Transferring Google Photos with the correct dates and albums

The question: I've taken my photos out of Google Photos, but in Nextcloud they're all showing the upload date. And my albums are gone. How do I transfer them properly?

Why this happens

When you download your photos with Google Takeout, Google often doesn't store the date taken, location and description in the photo itself, but in a separate .json file next to each photo. Photos and Memories only read the information in the photo. Without that information, they use the file date, which is the day you uploaded it. Takeout puts albums into separate folders; as an album, they don't yet exist in Nextcloud.

Solution 1: the WebOké Import Tool (recommended)

The WebOké Import Tool processes the export from Google for you. It unpacks the zip files from Google Takeout itself and keeps the date, location and device the photo was taken with. Your albums are preserved. You don't need to do anything with the .json files yourself.

1. First request access: send the email address of your Google account via a ticket in My WebOké. This is needed due to a restriction on Google's side.
2. Export your photos with Google Takeout to your Google Drive (as zip files).
3. In your Nextcloud, open your profile photo at the top right, then Settings, WebOke Import Tool, and sign in to Google.
4. Under Photo import(zip), fetch the zip files with Takeout bestanden migreren van Google Drive and then start Start Google Photos Import.

All steps with screenshots are in Transferring Google Drive, Photos, Calendar and Contacts with the WebOké Import Tool.

Solution 2: doing it yourself with Google Takeout

1. Export your photos with Google Takeout and unpack the zip files on your computer.
2. Write the dates and locations from the .json files back into the photos, using a tool designed for this purpose with Google Takeout. Do this before uploading. See also Photos from Google Takeout with the correct date.
3. Upload the photos to your own folder, for example Foto's Google, using the desktop app or by dragging the folder into Files.
4. Add that folder under Photos settings in Photos, and in Memories choose a timeline folder it falls under (see Timeline, albums and folders and Photos or Memories: which app for what?).

Recreating your albums

If you use the Import Tool, your albums are preserved. If you transferred the photos yourself (solution 2), Google's export has each album as its own folder, named after the album. Here's how to turn them back into albums:

1. In Photos, go to Albums and create an album with the same name.
2. When adding photos, select the photos from that folder.

If you only have a few albums, it's often just as convenient to leave the folders as they are and view them under Folders. You can also share a folder, just like an album (see Sharing an album with family or friends).

A few photos still wrong?

If some photos still show the wrong date after transferring, correct them in Memories: open the photo, choose Edit metadata from the three dots at the top right, and enter the correct date. See Map and location: adjusting the date of a photo.

Please note: a Google photo library is often tens of gigabytes in size. Check in advance whether you have enough storage (see Viewing your storage: what counts and what doesn't), and only delete the photos from Google once you've checked in Nextcloud that everything is there.