Takeout Import Pro Feature macOS
Every Google Photos export ships with the wrong dates, GPS buried in JSON sidecar files, and the same photo duplicated across multiple album folders. FolioSort's Takeout Import reads those JSON files, writes real metadata back into EXIF, removes duplicates, and organizes your entire library correctly — all on your Mac, without uploading anything.
Three stages — broken input, FolioSort processing, perfect output.
Most migration guides tell you to "just upload your Takeout files." This is what happens when you don't.
Every Takeout image has a matching filename.jpg.json containing photoTakenTime.timestamp — the Unix timestamp of when the shutter fired. FolioSort reads this and writes it into DateTimeOriginal in EXIF. Without this step, every photo appears as "taken today."
Google Takeout stores GPS latitude, longitude and altitude in the JSON sidecar's geoData object — not in the image. FolioSort extracts these and writes them into GPSLatitude, GPSLongitude and GPSAltitude EXIF tags. Immich, Apple Photos, and Lightroom all use EXIF GPS for their map views.
Google truncates filenames longer than 47 characters. A file named Great_Summer_Holidays_Lisbon_2023.jpg becomes Great_Summer_Holidays_Lisbo.jpg, and its sidecar is Great_Summer_Holidays_Lisbo.jpg.json. FolioSort matches them correctly without any manual intervention.
Google Takeout exports photos into both a year folder and every album they belong to. A photo in 3 albums appears 4 times in the export. FolioSort uses SHA-256 content hashing to detect these and keeps only one copy — saving storage and avoiding a cluttered library.
After restoring correct EXIF dates, FolioSort runs the standard Mover. Your template — e.g. {YYYY}/{MM} {Month}/ — now uses the actual capture date. Photos from 2019 go into a 2019 folder, not today's folder.
Every file written during the Takeout Import is verified with SHA-256. If the written file doesn't match the source bit-for-bit, the operation fails safely and you're notified. No silent corruption making it into your permanent archive.
Once FolioSort has processed your Takeout export, your library is fully portable. Every destination guide below starts from this fixed state.
Upload to a self-hosted Immich server with correct dates in the timeline and GPS in the map view. Guide →
FolioSort can write directly to your Synology NAS over SMB — no intermediate step. Guide →
Drag into Apple Photos and let it sync everywhere. Memories, Places, and the timeline all work correctly because EXIF is fixed. Guide →
A self-hosted Nextcloud instance with your organized library and correct EXIF makes Nextcloud Photos' timeline and map view work properly. Guide →
Push your correctly organized library to Amazon S3 for permanent, $2/month cold storage. Known folder paths make S3 lifecycle rules trivial. Guide →
Just want everything local? Organize to an external SSD and browse in Finder, Lightroom, or Capture One — dates always correct. Guide →
The complete Takeout guide explains the problem in detail, shows the exact JSON sidecar format, and covers the complete step-by-step workflow with tips for large libraries.
FolioSort Pro handles the complete Takeout workflow: JSON sidecar reading, EXIF restoration, deduplication, organization, and verified transfer to any destination.