How to move pictures from the Mac Photos app to Google Photos

This complete guide shows you how to upload photos and videos stored inside your Mac’s Photos app (your entire macOS Photo Library) or a Finder folder to Google Photos. We show you both automatic and manual methods.

Move Mac Photos to Google Photos

Before you begin: Google Photos no longer offers unlimited uploads. You get 15GB free with every Google account, which is shared across Google products like Drive, Gmail, Google Photos, and more. The remaining pictures and videos won’t transfer or upload if your Mac’s photo library exceeds the space available in your Google Photos account.

1. Use iCloud to Google Photos transfer

Apple lets you transfer a copy of your photos and videos stored in iCloud Photos to other services like Google Photos. So, if you use iCloud Photos on your Mac, you can follow the steps to request a transfer of your photos and videos in iCloud to Google Photos. The entire process happens in the background, and you don’t have to transfer the photos manually.

Tip: If you’re using iCloud Photos, the same pictures & videos are on your Mac and other Apple devices like your iPhone and iPad. In that case, you can also auto-upload the images from your iPhone to Google Photos.

2. Automatically upload your entire Mac’s Photo Library to Google Photos

Google Photos doesn’t have a native Mac app. But its bigger brother, Google Drive, does. So, here’s how to use Google Drive on Mac to automatically upload all images and videos from your Mac’s Photos app to Google Photos:

1) Download the macOS Google Drive app, install and open it. You’ll also notice that it has installed Google Slides, Docs, and Sheets. You can uninstall them later if desired.

2) Click the Google Drive icon in the top menu bar and sign in.

Google Drive Sign in Mac

3) Once again, click the Google Drive icon from the top menu bar and click the gear icon > Preferences.

Google Drive Preferences

4) Click the gear icon on the Google Drive app screen.

Go to Mac Google Drive Preferences

5) Check the box for Upload photos and videos to Google Photos > Confirm > Save > Restart Now.

Upload photos and videos to Google Photos from Mac

That’s it. You will see that your images and videos from the macOS Photos app are uploaded to Google Photos. Depending on your photo library size and internet speed, it may take a while. You can see the status by clicking the Google Drive icon in the top menu bar. Click the gear icon and choose Pause syncing to pause the uploads temporarily.

macOS Photos Library uploading to Google Photos

3. Manually upload Mac’s photos to Google Photos

If you don’t want to upload your entire Mac’s Photo Library but just some selected images, you’ll have to pull out the pictures and videos from the Photos app to a folder and then upload them to Google Photos.

Transfer pictures from Mac’s Photos app into a folder

Here are two ways to do that. For me, the first method is easier.

1. Drag them out

1) Open the macOS Photos app and click Library.

2) Click All Photos. You can also select a month, year, or album (from the sidebar).

3) Hold the Command key and select the images.

4) Drag the photos from the Photos app onto the desktop or a Finder folder. Next, you can upload these to Google Photos.

Drag pictures out of Mac Photos app to desktop folder

2. Unpack the Photos Library

Here’s how to go to the Mac’s Photos app folder location where images are stored:

1) Open the macOS Photos app and press Command + Comma (,).

2) Under General preferences, click Show in Finder.

3) Right-click the Photos Library file and choose Show Package Contents.

4) Open the originals folder, and you’ll see the images in many sub-folders here. You can upload them from these folders to Google Photos.

Mac Photos Library folder

Upload photos from Mac to Google Photos

Once you have the images in a folder uploading them to Google Photos is easy. Here are three ways to do that.

1. Use a web browser

1) Visit photos.google.com and sign in to your Google account if required.

2) Reduce the size of the browser window. Now drag photos and videos from a Mac folder to the Google Photos browser tab.

3) Alternatively, you can also click Upload > Computer > go to the folder > select the images and click Open. These pictures will upload to Google Photos.

Upload to Google Photos in a web browser

2. Use the Google Photos Chrome app

1) Visit photos.google.com and sign in with your Google account.

2) Click the download icon on the right of the address bar.

3) Click Install to get the Google Photos Chrome app on your Mac.

Install Google Photos Chrome app on Mac

4) Open Mac’s Launchpad, and you’ll find the Google Photos app there. Open it, and you’ll notice that it looks similar to Google Photos in a web browser.

5) Drag files from your Mac’s folder onto the Google Photos app window to upload them. You can also click Upload and choose a folder.

Google Photos Chrome app on Mac

3. Use the Google Drive app folder for effortless uploads

If you work a lot with images and don’t want to drag and drop or even open Google Photos every time in a browser or as a Chrome app, the steps below have you covered.

We will show you how to create a folder on your Mac, and every image or video you add to this folder will automatically upload to Google Photos. You only have to put the pictures in this Finder folder and do nothing else! Once photos are uploaded to Google Photos, you can access them on a web browser or the Google Photos app on your smartphone.

1) Download the official Google Drive Mac app, install and open it.

2) Click the Google Drive icon from the top menu bar and complete the sign-in process.

Google Drive Sign in Mac

3) Once again, click the Google Drive icon from the top menu bar and click the gear icon > Preferences.

Google Drive Preferences

4) Under My Mac, click Add folder. Now, you can choose an existing folder and click Open or click New Folder and create one for Google Photos.

Add Folder to Google Drive on Mac

5) Uncheck Sync with Google Drive and check Back up to Google Photos. Next, click Done.

Back up to Google Photos on Mac

6) Click Save.

Set up Google Photos folder on Mac

7) Now, any photo or video you put inside this folder will automatically upload to your Google Photos! When the photos are being uploaded, you’ll see an animated Google Drive icon in the top menu bar. You can click this icon to see the activity.

Photos uploaded to Google Photos from Mac folder
The test image I put inside the folder is automatically uploaded to Google Photos.

By now, you know how to upload your entire macOS Photo Library to Google Photos. You also know how to drag images and videos out of the macOS Photos app and upload them manually to Google Photos.

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