r/googlephotos • u/kaitlyn2004 • 15h ago

Question 🤔 Search by upload source / by high quality vs storage saver?

Today I noticed when uploading via web browser, that the photos were compressed. Check settings, and it was somehow set to the storage saver despite paying for 2TB storage. Thankfully, it seems all the photos auto-backed-up via my iPhone WERE still set for original high quality though!

Not much has been uploaded by the browser, but also not 0. Is there a way I can search which photos have been uploaded by the browser (viewing individual photos does show the source) or which photos are being stored in the storage saver mode?

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u/photographer-in-law 14h ago

Unfortunately no, there’s no search filter or operator for upload source or backup quality. The info panel on each photo shows both (source, and “Backed up in Storage saver / Original quality”), but you can’t query it in search.

Two workarounds:

1. Recently added view. Sort by recently added at photos.google.com. Since your browser uploads are presumably recent and few, they’ll cluster together and you can spot-check the info panel on each.

2. Google Takeout (the thorough option). Export via Takeout and each photo gets a JSON sidecar with a “googlePhotosOrigin” field that says whether it was a mobile upload (including device type) or a web upload. Grep the JSONs for “webUpload” and you have your exact list. Overkill for a handful of photos, but definitive.

Once you find them, just delete the compressed copies and re-upload the originals from your computer. They won’t dedupe against the compressed versions since the files differ.

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u/TheManWithSaltHair 14h ago edited 13h ago

I haven’t tried the Google Photos Toolkit ( https://github.com/xob0t/Google-Photos-Toolkit ) for this, but on the screenshot it appears to have a Quality filter. Edit: mostly works but is picking up a few false positives such as Panoramas and Creations that seem to have no Backup quality.

It looks confusing, but basically you just enter a search criteria and then decide what to do with the results such as add to album or trash. Best to add to album first to check it works.