How to download all pictures from google photos to computer

To stay below Google’s looming data cap we’ve shown you how to manage your Gmail, Drive, and Photos files, how to block new uploads to Google Photos, how to clean up your Gmail inbox by quickly deleting old email, and how to upload everything you can before the restrictions hit on June 1. But what if you want to just get everything out of Google Photos to start fresh or move to another service? That’s actually a very simple task. If you only want to take out a few photos we’ll show you how to do that, as well.

Once you’ve downloaded all your photos from Google you can delete everything you have there—or just leave it as an online backup—and move to another service. If you decide to delete we’d strongly advise you to have two backups of all your photos before erasing your Google Photos library.

A good strategy is to have one backup on an external hard drive at home, and a second backup on another hard drive stashed somewhere else or with a cloud backup service that supports encryption, such as Backblaze or iDrive. Whatever you decide to do it’s always a good idea to have three copies of your important data to keep it safe. Redundancy is the key.

Download every picture from Google Photos

How to download all pictures from google photos to computer
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Start from the Google Photos settings to download all your images.

To get everything from Google Photos, login to the service and click the Settings cog icon in the upper-right corner. On the next screen, scroll down to Export your data, click the downward facing arrow in that section, and then click the Backup link as pictured here.

How to download all pictures from google photos to computer
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Google Takeout makes it easy to download all your Google Photos in a few clicks.

This will take you to Google Takeout, the company’s service for downloading your data stored on Google’s servers. Getting there via Photos, as opposed to going directly to Takeout, means all your stuff on Google Photos will be selected, but no other data from your Google Account will be. Now click Next step.

The next page shows the default settings for your data export, such as the file type for your archive and the size of each archive file. By default, each archive folder will be compressed into a ZIP folder, but you can also choose the TGZ format if you’d prefer. It’s also possible to make your archived ZIP files larger if you want to, though it’ll be easier to download a bunch of 2GB files as opposed to larger 10GB files that might suddenly pause or mess up.

How to download all pictures from google photos to computer
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Depending on the size of your photos library your Google Photos export may take a few days.

Once you’ve got everything set the way you like, click Create export. Now all you’ve got to do is wait. Google will forecast how long the export will take. Depending on the size of your Photos collection it could be a few hours or a few days.

Download select images from Google Photos

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Google Photos lets you select multiple photos for download.

If you want to download only a few select photos, the process is also very simple. Begin by hovering over the photo you want to select, and then click the check mark in the upper left corner of the image. This puts Google Photos into selection mode, from there you just repeat the process for the other photos you want to download. If you’d like to download photos from an entire day just click the check mark next to the date.

How to download all pictures from google photos to computer
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For quick jobs you can select a multiple images from your Google Photos library for download.

Once you’ve selected all the photos you want, either hit Shift + D on your keyboard or click the three vertical dots in the upper right and select Download. Next, click Save when the File Explorer window appears, and you’re all set. As with the bulk Takeout option, your photos will download as a ZIP archive.

Getting your stuff out of Google Photos is relatively easy. What’s not so simple is deleting all your photos in one go—but that’s a discussion for another time.

How to download all pictures from google photos to computer

How to download photos from Google Photos to your iPhone or computer

  • April 27, 2021

Google Photos is a popular cloud-based service for uploading and backing up all of your pictures from your iPhone. But what about when you want to get your pictures off of Google Photos? Don’t worry — it’s just as easy to download photos as it is to upload them. Keep reading to see for yourself.

Before you download photos to your iPhone

Keep in mind that downloading large selections of pictures can quickly eat up valuable space on your iPhone. To prevent this, you should get rid of the clutter in your photo library to help save storage space. You can download the app Gemini Photos to help you quickly purge unwanted photos such as duplicates, similar-looking pics, and blurry images. After you download Gemini Photos from the App Store, here’s all you have to do to tidy up:

  1. Open Gemini Photos and let it scan.
  2. Choose one of the categories, such as Similar.
  3. Tap a date or event.
  4. Select the photo version you want to delete and tap Move [x] to Trash.
  5. Tap Empty Trash once you’ve removed all of your similar-looking pics.
  • How to download all pictures from google photos to computer
  • How to download all pictures from google photos to computer

After you’re finished combing through your similar photos, tap Your Library in the top left and choose another category like Duplicates, Notes, or Screenshots.

When you’re done cleaning up with Gemini Photos, it’s important to remember that those pictures are still taking up space on your iPhone. But you can permanently delete them in the Photos app by navigating to Albums > Recently Deleted > Select > Delete All.

Maybe you’ve been using Google Photos for a while, and now you want to download all those pictures. Or perhaps you’re still looking into Google Photos and want to make sure you’ll be able to download all your treasured photos from the cloud. Whatever your motivation, we’ve answered some of the most common questions below.

Can you download all Google photos to your iPhone?

If you’ve been trying to figure out how to download all your photos from Google photos to a phone, you’re not alone. The good news is that it can be done. The not-so-great news is that it can’t be done with an iPhone alone.

Google allows you to download everything using a desktop computer. Once you have all of your photos on your computer, you’ll be able to sync them with your iPhone via iCloud, Finder, iTunes, or AirDrop.

How to download everything from Google Photos to your Mac

If you’re using a Mac, here’s how to download all your Google Photos:

  1. Open your browser and go to photos.google.com.
  2. Sign in to your account.
  3. Click on the first picture.
  4. Hold down the Shift key on your keyboard.
  5. Scroll down to your last picture and click on it.
  6. Click on the three dots and choose Download.

How to save all pictures and videos to your Windows computer

Downloading all of your Google Photos to a Windows computer is pretty easy. Just follow these steps:

  1. In your browser, go to takeout.google.com.
  2. Click Deselect All.
  3. Scroll down to Google Photos and check the box.
  4. Click Next Step and hit Create Export.

Google will email you a link when your export is ready. Click on the link in your email to download all of your pictures.

How to download photos and videos from Google Photos

Downloading individual pictures from Google Photos is just as easy. Below, you’ll read about how to add pics to your Camera Roll on your iPhone, a cloud drive like Google Drive, or your computer’s hard drive.

How to save photos from Google Photos to your iPhone Camera Roll

On your iPhone, open the Google Photos app and follow these steps to download an individual picture:

  1. In Google Photos, select the picture you want to download.
  2. Tap the ellipses and hit Download.
  • How to download all pictures from google photos to computer
  • How to download all pictures from google photos to computer

To help reduce the risk of downloading duplicates, Google Photos only displays the Download button if a picture isn’t already in your Camera Roll. So if you try to download a picture but can’t find this button, the good news is that it’s already on your phone.

How to download pictures from Google Photos to Files, Google Drive, or iCloud Drive

Fortunately, saving pictures to a file-based app like Files, Google Drive, or iCloud Drive is no more difficult than saving them to your Camera Roll. Here’s how you do it in Google Photos:

  1. Open the picture you want to save.
  2. Tap the Share button (a square with an arrow pointing out of the top).
  3. Select Share to…
  4. Choose an app from the list or tap Save to Files.

Depending on where you choose to save the photo, you might be prompted to pick a folder or location within the shared drive.

  • How to download all pictures from google photos to computer
  • How to download all pictures from google photos to computer

How to download your photos to a Mac

To download pictures to your Mac, just follow these instructions:

  1. In your browser, go to photos.google.com and sign in.
  2. Select the photo(s) to download.
  3. Click the three dots and hit Download.
How to download all pictures from google photos to computer

How to download your photos to a Windows PC

If you’re using a Windows computer, here’s how you download your pics from Google Photos:

  1. Go to photos.google.com in your browser.
  2. Click the checkmark in the top left to select your pics.
  3. In the top right, click the three dots and hit Download.

Whether you want to transfer photos from iPhone to iPhone or to keep your entire photo library backed up, Google Photos is an incredibly easy and effective tool. And hopefully, after reading this article, you feel confident in your ability to retrieve those pictures, too!

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  • Google Photos
  • Transfer