Sync google photos back to Windows PC

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timmmay

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#280636 30-Dec-2020 20:44

I have a family member that has multiple devices they take photos on, all the photos go up to Google photos. They'd like to have those photos on their Windows PC. Has anyone found a way to sync photos back from Google Photos to a PC? I've searched around but not found anything. I've used Google Takeout to download them, but prefer something automatic.

My contingency plan is to sync from each device to the PC using SyncThing or similar, but it's not as easy and the family member isn't great with technology.

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#2628222 30-Dec-2020 21:28

I thought Google Sync and Backup would do it?

https://photos.google.com/apps

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timmmay

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#2628224 30-Dec-2020 21:30

I thought that was just an uploader. I'll give it a shot thanks M.

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#2628225 30-Dec-2020 21:31

Make sure to not set the Documents folder for sync or it will first upload everything.

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richms

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#2628227 30-Dec-2020 21:36

Mine stopped coming down when they did that change to google photos a while back. Not looked into it much more to see if I need to turn it on or anything but it did change some time back to not be included with the rest of the drive content.

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#2628240 30-Dec-2020 22:13

It’s not sync as such, but you can download the entire gallery or any album from Google Photos. The control is in the top right corner, photos get delivered in a zip container. The problem with this, if you’re using Google Sync is that it will immediately start uploading all your downloaded images & soon you will have double-ups of every photo. *Sigh*

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timmmay

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#2628343 31-Dec-2020 08:02

Thanks I'll try M's suggestion first, if that doesn't work I'll look a bit wider. Maybe I can put the photos in a different folder to mitigate sync problems.

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#2628346 31-Dec-2020 08:17

The download option seems to be limited to 500 photos per zip file.

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timmmay

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#2628347 31-Dec-2020 08:30

Google takeout gets everything. I run an export of my Google account every 3 months just in case Google arbitrarily decides to terminate my account for some reason, as rarely but occasionally happens.

Eva888

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#2628361 31-Dec-2020 09:21

Got all excited at a new place to store photos and then learnt that transferring data to Takeout counts against your storage quota.

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#2628373 31-Dec-2020 10:00

I had a look at Google for this purpose previously - but found I could make Dropbox work automatically instead i.e.

All devices --> Dropbox Camera Uploads --> Dropbox Camera Uploads sync to PC --> Syncback Free - Auto Daily Scheduled Sync of Camera Uploads on PC to unRAID NAS

Also do ---> Monthly Manual Sync to External HD

timmmay

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#2628375 31-Dec-2020 10:03

Eva888: Got all excited at a new place to store photos and then learnt that transferring data to Takeout counts against your storage quota.

You run the takeout telling it to store in Google drive, download it, then delete it. Remember to empty your Google drive trash.

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#2628384 31-Dec-2020 10:24

I use OneDrive - and have a family account so up to five users can get 1 TB storage each. Integrates easily with Windows 10, so no dramas.

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timmmay

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#2628530 31-Dec-2020 14:26

Family member already uses Google photos. I could move them but easier not to, will only if required.

ANglEAUT

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#2628928 1-Jan-2021 16:03

richms: Mine stopped coming down when they did that change to google photos a while back. ...

richms is correct. Google does not natively support sync'ing Google Photos to a device. You will have to use a third party tool if you want it to be automatic.

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timmmay

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#2628934 1-Jan-2021 16:54

ANglEAUT:
richms: Mine stopped coming down when they did that change to google photos a while back. ...

richms is correct. Google does not natively support sync'ing Google Photos to a device. You will have to use a third party tool if you want it to be automatic.

Can you recommend a tool?

Maybe I should just get everything onto the pc then sync to a better service, something that easily uploads from android. Dropbox would be easy, but limited unless you pay - for myself I now user syncthing but dropbox better for most. Not a fan of one drive.

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