MacOS – Backup Photos using Google Photo Desktop Uploader

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I am a user of Photos for OSX, after upgrading from iPhoto. I am trying to use Google's photo service to backup my library from my Mac Mini. I have installed the Google Desktop Uploader application from the photos.google.com site.

The application does not seem to allow me to select my Photos library in the preferences as it is grayed out. If I select the "Pictures" parent folder, the application does not find my photos and they are not uploaded.

My Photos library resides on the internal drive in my mini, and is about 131GB in size.

Best Answer

I wasn't sure if this was possible, but I'm please to report that it is, and I'm going to use it myself. The trick is to understand that Photos Library.photoslibrary is a Package File that Google Photos Backup doesn't know how to see inside. However, Finder does. So, right click on Photos Library.photoslibrary (normally inside your Pictures folder) and select Show Package Contents. All of your pictures are inside of Masters, organized by date added (however note that any edits you made in Apple Photos are not included; these are the original images).

Now, run Google Photos Backup and click Add to select the folder. Drag the Masters folder into the File Dialog:

Dragging Master folder to Google Add Watched Folders

Now click Choose, and you've succeeded in getting the Google Photos Backup to look inside the Apple Photo package. You may want to unclick the other watched folders, since Apple Photo should already be importing all images.

I just figured this out, so I'll update if I find any downsides. Since Google Photos is completely free for the High Quality images (as opposed to Original resolution), it will be interesting to compare the two services.

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