Help How To Restore Google Photos After Factory Reset

[dhbuckley]

When I restarted the phone after the FDR and entered the primary Google account, it automatically restored from a Google backup without asking if this was what I wanted -- very unclear.

Since the reason for the wipe was to troubleshoot, I didn't want a full automatic restore -- the largest amount of data on the phone is Photos. I wiped it again and skipped entering the account until fully set up and then automatic restore didn't happen.

If I sync, ALL the photos come back -- I want to sync only SOME of the Google Photos, ideally, say the last year, not all of them.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[doogald]

I believe that Google photos shows you all of the photos that are cloud stored, not just local. To check for sure look in the stock gallery app. If the photos aren't there, they're not on the phone.

It's been a while since I did a fdr but I believe when you enter your google account credentials it has a check box to restore from your account. Perhaps you missed that? However, that said, I always do what you ultimately did - connect my main Google account post-setup - when I want to do a clean fdr.

 

[dhbuckley]

Absolutely, this is why I did it. And, no, the pictures aren't in the gallery and this is what I want to repair.

I want to put a certain range in the gallery, not all of them because there are too many. I can't believe it is all or nothing.

Any ideas?

 

[doogald]

Google photos is showing all that you've uploaded to the cloud or have local on the phone (or both). If you don't want to see all of your past photos, just use the stock gallery app.

I don't know of any way to hide photos in Google photos without deleting them.

I'll poke around a little, but if the photos are backed up to Google, they'll show up in the Google photos app.

 

[dhbuckley]

Yeah, they show up but are not on the phone which is the issue. I want a lot of them to be in gallery on the phone but I don't want all of them (full sync) and I don't want to download 1500 pictures individually. I want to restore a certain range of pictures, either by time/date or number of pictures. I can't believe it isn't possible somehow.

Google photos is showing all that you've uploaded to the cloud or have local on the phone (or both). If you don't want to see all of your past photos, just use the stock gallery app.

I don't know of any way to hide photos in Google photos without deleting them.

I'll poke around a little, but if the photos are backed up to Google, they'll show up in the Google photos app.

 

[doogald]

Yeah, they show up but are not on the phone which is the issue. I want a lot of them to be in gallery on the phone but I don't want all of them (full sync) and I don't want to download 1500 pictures individually. I want to restore a certain range of pictures, either by time/date or number of pictures. I can't believe it isn't possible somehow.

No, apparently it wasn't Google's intention to allow you to do this. I thought perhaps putting the photos in an album and then downloading the album would work, but I can't find any controls to download an entire album. I believe that they want you to use the Google Photos app and just not concern yourself if the photos are on the device or in the cloud - you can do whatever you want either way.

If you can make albums in Google Photos for the photos you want to isolate, that might make using the app easier.

I'll see if I can figure out a way to do this with another app. MetaCtrl makes an app called Autosync Google Drive that does what it says - it automatically syncs a folder on Google Drive with a folder on your phone, and I know that you can copy photos from Google Photos to Google Drive on a PC browser selectively. A lot of work, but from that point on the albums would sync and you would get the photos to sync back after a factory data reset or getting a new Android phone.

You can also create albums on a PC and then download the album to your computer, and from there you could copy them over to the phone by syncing with a cable.

But, I'll keep poking around and see what I can figure out.

 

[doogald]

Ok,here's one way to do it on the phone.

Make sure that you install a file explorer app, like Es file explorer.

In the Google photos app, long press a photo that you want to copy to your phone. That will allow you to select all for a given view (all photos for a particular month, for example) or pick photos individually.

Hit the share control at the top and share to Es file explorer, which will then copy the files to storage.

You can then use Es file explorer to move the photos where you want.

You can select all photos for a particular day or month in month view or day view.