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Moving to Stavo

Bring your photos and files over from Google, iCloud or Dropbox. Dates, places, favorites and albums come along, and nothing you already have gets copied twice.

Everything happens in Settings > Import on your server (or New > Import from… in the Drive). Pick where it's coming from, add the export, and pick a folder (or let it make Imported/<source> <date>). The import runs in the background: close the tab, come back later. You can pause it, and if the server restarts it carries on where it stopped. You get a notification when it's done, with links to the folder and the albums.

What to expect

  • Private by default. Things come in private unless the source said they were shared. Google and iCloud exports don't say, so all of it is private. From Dropbox, a file with a public shared link gets a new link here.
  • No duplicates. A photo you already have (same bytes) isn't copied again. It just gets the date, place, favorite and albums the import knew about.
  • The right dates. Photos are dated when they were taken: from the export's details, else from the photo itself, else from the file name if you ask for that.
  • Live Photos stay together. The photo and its short video show as one.
  • A list of anything that didn't make it. When an import finishes, download the list of what was skipped and why.

Google Photos and Google Drive

  1. Go to takeout.google.com. Click Deselect all, then pick Google Photos and Drive (or anything else you want to keep).
  2. For Drive, leave the formats as they are (Word, Excel and PowerPoint). Docs, Sheets and Slides become Docs, Sheets and Slides on your server.
  3. Choose .zip or .tgz and the biggest file size you're comfortable downloading. Big libraries come in several parts: download all of them.
  4. In Settings > Import, pick Google and add every part at once. Uploads resume if the connection drops: pick the same files again to carry on.

Albums come back as albums, favorites as favorites, captions and places stay on the photos, and Trash is left out. Edited copies (-edited) come along next to the originals. Photos in more than one album are stored once.

iCloud Photos

From any device:

  1. Go to privacy.apple.com, sign in, and choose Request a copy of your data. Pick iCloud Photos.
  2. Apple emails you when it's ready (usually a few days). Download every part.
  3. In Settings > Import, pick iCloud Photos and add every part at once.

Dates come from Apple's photo details list, albums from the album lists, and favorites stay favorites. Photos you hid go to Archive in Photos. Recently Deleted is left out.

From a Mac: in the Photos app, select everything, then File > Export > Export Unmodified Originals. Tick Export IPTC as XMP to keep captions and places. Zip the folder and upload it, or ask whoever runs the server to import the folder from the server's disk.

Dropbox

Sign in to Dropbox (if the server owner set it up): pick Dropbox, optionally type one folder to copy, and click Sign in to Dropbox. Everything is copied straight over with its folders and modified dates. Dropbox files that only open in Dropbox (like Paper docs) are exported when Dropbox allows it.

Or download a zip: on dropbox.com, select a folder and click Download. Then pick Dropbox in Settings > Import and upload the zip.

For the server owner: make an app at dropbox.com/developers (Scoped access, Full Dropbox) with the permissions files.metadata.read, files.content.read and sharing.read. Add the redirect address shown in Settings > Import, then paste the app key there. No app secret is needed.

Any folder or zip

Pick A folder or zip and upload a zip. Folders stay folders. Turn on Use the date in a file name for photos with no date inside them (like IMG_20240131_101500.jpg or Screenshot 2024-01-31 at 10.15.00.png).

Very big exports

Hundreds of gigabytes are fine, it just takes time. If uploading through a browser is too slow, copy the export onto the server's disk (a NAS share works) and, as the server owner, import it from there: Settings > Import > a folder or archive on the server. It's read in place and never changed. An export you already uploaded to the Drive can be imported from there too.

If something goes wrong

  • Out of storage: the import stops. Make room or ask for more, then press Try again. It carries on where it stopped.
  • Wrong dates on a few photos: select them in Photos and use Adjust date.
  • Ran it twice? No harm. The second run finds everything already here.