FixMyTakeout

Where to import a fixed Google Takeout export

Every photo app decides the date of a photo in its own way, and Immich, PhotoPrism and Synology Photos all fall back to the file's modified time when nothing is written inside. The table below shows what each destination reads, so you know before you import whether your export will land on the right days.

As at 29 September 2026. Each destination has its own guide with the exact menu steps.

What each destination reads from a photo

A fixed export carries the capture date in the standard EXIF tags, the location in the GPS tags, the caption in ImageDescription and dc:description, and the capture time as each file's modified date. Where a vendor does not publish what its app reads, the table says so rather than guessing.

DestinationDate tag it readsFile with no date insideReads GPSCaption tagIts own way to read Takeout
Apple Photos Not documented by Apple Not documented by Apple Yes, shown on the Places map Not documented by Apple (the app has a Caption field) Google's transfer to iCloud Photos: no Live Photos or Motion Photos, not with Advanced Data Protection, hours to days
Immich SubSecDateTimeOriginal, then DateTimeOriginal, CreationDate, CreateDate, MediaCreateDate and others The earliest of the file date the uploader reports (the CLI and web app send the modified time) and the stored file's dates Yes; ignores 0, 0 ImageDescription, then Description immich-go reads the zips directly; skips files with no JSON unless --include-unmatched
PhotoPrism DateTimeOriginal, then DateTimeCreated, CreateDate, DateTime, DateTimeDigitized A date in the file name or path, then EXIF ModifyDate, then the file's modified time, then the current time Yes (GPSPosition or GPSLatitude and GPSLongitude) Description, ImageDescription, Caption, Caption-Abstract Reads Google JSON next to a file, but only when named name.ext.json or basename.json
Synology Photos "Capture date and time" in Synology's words; its own date edits are written to DateTimeOriginal and DateTime The most recent modification time Photos yes; Synology says it cannot read location from videos EXIF ImageDescription (photos only) None: Synology says its app cannot recognize the JSON files
Lightroom Classic Capture time is EXIF Date Time Original Not documented by Adobe (Edit Capture Time offers a manual fix) Yes, in the Map module Not documented by Adobe (the app has a Caption field) None documented
Microsoft Photos (Windows) Not documented by Microsoft for the app; Windows' "Date taken" property reads EXIF DateTimeOriginal first Not documented by Microsoft Yes, once location search is allowed in Settings Not documented for the app; Windows' Title property reads ImageDescription and dc:description among others None documented

Immich from metadata.service.ts; PhotoPrism from its metadata developer guide and json_gphotos.go; Synology from its metadata standards article; Windows from System.Photo.DateTaken. Apple and Adobe links are on the destination pages.

Apple Photos on a Mac

File > Import brings a fixed folder into the library, and Keep Folder Organization turns the export's year and album folders into albums. Apple does not publish which date tag Photos reads, which is why FixMyTakeout writes both the EXIF capture date and the file date: whichever Photos looks at, it finds the day the photo was taken. Google also offers a direct transfer to iCloud Photos, which leaves out the video half of every Live Photo and Motion Photo. Apple Photos guide.

Immich

The best documented of the six. Immich's server code lists eleven date tags in order and falls back to the file's modified time, which both its CLI and web uploader send. A fixed export satisfies it at every level. If Immich is your only destination and you like a terminal, immich-go reads the raw zips itself. Immich guide.

PhotoPrism

PhotoPrism can read Google's JSON on its own, but its matcher only recognizes name.ext.json and basename.json, so a current export full of .supplemental-metadata.json names is read as if the JSON were not there. Index a fixed export instead and the dates come from inside the files. PhotoPrism guide.

Synology Photos

Synology says plainly that its app cannot recognize Takeout's JSON files and that a photo without a capture date takes the most recent modification time. Upload through Create in the web app or copy the folder into /home/Photos or /photo. Videos keep their dates but Synology cannot read their location or description. Synology Photos guide.

Lightroom Classic

Lightroom Classic stores capture time as EXIF Date Time Original and reads embedded GPS in the Map module. Its Don't Import Suspected Duplicates option treats files with the same original file name, capture date and time, and size as duplicates, and the album-folder copies Takeout repeats match all three. Lightroom Classic guide.

Microsoft Photos on Windows

Extract the parts with Extract All, then add the folder under Gallery. Microsoft does not document which date its Photos app uses, but the Windows property system behind File Explorer's "Date taken" column reads EXIF DateTimeOriginal first, and that is the tag a fixed export carries. Microsoft Photos guide.

A drive or NAS folder

If the destination is a plain folder, whether a backup drive or a share on a NAS, there is nothing to configure. Unzip each fixmytakeout-part- zip with your computer's own tool (double-click on a Mac, Extract All on Windows). Each entry in the zip carries its capture time in three forms (the DOS time, the Info-ZIP UT field and the NTFS field), so unzipping sets every file's modified date to the moment the photo was taken. Sorting the folder by date then puts the export in the order you remember, and any app you add later has both the embedded tags and the file date to work from.

The folder layout stays as Google exported it: "Photos from 2019" and the other year folders, plus one folder per album. If you would rather not keep two copies of a photo that sits in a year folder and an album, tick the option to leave out album-folder copies before you run the fix.

Before you import anywhere

  1. Open fixmytakeout-report.csv and sort by date_source. Files marked none found had no JSON, no date inside and no date in their name; their only date is the one the export gave the file.
  2. Check the location column for a few photos you know were taken somewhere specific. Only real coordinates are written; a Google position of exactly 0, 0 is treated as no location.
  3. Pick the destination guide above and follow its steps in order. Each one ends with a way to confirm the dates arrived.