Suggestions for Synology Users

[brock]

Thanks for this script, this is super helpful. I'm running a Synology and thought I'd contribute a couple tips that others might find useful.

• The indexing service on Synology can't be stopped easily, and once you start this script, your Synology will likely come to a crawl as it attempts to index and generate thumbnails for all of the new photos. You can pause it in the menu bar at the top of the screen, but I'd recommend setting the Indexing Service to run on a schedule.

• If you try to run ./gpth-linux from SSH, it likely won't work because (I believe) it is expecting a typical linux window environment. What worked for me was to run this on another machine and select the folders over the Samba share, so mount the smb://synology, select photo or some other directory, then running ./gpth-macos

[brock]

Sponsoring you for the year @TheLastGimbus as a thank you!

[TheLastGimbus]

thought I'd contribute a couple tips

Nice of you! If you would want to, we could make some .md file/wiki page for you guys

once you start this script, your Synology will likely come to a crawl

Hmm, if you intend to leave them there, this shouldn't be an issue, because gpth copies each file, changes it's date and it's done - it doesn't modify them afterwards or anything. But yeah, you may want to stop this

... mount the smb://synology, ...

Umm... ;_;

Bro, you can just use cli options to skip whole desktop-enviroment-pickers stuff:

$ unzip takeout.zip
$ gpth --input takeout/ --output my-photos/
# Should work perfectly on any distro

Funny thing, gpth is recommended in offical synology faq 😅 https://kb.synology.com/en-in/DSM/tutorial/How_do_I_migrate_photos_from_Google_Photos although it's old python version

Sponsoring you

Big thanks! Will definietley enjoy some coding'n'pizza with this <3

[TheLastGimbus]

Maybe a separate Synology readme

I get you 👀 - i may add some extra notes soon

The readme says that you can just leave them as-is

Because of the amounts of emails where people just wouldn't read the readme, i dumbed it down to non-techy windoza users, and wish anyone advanced will see options with --help.

It says in options help that you need to extract them:

$ gpth --help
# ...
When ready, download all .zips, and extract them into *one* folder.
(Auto-extracting works only in interactive mode)

Then, run: gpth --input "folder/with/all/takeouts" --output "your/output/folder"
...and gpth will parse and organize all photos into one big chronological folder
# ...
-i, --input                   Input folder with *all* takeouts *extracted*. 
# ...

But yeah, kinda my fault, sorry for confusion 😅

[palijn]

regarding Synology indexing :
yes indeed, Synology Photos looks into the /photos shared folder and all the ~/Photos , and will react as soon as a file pops up in there.
That's why I feel it is best to extract and process files outside of these clearly identified folders, and mv the resulting folder into the appropriate one as the last step - which should protect the last modified time information on every file except maybe the root folder, and be extremely fast as long as you kept the folders within the same filesystem (because then no data will actually move at all). Choosing something akin to ~/Takeout and ~/Takeout-processed would normally do the job fine.
You were very right too, to mention that the Media Indexer will by default look for stuff into some specific folders, something most people would not even know.
Those two caveats should definitely be present in a Synology-specific readme.

Edit: I'm using ~ as the universal notation for "your home folder", usually in /home/username .

[brock]

Okay, it looks like I read that too fast and didn't pay close enough attention. I had downloaded the zips into one location, but not yet extracted them. Once I did that, all of the files are now in the Takeout folder.

The issue I'm running into now is that if I run ./gpth-linux --input Takeout --output google-photos it gives me this error:

Setting VM flags failed: Unrecognized flags: input

I explored this a bit yesterday and discovered that the script isn't recognized unless you elevate to the super user. You must instead run it as sudo ./gpth-linux --input Takeout --output google-photos

So it is running for the first time now.

[TheLastGimbus]

discovered that the script isn't recognized unless you elevate to the super user

Umm... aren't you missing chmod +x gpth-linux to give it execute permissions?

[brock]

I did give it executable permissions, but when run as the normal user, the dart script gave that output.

It looks like the permissions were off when I copied it over to the NAS. I ran a chmod 777 gpth-linux though a chmod 644 would probably have sufficed.

[vixius]

Hello, everyone. Thanks for your work. I do not understand many steps due to language and know how. I'm getting freak to fix this problem on my photo folder in synology. Is there some one that could explain me what to do step by step for running it?

[jaimetur]

OrganizeTakeoutPhotos

Script (based on GPTH Tool) to Process Google Takeout Photos (Fix metadata, Identify Live Pictures, Organize per year/month folders, separate Albums, Fix Symbolic Links, Find Duplicates, Manage Duplicates, Homogenize Albums folders name, Import Albums to Synology Photos, Delete Empty Synology Photos Albums and much more)

Download Script:

Download the script either Linux, MacOS or Windows version (for both x64/amd64 or arm64 architectures) as you prefeer directly from following links:

Linux::

• Download AMD 64 bits version
• Download ARM 64 bits version

Mac OS:

• Download AMD 64 bits version
• Download ARM 64 bits version

Windows:

• Download AMD 64 bits version

Instructions:

You can copy and unzip the downloaded Script into any local folder or to any Shared folder of our Synology NAS.

After that you have to download Takeout Zip's files from Google Takeout and paste the ZIP files onto the folder called 'Zip_files' within the folder script which is the default folder to process Takeout ZIP files, or if you prefeer you can put them in any other subfolder and use the option '-z, --zip-folder <folder_name>' to indicate it. (Note: paste all Zip files downloaded from Google Takeout directly on that folder, without subfolders inside it).

Then you just need to call it depending on your environment:

• If you run it from Windows (using Shell or PowerShell terminal) you have to call the master script 'OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.exe'

• If you run it from Synology NAS (using SSH terminal) or from Linux/Mac, you have to call the master script 'OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.run'.
  Minimum version required to run the script directly from your Synology NAS (using SSH terminal) is DSM 7.0.

Syntax:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
usage: OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.py [-h] [-v] [-z <ZIP_FOLDER>]
                                [-t <TAKEOUT_FOLDER>] [-s <SUFIX>]
                                [-as ['flatten', 'year', 'year/month', 'year-month']]
                                [-ns ['flatten', 'year', 'year/month', 'year-month']]
                                [-sg] [-se] [-sm] [-sa] [-it] [-mt] [-rd] [-nl]
                                [-fs <FOLDER_TO_FIX>]
                                [-ra <ALBUMS_FOLDER>]
                                [-fd <ACTION> <DUPLICATES_FOLDER> [<DUPLICATES_FOLDER>...]]
                                [-pd <DUPLICATES_REVISED_CSV>]
                                [-ao <INPUT_FOLDER>]
                                [-sea <ALBUMS_NAME> [<ALBUMS_NAME> ...]]
                                [-sca <ALBUMS_FOLDER>] [-sde] [-sdd]
                                [-iea <ALBUMS_NAME> [<ALBUMS_NAME> ...]]
                                [-ica <ALBUMS_FOLDER>] [-ide] [-idd]

OrganizeTakeoutPhotos v2.3.0 - 2025-01-14

Script (based on GPTH Tool) to Process Google Takeout Photos and much more useful features
(remove duplicates, fix metadata, organize per year/month folder, separate Albums, fix symlinks, etc...).
(c) 2024-2025 by Jaime Tur (@jaimetur)

options:

-h,   --help
        show this help message and exit
-v,   --version
        Show the script name, version, and date, then exit.
-z,   --zip-folder <ZIP_FOLDER>
        Specify the Zip folder where the Zip files are placed. If this option is
        omitted, unzip of input files will be skipped.
-t,   --takeout-folder <TAKEOUT_FOLDER>
        Specify the Takeout folder to process. If -z, --zip-folder is present,
        this will be the folder to unzip input files. Default: 'Takeout'.
-s,   --suffix <SUFIX>
        Specify the suffix for the output folder. Default: 'fixed'
-as,  --albums-structure ['flatten', 'year', 'year/month', 'year-month']
        Specify the type of folder structure for each Album folder (Default:
        'flatten').
-ns,  --no-albums-structure ['flatten', 'year', 'year/month', 'year-month']
        Specify the type of folder structure for ALL_PHOTOS folder (Default:
        'year/month').
-sg,  --skip-gpth-tool
        Skip processing files with GPTH Tool.
        NOT RECOMMENDED!!! because this is the Core of the Script.
        Use this flag only for testing purposses.
-se,  --skip-extras
        Skip processing extra photos such as  -edited, -effects photos.
-sm,  --skip-move-albums
        Skip moving albums to Albums folder.
-sa,  --symbolic-albums
        Creates symbolic links for Albums instead of duplicate the files of each
        Album. (Useful to save disk space but may not be portable to other
        systems).
-it,  --ignore-takeout-structure
        Ignore Google Takeout structure ('.json' files, 'Photos from ' sub-
        folders, etc..), and fix all files found on <TAKEOUT_FOLDER> trying to
        guess timestamp from them.
-mt,  --move-takeout-folder
        Move original photos/videos from <TAKEOUT_FOLDER> to <OUTPUT_FOLDER>.
        CAUTION: Useful to avoid disk space duplication and improve execution
        speed, but you will lost your original unzipped files!!!.
        Use only if you keep the original zipped files or you have disk space
        limitations and you don't mind to lost your original unzipped files.
-rd,  --remove-duplicates-after-fixing
        Remove Duplicates files in <OUTPUT_FOLDER> after fixing them.
-nl,  --no-log-file
        Skip saving output messages to execution log file.

EXTRA MODES:
------------
Following optional arguments can be used to execute the Script in any of the
usefull additionals Extra Modes included. When an Extra Mode is detected only
this module will be executed (ignoring the normal steps). If more than one Extra
Mode is detected, only the first one will be executed.

-fs,  --fix-symlinks-broken <FOLDER_TO_FIX>
        The script will try to fix all symbolic links for Albums in
        <FOLDER_TO_FIX> folder (Useful if you have move any folder from the
        OUTPUT_FOLDER and some Albums seems to be empty.
-ra,  --rename-albums-folders <ALBUMS_FOLDER>
        Rename all Albums folders found in <ALBUMS_FOLDER> to unificate the
        format.
-fd,  --find-duplicates <ACTION> <DUPLICATES_FOLDER> [<DUPLICATES_FOLDER> ...]
        Find duplicates in specified folders.
        <ACTION> defines the action to take on duplicates ('move', 'delete' or
        'list'). Default: 'list'
        <DUPLICATES_FOLDER> are one or more folders (string or list), where the
        script will look for duplicates files. The order of this list is
        important to determine the principal file of a duplicates set. First
        folder will have higher priority.
-pd,  --process-duplicates-revised <DUPLICATES_REVISED_CSV>
        Specify the Duplicates CSV file revised with specifics Actions in Action
        column, and the script will execute that Action for each duplicates
        found in CSV. Valid Actions: restore_duplicate / remove_duplicate /
        replace_duplicate.
-ao,  --all-in-one <INPUT_FOLDER>
        The Script will do the whole process (Zip extraction, Takeout
        Processing, Remove Duplicates, Synology Photos Albums creation) in just
        One Shot.

EXTRA MODES: Synology Photos Management:
----------------------------------------
Following Extra Modes allow you to interact with Synology Photos.
If more than one Extra Mode is detected, only the first one will be executed.

-sea, --synology-extract-albums <ALBUMS_NAME>
        The Script will connect to Synology Photos and extract the Album whose
        name is <ALBUMS_NAME> to the folder 'Synology_Photos_Albums' within the
        Synology Photos root folder.
-sca, --synology-create-albums <ALBUMS_FOLDER>
        The script will look for all Albums within ALBUM_FOLDER and will create
        one Album per folder into Synology Photos.
-sde, --synology-delete-empty-albums
        The script will look for all Albums in Synology Photos database and if
        any Album is empty, will remove it from Synology Photos database.
-sdd, --synology-delete-duplicates-albums
        The script will look for all Albums in Synology Photos database and if
        any Album is duplicated, will remove it from Synology Photos database.

EXTRA MODES: Immich Photos Management: (Planned for version 3.0.0)
--------------------------------------
Following Extra Modes allow you to interact with Immich Photos.
If more than one Extra Mode is detected, only the first one will be executed.

-iea, --immich-extract-albums <ALBUMS_NAME>
        The Script will connect to Immich Photos and extract the Album whose
        name is <ALBUMS_NAME> to the folder 'Immich_Photos_Albums' within the
        Immich Photos root folder.
-ica, --immich-create-albums <ALBUMS_FOLDER>
        The script will look for all Albums within ALBUM_FOLDER and will create
        one Album per folder into Immich Photos.
-ide, --immich-delete-empty-albums
        The script will look for all Albums in Immich Photos database and if any
        Album is empty, will remove it from Immich Photos database.
-idd, --immich-delete-duplicates-albums
        The script will look for all Albums in Immich Photos database and if any
        Album is duplicated, will remove it from Immich Photos database.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Example of use:

./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos --zip-folder ./Zips --takeout-folder ./Takeout --remove-duplicates-after-fixing

Withh this example, the script will unzip all zip files found under ./Zips folder into ./Takeout folder.
Then will process ./Takeout folder to fix all files found and set the correct date and time.
Finally the script will create a folder structure based on year/month for OUTPUT_FOLDER/ALL_PHOTOS folder (by default).
Also, the script will create a flatten folder structure for each Album subfolder found in OUTPUT_FOLDER/Albums.
The output files will be placed into ./Takeout_fixed_timestamp folder whre timestamp is the timestamp of the execution.

Normal Mode: Process Explained:

The whole process will do the next actions if all flags are false (by default):

1. Unzip all the Takeout Zips from default zip folder "Zip_files" (you can modify the Zip_folder with the option '-z, --zip-folder <folder_name>') into a subfolder named Takeout (by default) or any other folder if you specify it with the option '-t, --takeout-folder <folder_name>'. This step can be skipped if you ommit '-z, --zip-folder <folder_name>' argument (useful in case that you already have unzip all the files manually).

2. Pre-Process TAKEOUT_FOLDER to delete '@eadir' subfolders (Synology metadata subfolders with miniatures) and to Fix .MP4 files extracted from Live pictures and with no .json file associated.

3. Use GPTH Tool to process all .json files and fix date of all photos/videos found on Takeout folder and organize them into the output folder (This step can be skipped using flag '-sg, --skip-gpth-tool').

4. Sync Timestamps of .MP4 files generated by Google Photos with Live Picture files (.heic, .jpg, .jpeg) if both files have the same name and are in the same folder

5. Create Date Folder structure ('flatten', 'year', 'year/month', 'year-month') to Albums and No Albums folders according with the options given by arguments:

   • '-as, --albums-structure' <'flatten', 'year', 'year/month', 'year-month'>. Applies to each Album folder. Default is ‘flatten’ for Albums
   • '-ns, --no-albums-structure' <'flatten', 'year', 'year/month', 'year-month'> Applies to ALL_PHOTOS folder (Photos without any Albums). Default is ‘year/month’ for No-Albums.

6. Then all the Albums will be moved into Albums subfolder and the Photos that does not belong to any album will be moved to ALL_PHOTOS folder. This step can be skipped using flag '-sm, --skip-move-albums'

7. Finally the script will look in OUTPUT_FOLDER for any symbolic link broken and will try to fix it by looking for the original file where the symlink is pointing to.

8. (Optional) In this step, the script will look for any duplicate file on OUTPUT_FOLDER (ignoring symbolic links), and will remove all duplicates keeping only the principal file (giving more priority to duplicates files found into any album folder than those found on 'ALL_PHOTOS' folder.

The result will be a folder (called Takeout_fixed_{timestamp} by default, but you can specify any other with the option '-t, --takeout-folder <folder_name>' or change the default suffix 'fixed' by any other using the option '-s, --suffix <desired_suffix>') which will contains:

• ALL_PHOTOS subfolder with all the photos with year/month structure (by default).
• Albums subfolder with all the Albums without year/month structure (by default).

Finally you just need to move the output folder (Takeout_fixed_{timestamp} by default) into your /home/Photos folder and let Synology to index all files (it will take long time). After that you will be able to explore your photos chronologycally on the Synology Photos App, and all your Albums will be there when you explore the library by folder instead of chronologycally.

It was very useful for me when I run it to process more than 300 GB of Photos and Albums from Google Photos (408559 files zipped, 168168 photos/video files, 740 albums) and moved it into Synology Photos.

The whole process took around ~8.5 hours (or ~3 hours without last two optional steps) and this is the time split per steps):

1. Extraction process --> 25m
2. Pre-processing Takeout_folder --> 3m 50s
3. GPTH Tool fixing --> 2h 12m
4. Sync .MP$ timestamps --> 10s
5. Create Date Folder Structure --> 50s
6. Moving Album Folder --> 1s
7. Fix Broken Symlinks --> 10m
8. (Optional) Remove Duplicates after fixing --> 3h

NOTE: Step 8 is disabled by default, and is only recommended if you want to save disk space and want to avoid having the same physical file in more than one folder (in case that the same file belongs to multiples Albums).

EXTRA MODES:

Additionally, this script can be executed with 9 Extra Modes:

Extra Mode: Fix Symbolic Links Broken:

From version 1.5.0 onwards, the script can be executed in 'Fix Symbolic Links Broken' Mode.

• You can use the flag '-fs, --fix-symlinks-broken <FOLDER_TO_FIX>' and provide a FOLDER_TO_FIX and the script will try to look for all symbolic links within FOLDER_TO_FIX and will try to find the target file within the same folder.
• This is useful when you run the main script using flag '-sa, --symbolic-albums' to create symbolic Albums instead of duplicate copies of the files contained on Albums.
• If you run the script with this flag and after that you rename original folders or change the folder structure of the OUTPUT_FOLDER, your symbolic links may be broken and you will need to use this feature to fix them.

Example of use:

./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos --fix-symlinks-broken ./OUTPUT_FOLDER 

With this example, the script will look for all symbolic links within OUTPUT_FOLDER and if any is broken,
the script will try to fix it finding the target of the symlink within the same OUTPUT_FOLDER structure.

Extra Mode: Find Duplicates:

From version 1.4.0 onwards, the script can be executed in 'Find Duplicates' Mode. In this mode, the script will find duplicates files in a smart way based on file size and content:

• In Find Duplicates Mode, yout must provide a folder (or list of foldders) using the flag '-fd, --find-duplicates', wherre the script will look for duplicates files. If you provide more than one folders, when a duplicated file is found, the script will mainains the file found within the folder given first in the list of folders provided. If the duplicaded files are within the same folder given as an argument, the script will maitain the file whose name is shorter.
• For this mode, you can also provide an action to specify what to do with duplicates files found. You can include any of the valid actions with the flag '-fd, --find-duplicates'. Valid actions are: 'list', 'move' or 'remove'. If not action is detected, 'list' will be the default action.
  • If the duplicates action is 'list', then the script will only create a list of duplicaed files found within the folder Duplicates.
  • If the duplicates actio is 'move' then the script will maintain the main file and move the others inside the folder Duplicates/Duplicates_timestamp.
  • Finally, If the duplicates action is 'remove' the script will maintain the main file and remove the others.

Example of use:

./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos --find-duplicatess ./Albums ./ALL_PHOTOS move

With this example, the script will find duplicates files within folders ./Albums and ./ALL_PHOTOS,
If finds any duplicates, will keep the file within ./Albums folder (bacause it has been passed first on the list)
and will move the otherss duplicates files into the ./Duplicates folder on the root folder of the script.

Extra Mode: Process Duplicates:

From version 1.6.0 onwards, the script can be executed in 'Process Duplicates' Mode. In this mode, the script will process the CSV generated during 'Find Duplicates' mode and will perform the Action given in column Action for each duplicated file.

• Included new flag '-pd, --process-duplicates-revised' to process the Duplicates.csv output file after execute the 'Find Duplicates Mode'. In that case, the script will move all duplicates found to Duplicates folder and will generate a CSV file that can be revised and change the Action column values.
  Possible Actions in revised CSV file are:
  • remove_duplicate : Duplicated file moved to Duplicates folder will be permanentely removed
  • restore_duplicate : Duplicated file moved to Duplicates folder will be restored to its original location
  • replace_duplicate : Use this action to replace the principal file chosen for each duplicates and select manually the principal file
    • Duplicated file moved to Duplicates folder will be restored to its original location as principal file
    • and Original Principal file detected by the Script will be removed permanently

Example of use:

./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos --process-duplicates-revised ./Duplicates/Duplicates_revised.csv

With this example, the script will process the file ./Duplicates/Duplicates_revised.csv
and for each duplicate, will do the given action according with Action column

Extra Mode: Rename Albums Folders Mode:

From version 2.0.0 onwards, the script can be executed in 'Rename Albums Folders' Mode.

With this Extra Mode, you can rename all Albums subfolders (if they contains a flatten file structure) and homogenize all your Albums names with this format: 'yyyy - Album Name' or 'yyyy-yyyy - Album Name', where yyyy is the year of the files contained in each Album folder (if more than one year is found, then yyyy-yyyy will indicate the range of years for the files contained in the Album folder.)

To define the <ALBUMS_FOLDER> you can use the new Flag: -ra, --rename-albums <ALBUMS_FOLDER>

Recommendation: Use this Extra Mode before to create Synology Photos Albums in order to have a clean Albums structure in your Synology Photos database.

Example of use:

./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.run --rename-albums ./My_Albums_Folder

With this example, the script will rename all subfolders within ./My_Albums_Folder (only first subfolder level) according to the format described above. If the subfolder does not contains any file, the folder will not be renamed.

Note

Synology Photos Support

From version 2.0.0 onwards, the script can connect to your Synology NAS and login into Synology Photos App with your credentials. The credentials need to be loaded from 'Synology.config' file and will have this format:

Example 'Synology.config':

# Synology.config for Synology NAS

NAS_IP              = 192.168.1.11                          # Change this IP by your Synology NAS IP
USERNAME            = username                              # Your username for Synology Photos
PASSWORD            = password                              # Your password for Synology Photos
ROOT_PHOTOS_PATH    = /volume1/homes/your_username/Photos   # Your root path to Synology Photos main folder. Tipically is /volume1/homes/your_username/Photos

Extra Mode: All in One Shot:

From version 2.1.0 onwards, the script can be executed in 'All in One Shot' Mode.

If you configure properly the file 'Synology.config' and execute this Extra Mode, the script will process your Takeout Zip files, will process them, and will connect automatically to your Synology Photos database to import all your Photos & Videos automatically to Synology Photos database creating the same Albums that you have exported in your Takeout files.

To execute this Extra Mode, you can use the new Flag: -ao, --all-in-one

Example of use:

./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.run --all-in-one ./Zip_files

With this example, the script will extract all your Takeout Zip files from ./Zip_files folder, will process them, and finally will connect to Synology Photos database to create all Albums found and import all the other photos without any Albums associated.

Extra Mode: Extract Albums from Synology Photos:

From version 2.3.0 onwards, the script can be executed in 'Extract Albums from Synology Photos' Mode.

If you configure properly the file 'Synology.config' and execute this Extra Mode, the script will connect to Synology Photos and extract those Album(s) whose name is in <ALBUMS_NAME> to the folder 'Synology_Photos_Albums' within the Synology Photos root folder.

To extract several albums you can separate their names by comma or space and put the name between double quotes. i.e: --extract-albums-synology-photos "album1", "album2", "album3".

To extract ALL Albums within in Synology Photos database use 'ALL' as <ALBUMS_NAME>.

The album(s) name <ALBUMS_NAME> can be passed using the new Flag: -ea, --extract-albums-synology-photos <ALBUMS_NAME>

Important

<ALBUMS_NAME> should exist within your Synology Photos Albums database, otherwise it will no extract anything.
Extraction will be done in background task, so it could take time to complete. Even if the Script finish with success the extraction process could be still running on background, so take this into account.

Example of use:

./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.run --extract-albums-synology-photos "Album 1", "Album 2", "Album 3"

With this example, the script will connect to Synology Photos database and extract the Albums "Album 1", "Album 2", "Album 3" with all the photos and videos included on them into a subfolder of 'Synology_Photos_Albums' folder

Extra Mode: Create Albums in Synology Photos:

From version 2.0.0 onwards, the script can be executed in 'Create Albums in Synology Photos' Mode.

If you configure properly the file 'Synology.config' and execute this Extra Mode, the script will connect automatically to your Synology Photos database and will create one Album per each Subfolder found in <ALBUMS_FOLDER> that contains at least one file supported by Synology Photos and with the same Album name as Album folder.

The folder <ALBUMS_FOLDER> can be passed using the new Flag: -ca, --create-albums-synology-photos <ALBUMS_FOLDER>

Important

<ALBUMS_FOLDER> should be stored within your Synology Photos main folder in your NAS. Typically, it is '/volume1/homes/your_username/Photos' and all files within <ALBUMS_FOLDER> should have been already indexed by Synology Photos before you can add them to a Synology Photos Album.

You can check if the files have been already indexed accessing Synology Photos mobile app or Synology Photos web portal and change to Folder View.

If you can't see your <ALBUMS_FOLDER> most probably is because it has not been indexed yet or because you didn't move it within Synology Photos root folder.

Example of use:

./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.run --create-albums-synology-photos ./My_Albums_Folder

With this example, the script will connect to Synology Photos database and process the folder ./My_Albums_Folder and per each subfolder found on it that contains at least one file supported by Synology Photos, will create a new Album in Synology Photos with the same name of the Album Folder

Extra Mode: Delete Empty Albums in Synology Photos:

From version 2.0.0 onwards, the script can be executed in 'Delete Empty Albums in Synology Photos' Mode.

If you configure properly the file 'Synology.config' and execute this Extra Mode, the script will connect automatically to your Synology Photos database and will look for all Empty Albums in Synology Photos database.

If any Empty Album is found, the script will remove it from Synology Photos.

To execute this Extra Mode, you can use the new Flag: -de, --delete-empty-albums-synology-photos

Example of use:

./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.run --delete-empty-albums-synology-photos

With this example, the script will connect to Synology Photos database and will delete all Empty Albums found.

Extra Mode: Delete Duplicates Albums in Synology Photos:

From version 2.0.0 onwards, the script can be executed in 'Delete Duplicates Albums in Synology Photos' Mode.

If you configure properly the file 'Synology.config' and execute this Extra Mode, the script will connect automatically to your Synology Photos database and will look for all Duplicates Albums in Synology Photos database.

If any Duplicated Album is found, the script will remove it from Synology Photos.

To execute this Extra Mode, you can use the new Flag: -dd, --delete-duplicates-albums-synology-photos

Example of use:

./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.run --delete-duplicates-albums-synology-photos

With this example, the script will connect to Synology Photos database and will delete all Duplicates Albums found.

Tip

Additional Trick!

When prepare Google Takeout to export all your Photos and Albums, select 50GB for the zip file size and select Google Drive as output for those Zip files. On this way you can just Download all the big Zip files directly on your Synology NAS by using the Tool Cloud Sync (included on Synology App Store) and creating a new synchronization task from your Google Drive account (/Takeout folder) to any local folder of your Synology NAS (I recommend to use the default folder called 'Zip_files' within this script folder structure)

I hope this can be useful for any of you.
Enjoy it!

Jaime Tur (@jaimetur) - 2024.

[vlad-manolache]

Do you know why this gets flagged as a Trojan, for the windows and linux executables?

[jaimetur]

Weird, first notice that I have of that. Let's see if it happens to anyone else.

[aksdroid]

yes, It is getting flagged. :(

[vixius]

Hi, thanks for the great work in primis!! btw: Getting this "cannot execute binary file: Exec format error" I followed all the instruction.. I'm on a Mac by ssh Synology. Files under Zip_Files command that I used: ./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos --zip-folder ./Zips --takeout-folder ./Takeout --albums-structure year/month Any help?

[vixius]

tried on Mac M1, apple recognize like a malware and killed it

[vixius]

I'm trying from windows but don't know hot to start the script by double click on file app in folder it start than it ask if want to continue than it crash and close

[jaimetur]

If you want to run it from Windows you should open a CMD or PowerShell terminal and execute the script with the propper arguments.
FYI: I'm working on a Linux_arm64 version. Hopefully I could finish it soon. Keep you posted.

[vixius]

If you want to run it from Windows you should open a CMD or PowerShell terminal and execute the script with the propper arguments. FYI: I'm working on a Linux_arm64 version. Hopefully I could finish it soon. Keep you posted.

That's so nice. Thank you so much for supporting me. About windows I'm reading how to use cmd and its command.
Is it possible on windows to run it from folder in external SSD? because don't have enough space on laptop windows to put on zips folder (about 250gb)

[vixius]

If you want to run it from Windows you should open a CMD or PowerShell terminal and execute the script with the propper arguments. FYI: I'm working on a Linux_arm64 version. Hopefully I could finish it soon. Keep you posted.

Where is the mistake :( ?

[jaimetur]

In Windows you have you use back slash “\” instead of “/“ and you don’t need to start the command with ./ El 4 ene 2025, 15:13 +0100, vixius ***@***.***>, escribió:

…

> If you want to run it from Windows you should open a CMD or PowerShell terminal and execute the script with the propper arguments. FYI: I'm working on a Linux_arm64 version. Hopefully I could finish it soon. Keep you posted. Where is the mistake :( ? image.png (view on web) — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[vixius]

Thanks, I think is finally working.... I'm testing on windows to learn how it work your great job. But then will wait for your nas version.
Thanks a lot, you can't imagine how much your work is useful

[vixius]

so nice to see this 👍
Thanks again

[jaimetur]

Happy to see that at least Windows version works for you.
Can you try now to download linux_arm64 versoin and let me know if it works?

[vixius]

Happy to see that at least Windows version works for you. Can you try now to download linux_arm64 versoin and let me know if it works?

Yeeees It works like a charme, Great Job! I'd like to offer you a beer!
Is there a way to check duplicates inside photo folder in nas? Because now I have some foto from iPhone already in photo folder in as and other from google takeout. But is it possible to do a duplicate check directly on photo folder on nas?

[jaimetur]

Thanks. Yes, you can check duplicates in any folder(s). You can provide one or more folder and the script will look for duplicates in all of them. Give more priority to the file found in the first folder. Check the —help section or the readme.md for more info. El 6 ene 2025, 22:09 +0100, vixius ***@***.***>, escribió:

…

> Happy to see that at least Windows version works for you. Can you try now to download linux_arm64 versoin and let me know if it works? Yeeees It works like a charme, Great Job! I'd like to offer you a beer! Is there a way to check duplicates inside photo folder in nas? Because now I have some foto from iPhone already in photo folder in as and other from google takeout. But is it possible to do a duplicate check directly on photo folder on nas? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[jaimetur]

Added Release 2.3.0 to OrganizeTakeoutPhotos Script

Release Notes:

Release: 2.3.0
Date: 2025-01-14

• Removed EXIF Tool (option -re, --run-exif-tool) for performance issues
• Added new argument to show script version (-v, --version)
• Added new argument to Extract Albums from Synology Photos (-sea, --synology-extract-albums)
• Renamed argument -ca, --create-albums-synology-photos to -sca, --synology-create-albums
• Renamed argument -de, --delete-empty-albums-synology-photos to -sde, --synology-delete-empty-albums
• Renamed argument -dd, --delete-duplicates-albums-synology-photos to -sdd, --synology-delete-duplicates-albums
• Added Pagination option to Help text
• Code refactored
• Minor Bug Fixing

Download Script:

Download the script either Linux, MacOS or Windows version (for both x64/amd64 or arm64 architectures) as you prefeer directly from following links:

Linux::

• Download AMD 64 bits version
• Download ARM 64 bits version

Mac OS:

• Download AMD 64 bits version
• Download ARM 64 bits version

Windows:

• Download AMD 64 bits version

Full Changelog: jaimetur/OrganizeTakeoutPhotos@1.2.0...2.3.0

[b4urock]

Hello!

First of all, thank you for your work @jaimetur.

I did everything on my PC and it works like a charm. I'm stuck at the last step, the extra mode -ca to create the albums on Synalogy Photos.

I tried it on version 2.2.1 and 2.3.0, but I'm getting connection errors. My Synology.config file is properly configurated and I tried both in Powershell SSH running on Windows and Linux ARM versions and the result is the same. I've disabled firewall, and 2-factor authentication with no results.
It seems it doesn't recognize my password, so I typed again when asked but the result is the same although the password is correct.

Here is the execution log:

The indexing service is properly started on my NAS as stated in the log but I'm getting the error. Can you help me?

[jaimetur]

Hi Pablo, are you using as username any user with access to Synology Photos? It is weird since if you can connect to Synology Photos throught web interface with that username and password, you should also connect to it using the script. From the log attached it is difficult for me to get more details of the error

[b4urock]

Thank you for your reply @jaimetur

Yes, I'm using a user with access to Syanalogy Photos and admin privileges. Although the password is correct in the config file, it still asks me to type it again, and I do it, but with no success.

Log
INFO: Script running on Linux system in a Synology NAS
INFO: Flag detected '-ca, --create-albums-synology-photos'. The Script will look for any Subfolder in './Photos/Albums' and create an Album with each subfolder name in Synology Photos database.

ATTENTION!!!: This process will connect to your to your Synology Photos account and will create a new Album for each Subfolder found in './Photos/Albums' and will include all Photos and Videos included in that Subfolder.

Do you want to continue? (yes/no): yes
INFO: Continuing...
INFO: Create Albums Mode detected. Only this module will be run!!!

INFO: Find Albums in Folder : ./Photos/Albums

INFO: Looking for NAS config file: 'Synology.config'
INFO: NAS_IP : 192.168.1.XX
INFO: USERNAME : xxxxxx
INFO: PASSWORD : *************
INFO: ROOT_PHOTOS_PATH : /volume1/homes/xxxxx/Photos
ERROR: Unable to Authenticate in NAS with the providen data: {'error': {'code': 400}, 'success': False}
INFO: Albums Folder Path: './Photos/Albums
INFO: Reindexing Synology Photos database before to add content to it...
ERROR: Unable to Authenticate in NAS with the providen data: {'error': {'code': 400}, 'success': False}
ERROR: Unable to Authenticate in NAS with the providen data: {'error': {'code': 400}, 'success': False}
ERROR: Error Starting Reindex: {'code': 119}
Password:
INFO: Reindexing started in Synology Photos database for user: 'xxxxx'.
INFO: This process may take several minutes or even hours to finish (depending of number of files tonindex). Please be patient...
INFO: Starting Reindex with command: 'sudo synowebapi --exec api=SYNO.Foto.Index method=reindex version=1 runner=xxxxxxx type=basic'
ERROR: Error geting Reindex Status.
INFO: Albums creation on Synology Photos Finished!.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.py", line 802, in
File "OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.py", line 265, in main
File "OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.py", line 690, in mode_create_albums
File "SynologyPhotos.py", line 414, in create_synology_photos_albums
UnboundLocalError: local variable 'albums_crated' referenced before assignment
[PYI-30865:ERROR] Failed to execute script 'OrganizeTakeoutPhotos' due to unhandled exception!

You saved me from a lot of work already, so if this last step doesn't work, I'll create the albums manually. ;)

Thank you

[MingFu64]

Hi new to Synology, been awhile since I’ve worked with Linux. Connecting to a DS223 (DSM Ver 7.2.2-72806) with an M2 Mac Mini via SSH. Script version 2.3.0_linux_arm64.

I have the script folder in the same folder as the Takeout Folder. Used the following command.
./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos_v2.3.0_linux_arm64.run -t ../Takeout/

Got to Step 3 and encountered the following error
OSError: [Errno 8] Exec format error: '/var/tmp/_MEIToMREB/gpth_tool/gpth_linux.bin'
[PYI-7425:ERROR] Failed to execute script 'OrganizeTakeoutPhotos' due to unhandled exception!

Any help/guidance would be appreciated. TIA

[jaimetur]

Are you sure that you are using the right architecture? Can you try with amd64 instead of arm64? On the other hand, is not a good idea to run the script from the same takeout folder, I would move it on folder up, because there is some options that make the script to delete takeout folder when finish.

[MingFu64]

I double checked the processor in the DS 223 I’m running and it’s the RTD1619B SoC which is an ARM 64-bit according to ChatGPT.

I did try to download the Linux AMD version and got the following error
-sh: ./OrganizeTakeoutPhotos_v2.3.0_linux_amd64.run: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

Folder structure wise I currently have \Temp\OrganizeTakeoutPhotos\ and \Temp\Takeout. Are you suggesting the script needs to be up one level where the \Temp folder is located? I tried moving the script .run file up one level but it didn’t seem to make difference. Still had the same error as before. The complete message I see is the following

===========================================
3. FIXING PHOTOS METADATA WITH GPTH TOOL...

INFO: Running GPTH Tool from 'Takeout' to 'Takeout_fixed_20250127-185542'...
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.py", line 935, in
File "OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.py", line 371, in main
File "OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.py", line 296, in get_and_run_execution_mode
File "OrganizeTakeoutPhotos.py", line 465, in mode_normal
File "Fixers.py", line 61, in fix_metadata_with_gpth_tool
File "subprocess.py", line 493, in run
File "subprocess.py", line 858, in init
File "subprocess.py", line 1704, in _execute_child
OSError: [Errno 8] Exec format error: '/var/tmp/_MEIYdlZz5/gpth_tool/gpth_linux.bin'
[PYI-7081:ERROR] Failed to execute script 'OrganizeTakeoutPhotos' due to unhandled exception!