photo Library?
  8 September 2026

  Fifty thousand photos, several hundred gigabytes, split across many zip parts. Here is how to approach it without redoing the work.

• How Do I Fix Takeout Dates Without Using the Command Line?
  8 September 2026

  Every popular guide hands you a terminal command. You do not need one. Here is the same job as a normal app.

• How Do I Fix Google Takeout Photo Dates on a Mac?
  8 September 2026

  The full process on macOS, from unzipping the export to checking the result in Finder and Apple Photos.

• How Do I Fix Google Takeout Photo Dates on Windows?
  8 September 2026

  The full process on Windows, from unzipping the parts to checking the Date taken column in Explorer.

• How Do I Check That My Photo Dates Are Actually Fixed?
  8 September 2026

  Do not trust a progress bar with your family photos. Here is how to verify the dates really landed, on any platform.

• Does Google Takeout Give Me the Original Quality Photos?
  8 September 2026

  Takeout returns whatever Google stored. If you used Storage saver, the compressed version is what you get back. Here is how to check.

• Does Google Takeout Delete the Dates From My Photos?
  8 September 2026

  No. Google Takeout does not strip your photo dates. It puts them in a separate .json file instead of inside the photo. Here is how to put them back.

• Can I Upload My Photos Back to Google Photos and Keep the Original Dates?
  8 September 2026

  Only if the dates are inside the photos. Google Photos ignores the .json files it gave you. Here is how to make the upload work.

• Can I Delete the JSON Files From Google Takeout?
  8 September 2026

  Yes, but only after you have used them. The .json files hold your photo dates and locations. Delete them first and that information is gone for good.

• Are Online Google Takeout Metadata Fixers Safe?
  8 September 2026

  Uploading your whole photo library to a website to fix its dates is a real privacy decision. Here is what to weigh, and the offline alternative.

• supplemental-metadata.json in Google Takeout, Explained
  5 September 2026

  Why Google renamed the Takeout sidecars in 2024, why some names are cut short, how the (1) duplicates pair up, and why old scripts miss them.

• Why an Offline Photo Organizer Matters for Family Photos
  5 September 2026

  What a photo tool can learn from your library, what leaves your computer with an offline organizer (only optional place lookups), and what never does.

• WhatsApp Photos Have the Wrong Date: What You Can Fix
  5 September 2026

  WhatsApp strips EXIF from every photo it sends. What date information is left, what cannot be recovered, and how to set a date for a whole folder.

• What Are the JSON Files in Google Takeout Photos?
  5 September 2026

  What the .json file next to each photo in a Google Takeout export contains, why it is there, and whether it is safe to delete.

• Takeout Photos Out of Order? Date Taken vs File Date
  5 September 2026

  Why photos from a Google Takeout export sort in the wrong order in Finder, Explorer and phone galleries, and how to make every view agree.

• Takeout Live Photos: the MP4 and MOV Pairs, Explained
  5 September 2026

  Why iPhone Live Photos come out of Google Takeout as a still plus a short video, why the video has the wrong date, and three ways to handle the pairs.

• Sort Photos Into Folders by Location (City Names)
  5 September 2026

  How to turn GPS coordinates into city names and file photos into folders by place, what reverse geocoding involves, and what goes wrong.

• Scanned Photos: Set the Real Date and Place in Bulk
  5 September 2026

  Scanners stamp old prints with today's date. How to give a folder of scans one real date and place so they sort into the right year everywhere.

• Rename Photos by Date Taken in Bulk (All Platforms)
  5 September 2026

  Naming schemes that sort correctly in every file manager, and how to bulk rename photos by date taken on Windows, macOS and Linux.

• Rename Google Photos Files by Date After a Takeout Export
  5 September 2026

  Turn IMG_20190714_110530_1.jpg into 2019-07-14-1105_Paris.jpg using the real date from the Takeout sidecar, with names that sort right everywhere.

• PhotoPrism and JSON Sidecars From Google Takeout
  5 September 2026

  How PhotoPrism uses sidecar files, what it reads from Google Takeout .json files and what it does not, and how to prepare a Takeout export for it.

• Move Photos to a USB Stick and Keep the Dates
  5 September 2026

  Why photos copied to a USB stick or SD card lose their dates, what FAT32 and exFAT can store, and how to make the dates survive any drive.

• Move Photos to a New Android Phone and Keep the Dates
  5 September 2026

  Copying photos onto an Android phone often puts them all at the top of the gallery. How Android picks a date, what MTP does to files, and how to copy so the order survives.

• Move Google Photos to Apple Photos With the Right Dates
  5 September 2026

  How to get a Google Takeout export into Apple Photos with correct dates, working Live Photos and HEIC files, and what goes wrong if you skip a step.

• Motion Photos vs Live Photos: How Each Is Stored
  5 September 2026

  Apple Live Photos are two files, Google and Samsung Motion Photos are one. How each works on disk and what survives a move between platforms.

• Merge Two Photo Libraries Without Duplicates
  5 September 2026

  How to combine photo folders from a phone, a Takeout export and old backups into one library without copying the same photo twice, using content hashes.

• Leaving Google Photos: the Complete Checklist
  5 September 2026

  Every step from requesting the Takeout export to checking the dates in your new photo library, in order, with the mistakes that cost people photos.

• Keep Screenshots Out of Your Photo Library
  5 September 2026

  Screenshots clutter a photo library and mislead date sorting. How to tell them apart from photos and move them into their own folder in bulk.

• Immich Shows the Wrong Dates After Import (Fix)
  5 September 2026

  Why photos land on the wrong date in Immich, how Immich picks a date from EXIF and sidecars, and how to fix the files before importing.

• How to Organize Photos by Year and Month Folders
  5 September 2026

  Why Year/Month folders work for most photo libraries, the alternatives, and how to sort thousands of photos into them by hand or with a tool.

• How to Merge Takeout JSON Metadata Into Your Photos
  5 September 2026

  Step by step, how to write the date and GPS from Google Takeout .json sidecars into the photo files, with exiftool or with a desktop app.

• How Much Disk Space a Google Takeout Export Needs
  5 September 2026

  The zips, the unpacked folder and the organized library each take a full copy. How to count the space, pick a drive, and what happens when it fills.

• Google Takeout Videos Have the Wrong Date. Here Is Why
  5 September 2026

  Why videos from a Google Takeout export show the download date, where a video's date actually lives, MOV vs MP4, and how to set it right.

• Google Takeout Split Into Many Zip Parts? How to Unpack Them
  5 September 2026

  Why Google Takeout splits your photos into takeout-001, -002 and so on, why one album lands in several parts, and how to extract them together.

• Google Takeout Photos Show the Wrong Date? Here Is Why
  5 September 2026

  Why every photo from a Google Takeout export shows the day you downloaded it, where the real dates are hiding, and how to put them back.

• Google Takeout Photos Missing Location? Restore the GPS
  5 September 2026

  Where the location data goes in a Google Takeout export, what geoData and geoDataExif mean, why many say 0.0, and how to write real GPS back.

• Google Takeout Duplicates and "-edited" Files, Sorted Out
  5 September 2026

  Why a Google Takeout export has more files than your library, what the -edited copies and album duplicates are, and how to merge without keeping two of everything.

• Google Photos to a Synology NAS With Correct Dates
  5 September 2026

  How to move a Google Takeout export onto a Synology NAS so Synology Photos shows the right dates, with a folder layout that stays useful.

• Google Photos Export to a New Android Phone, Dates Intact
  5 September 2026

  How to put a Google Takeout export on an Android phone so the gallery sorts by the real date, where in DCIM to put files, and what breaks.

• Google Photos Export to Immich: Dates, Sidecars, Albums
  5 September 2026

  How to get a Google Takeout export into Immich with the right dates. Covers immich-go, why dates break on a plain upload, and preparing files first.

• Google Photos Export Takes Forever? What to Expect and Do
  5 September 2026

  Why a Google Takeout photo export takes hours or days, why it comes as many 2 GB zips, how to download every part, and what to prepare while you wait.

• Fix Sideways Photos in Bulk (EXIF Orientation)
  5 September 2026

  Why some photos show sideways in one app and upright in another, what the EXIF orientation tag does, and how to rotate the pixels for good.

• Fix Photo Dates After Copying From Your Phone
  5 September 2026

  Copying photos from a phone to a computer often resets their dates to today. Why it happens, EXIF versus file dates, and how to fix the dates.

• Fix Google Takeout Photo Dates on Linux
  5 September 2026

  Fixing a Google Photos export on Linux: exiftool from your distro, ffmpeg for videos, phones through the file manager, and a .deb or .rpm app.

• Fix Google Takeout Dates With exiftool: the Honest Guide
  5 September 2026

  The exiftool command that copies dates and GPS from Takeout .json sidecars into your photos, where it breaks, and when to stop and use a GUI.

• EXIF Date Taken vs File Modified: a Photo's Three Dates
  5 September 2026

  A photo carries one date inside the file and two on the outside. Which one Finder, Explorer, Apple Photos and Immich read, and how to make them agree.

• Convert Old AVI, WMV and 3GP Videos to MP4
  5 September 2026

  Camcorder AVI, WMV and early phone 3GP files will not play on modern devices. When a lossless re-wrap is enough and when re-encoding is needed.

• Convert HEIC to JPG and Keep the Metadata
  5 September 2026

  How to convert iPhone HEIC photos to JPG in bulk without losing dates, GPS or orientation, by hand or with a tool, on Mac, Windows and Linux.

• Convert HEIC to JPG From Google Takeout Without Losing Dates
  5 September 2026

  Why a Google Takeout export is full of HEIC files, how to convert them to JPG while keeping the date and GPS, and the odd HEIC that is really a JPEG.

• Add a Location to Photos Without GPS Data
  5 September 2026

  How to write GPS coordinates into photos that have none, by typing a city name or coordinates, and why a place name in the file helps later.