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Google Photos Backup Without Google Takeout

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Google Photos is Google's photo and video storage service. Blober connects to your Google Photos library through a browser-based login, so you don't need API keys or any developer setup.

Capabilities

  • ✅ Browse photos and videos
  • ✅ Download files (original quality)
  • ✅ View file metadata (filename, date, file size)
  • 🚧 Upload files (coming soon)
  • ❌ Delete media
  • ❌ Create folders (Google Photos organizes automatically)
  • ❌ Move/rename files

Prerequisites

  • A Google account with Google Photos enabled
  • Photos or videos in your Google Photos library

Setup

  1. Go to Workflows => New Workflow
  2. Select Google Photos as a source
  3. Click Sign in with Google
  4. Sign in with your Google account in the browser window that opens
  5. Once signed in, the window closes and Blober is ready
  6. Start browsing or transferring files

Multiple accounts

Blober supports connecting multiple Google accounts at the same time.

  1. In a workflow, open the Google Account dropdown
  2. Click + New Account to connect another Google account
  3. A new login window opens. Sign in with a different account
  4. Switch between accounts using the dropdown

Every account has a separate session, and workflows can run against different accounts in parallel.

Use ↻ to refresh the account list.

File organization

Google Photos files are organized by date and filename:

/2026-01-23/IMG_1234.jpg
/2026-01-23/VID_5678.mp4
/2025-12-15/PXL_20251215_143022.jpg

Browse modes

Mode Description
Flat All files listed at root level
Hierarchical Files grouped in date folders

Year and month folders

To get one folder per month instead of one per day, open Advanced Path Template (Optional) in the destination and enter:

{file_created_year}/{file_created_month}/{filename}

The result:

/2026/01/IMG_1234.jpg
/2025/12/PXL_20251215_143022.jpg

Phones reuse names such as IMG_0001.jpg, and a month folder holds many files. To keep two files with the same name, add the time to the name: {file_created_year}/{file_created_month}/{file_created_datetime}_{filename}.

Photos and videos in separate folders

Use two workflows with the same source and the same destination folder. In Advanced Filters (Optional) of the source, add the video extensions:

Workflow Include Pattern Exclude Pattern Path template
Photos (empty) **/*.{mp4,mov,m4v,avi,mkv,webm,mts,3gp} Photos/{file_created_year}/{file_created_month}/{filename}
Videos **/*.{mp4,mov,m4v,avi,mkv,webm,mts,3gp} (empty) Videos/{file_created_year}/{file_created_month}/{filename}

The patterns ignore letter case, so .MOV and .mov both match, and each file goes to exactly one workflow.

A new template changes where files go. If you already downloaded your library with another layout, choose a new destination folder, because Blober compares the full path when it checks for files that already exist.

File selection

When browsing your Google Photos library, you can select a single file, several files across folders, or the entire library by ticking the / (Entire Storage) checkbox. Then click Submit Selection to add the files to your workflow. There is no file limit.

Supported file types

Type Extensions
Photos .jpg, .png, .heic, .webp, .raw, .dng
Videos .mp4, .mov, .avi, .mkv, .webm, .m4v, .mts, .3gp

Metadata

Blober reads each item's filename, date and file size from Google Photos. These are what Blober's path templates can use:

Field Example Template variables
Filename IMG_1234.jpg filename, filename_no_ext, file_ext
Date 2026-01-23 file_created_date, file_created_datetime, file_created_year, file_created_month, file_created_day (the modified and accessed variables get the same date)
File size 4.2 MB file_size, file_size_mb

Path templates can't use EXIF data, so camera model and image dimensions are not available to them.

Best practices

Back up your Google Photos

Use Google Photos as a source to back up your library to local storage or another cloud provider. This helps because Google Photos counts against your Google storage quota.

Migrate to another provider

Transfer your Google Photos library to S3, Azure, Dropbox, Backblaze B2, or any other supported provider. Blober downloads the original-quality files from Google and uploads them to the destination, streaming each one through your computer, so you don't have to download anything by hand first.

Troubleshooting

Connection issues

  • Login window appears unexpectedly. Google's session cookies have expired. Sign in again to continue. This is normal and happens periodically.
  • Empty file list. Make sure you have photos in your Google Photos library (not just in Google Drive). Shared albums may not appear.
  • Login window closed accidentally. Click Sign in with Google again. No data is lost.

Download issues

  • Download failed for a specific file. The file may be in a format that Google doesn't serve directly. Try again, or check if the file is viewable in Google Photos.
  • Video downloads as image. This can happen for files that were listed without full metadata. The file is corrected automatically on download (the real filename comes from Google's servers).

Limitations

  • Download only. Upload support is coming in a future release.
  • Session duration. Google sessions expire periodically, and Blober prompts you to sign in again when this happens.
  • No album browsing. Blober lists your entire library chronologically, not by album.
  • Rate limiting. Very large libraries may take time to load, because Google returns items in batches.

Further reading

External references