What is googlephotostakeouthelper?

thelastgimbus/googlephotostakeouthelper — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-26

★ 5,705DartAudience · generalComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Takeout Helper))
    What it does
      Merges Takeout folders
      Restores timestamps
      Chronological sort
    Features
      Month subfolders
      Interactive mode
      CLI headless mode
    Installation
      Windows exe
      macOS binary
      Linux binary
    Use cases
      Photo migration
      Self-hosted library
      NAS processing

mindmap root((Takeout Helper)) What it does Merges Takeout folders Restores timestamps Chronological sort Features Month subfolders Interactive mode CLI headless mode Installation Windows exe macOS binary Linux binary Use cases Photo migration Self-hosted library NAS processing

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Merge all scattered folders from a Google Takeout export into one chronologically sorted photo library with a single tool run.

USE CASE 2

Restore the original capture date to photo file timestamps using the JSON metadata that Google Takeout includes.

USE CASE 3

Organize exported photos into year-month subfolders for clean import into self-hosted apps like Immich or Photoprism.

USE CASE 4

Run the tool in command-line mode on a headless NAS or Linux server to process a large photo archive without a GUI.

What is it built with?

Dart

How does it compare?

	thelastgimbus/googlephotostakeouthelper	sky24n/flutter_wanandroid	miru-project/miru-app
Stars	5,705	5,672	5,504
Language	Dart	Dart	Dart
Setup difficulty	easy	moderate	easy
Complexity	1/5	2/5	3/5
Audience	general	developer	general

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 30min

The tool moves files by default rather than copying, keep original zip archives until the output is verified.

So what is it?

Google Photos Takeout Helper is a tool that cleans up and reorganizes the archive you get when you export your photos from Google Photos using Google Takeout. When you request your data from Google Takeout, the download arrives as a collection of zip files that unpack into many small folders, with each photo accompanied by a separate JSON file containing its metadata. Finding and sorting through all of that manually is tedious, and many standard photo apps do not know how to read the JSON files to restore correct dates. This tool processes the entire Takeout archive and produces a single output folder with all your photos in it, in chronological order, with file timestamps set to match the original capture date from the JSON metadata. You can also choose to have photos sorted into subfolders by month. The tool moves files by default rather than copying them, so the README advises keeping your original zip files until you have verified everything looks correct. Since version 3.2.0 the tool runs interactively: you download an executable for your system, run it, and follow the on-screen prompts without needing to know any command-line flags. Pre-built executables are available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and there is also a package on the Arch Linux AUR. A manual command-line mode is also available for running the tool on headless machines, network-attached storage devices, or in automation scripts. The README recommends an optional follow-up step using a separate tool called exiftool to embed the original date into the photo files themselves as EXIF metadata. This ensures the creation date is stored inside the image file and not just in the filesystem timestamp, which can get reset when copying files on Android. The README also suggests several alternatives to Google Photos for people who want to self-host their photo library going forward, including Immich and Photoprism.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I exported my Google Photos via Google Takeout and have messy nested folders with JSON sidecar files. Show me how to run Google Photos Takeout Helper to merge everything into one chronological folder.

Prompt 2

How do I run Google Photos Takeout Helper in command-line mode on a Linux server to process my Takeout archive without the interactive UI?

Prompt 3

After running Google Photos Takeout Helper, how do I use exiftool to embed the correct capture date into the EXIF data inside each photo file?

Prompt 4

I want my Google Takeout photos sorted into month subfolders rather than one flat folder. What option do I use with Google Photos Takeout Helper?

Frequently asked questions