From Google Photos to Immich (two users with shared albums)

Heya.. I am having a hard time finding some official resources on how to properly migrate from Google Photos to Immich when we are more than one user with shared albums.. It is mostly in regards to duplicates I guess, but please tell me if I should be aware of something more. - Or if there is an actual guide that I have missed.. 😅 I hope it makes sense to ask here in support - and if not, please just delete the post, that's okay. 🙂 This is how I am thinking of doing it.. Would that work you think? Or can you see something go wrong?:
Me:
- Google takeout everything (which only gets my own photos in shared albums)
- Free up whole phone so no local photos are on the phone
- Run go-immich upload command (upload from-google-photos)
- Enable Immich backup on phone
- Share all albums with wife (make sure wife has renamed all hers before?)
- Done
Me:
- Google takeout everything (which only gets my own photos in shared albums)
- Free up whole phone so no local photos are on the phone
- Run go-immich upload command (upload from-google-photos)
- Enable Immich backup on phone
- Share all albums with wife (make sure wife has renamed all hers before?)
- Done
Wife:
- Google takeout everything (which only gets her own photos in shared albums)
- Free up whole phone so no local photos are on the phone
- Run go-immich upload command (upload from-google-photos)
- Rename all shared albums by suffixing "_transfer"
- Move all photos from "_transfer"-suffixed albums to the correct shared albums and delete suffixed ones after
- Enable Immich backup on phone
- Done
Wife:
- Google takeout everything (which only gets her own photos in shared albums)
- Free up whole phone so no local photos are on the phone
- Run go-immich upload command (upload from-google-photos)
- Rename all shared albums by suffixing "_transfer"
- Move all photos from "_transfer"-suffixed albums to the correct shared albums and delete suffixed ones after
- Enable Immich backup on phone
- Done
19 Replies
Immich
Immich7d ago
:wave: Hey @Bjørnholt, Thanks for reaching out to us. Please carefully read this message and follow the recommended actions. This will help us be more effective in our support effort and leave more time for building Immich :immich:. References - Container Logs: docker compose logs docs - Container Status: docker ps -a docs - Reverse Proxy: https://immich.app/docs/administration/reverse-proxy - Code Formatting https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/210298617-Markdown-Text-101-Chat-Formatting-Bold-Italic-Underline#h_01GY0DAKGXDEHE263BCAYEGFJA Checklist I have... 1. :ballot_box_with_check: verified I'm on the latest release(note that mobile app releases may take some time). 2. :blue_square: read applicable release notes. 3. :blue_square: reviewed the FAQs for known issues. 4. :blue_square: reviewed Github for known issues. 5. :blue_square: tried accessing Immich via local ip (without a custom reverse proxy). 6. :blue_square: uploaded the relevant information (see below). 7. :blue_square: tried an incognito window, disabled extensions, cleared mobile app cache, logged out and back in, different browsers, etc. as applicable (an item can be marked as "complete" by reacting with the appropriate number) Information In order to be able to effectively help you, we need you to provide clear information to show what the problem is. The exact details needed vary per case, but here is a list of things to consider: - Your docker-compose.yml and .env files. - Logs from all the containers and their status (see above). - All the troubleshooting steps you've tried so far. - Any recent changes you've made to Immich or your system. - Details about your system (both software/OS and hardware). - Details about your storage (filesystems, type of disks, output of commands like fdisk -l and df -h). - The version of the Immich server, mobile app, and other relevant pieces. - Any other information that you think might be relevant. Please paste files and logs with proper code formatting, and especially avoid blurry screenshots. Without the right information we can't work out what the problem is. Help us help you ;) If this ticket can be closed you can use the /close command, and re-open it later if needed.
schuhbacca
schuhbacca7d ago
This seems like a reasonable enough way to get the same shared album functionality you were using in google photos.
Bjørnholt
BjørnholtOP7d ago
Okay cool, thank you for a bit of confirmation. Guess I'm gonna try it #pray 😁
schuhbacca
schuhbacca7d ago
Just know bulk album share isn't implemented yet, so if you have a lot of albums it can be a bit of a pain 😅
Bjørnholt
BjørnholtOP7d ago
Have about 50, so not thaaat many luckily. 😛 Haven't tried to share one yet, but hopefully just a one time thing, so it's not that bad
NoMachine
NoMachine7d ago
if you are willing to experiment, I would first share the albums from the first account, then upload the photos from the 2nd account. I don't know what immich-go will do, if will add them to the shared album or create a private one
Bjørnholt
BjørnholtOP7d ago
I would imagine it's convenient like pressing share and choosing her account - I can manage that 50 times 😄 But bulk would be cool Hmm Could try with 3 albums to start
schuhbacca
schuhbacca7d ago
Would give what nomachine said a shot. I had the same thought but wasn't sure how it would be handled
Bjørnholt
BjørnholtOP7d ago
Would be cool if it just worked yeah The API keys are bound to the user, right? So I need to remember to use a key generated on my own account and one for her account
NoMachine
NoMachine7d ago
yes, remember if target user is not admin, you'll need to use both keys (admin and user)
Bjørnholt
BjørnholtOP7d ago
Not sure I am understanding correctly. I have my account (the first created one which is then the admin one), and then I have myself created her account. I have on my own account created an API key and am using this immich-go command: ./immich-go upload from-google-photos --server=http://192.168.1.2:2283 --api-key=myOwnKey takeout-*.zip. You mean I need to use --api-key=myOwnKey and the other one I create on hers account with an additional flag, or?
schuhbacca
schuhbacca7d ago
When upload to a non admin account you need --api-key=nonAdminUserApiKey and --admin-api-key=adminApiKey. This is because the admin api key is used to pause and resume some jobs during upload to not cause race conditions that have not yet been addressed on the server
Bjørnholt
BjørnholtOP7d ago
Oh damn, good to know, thank you. I'll add --admin-api-key=adminApiKey to the command when uploading her stuff. I'll get back here hopefully tonight or tomorrow when I get the chance to test, if you are curious about the outcome 🙂 🎉 Heya again - I'm sorry, but I forgot to confirm something with you guys.. We agree that step 2 (Free up whole phone so no local photos are on the phone) is necessary, right? Otherwise all the Google Photos photos from the takeout and the current ones locally on the phone would be duplicated when turning on Immich's backup option on the phone, right? Can't seem to find an option to only backup from the backup-enabling point at least? And I guess Immich doesn't magically know they are the same ones? I'm mostly asking because my wife likes to only upload manually normally which means not all of her photos are on Google Photos (actually only the shared ones in shared albums). So I guess I need to make her upload them all to make a full Google Photos takeout.. But that would of course be nice to avoid
NoMachine
NoMachine7d ago
are you uploading with storage saver?
Bjørnholt
BjørnholtOP7d ago
I don't think so no Do you mean in Immich (if it has it)? Or the "free up storage" thingy in Google Photo? That the thing I am going to turn on to delete all local photos on my phone
NoMachine
NoMachine7d ago
Google photos has 2 options to upload your photos, original and storage saver
Bjørnholt
BjørnholtOP7d ago
Ah now I understand - everything is original Very important 😛 Did you ask in regards to my way too long question? Or just a heads up for me to remember having it turned on?
NoMachine
NoMachine7d ago
1. stop syncing to Google 2. request and upload takeout with Immich go 3. open immich in your phone (after the internal processing is done) and check if the app detect those assets as already in the server 4. (if Immich thinks the assets in your phone are new) select free device space in Google photos personally (and this is what I did), I unzipped the takeout, copied all the assets from my phone to the takeout folder (replacing everything), and then I uploaded it to Immich. that way I made sure I had the original files (maybe unnecessary, but I don't trust google)
Bjørnholt
BjørnholtOP7d ago
Oh yeah that makes sense - this is the way to do it on her phone Thank you! Awesome support ♥️ Yeah I agree.. Trying to get as much away from Google as possible Oh well, fuc*... Google being annoying again (surprise).. On my wife's Takeout, I can't even choose albums I have shared with her.......... 🙃 So now I gotta figure out the best and most reliable way to do it manually I guess

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