How do I use Automator to automatically import Google Photos into Apple Photos.
I have Google Backup & Sync installed.
https://www.google.com/drive/download/backup-and-sync/
Google Photos are automatically downloaded to my Mac and the photos are saved in: /Users/”username”/Google Drive/Google Photos
Google automatically saves all photos into sub-folders. E.g. /Users/”username”/Google Drive/Google Photos/2018/01
I would like to use Automator to automatically watch the Google Photos folder and all sub-folders & import all new Photos into Apple Photos
Can someone please tell me step by step how to achieve this. I have never used Automator before. I’m not even sure how to make Automator run the script/task? automatically? Does it just work?
All I know is that when I save Automator Folder Actions they save in ~/Library/Workflows/Applications/Folder Actions. Once saved, does Automator run automatically? How often does it run? Can I specify to check say always/once per hour
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Tristan Pawsey
If you have developed a script to do this already and have it working as a Folder Action, then it will run any time you add a new file to that folder.
Thanks Gary!! I tried to use Automator to create the folder action but I'm not sure how to make Folder Actions search sub-folders. I instead created an Application Workflow and Get Specified Finder items then Get Folder Contents then Copy Files to Photos. But this only runs when I manually run it or when I schedule it using Calendar. So it's not "auto-magically" always watching the sub-folders for changes. Is there a way to edit the Automator Folder Action script to search sub-folders?
Tristan: I don't think so. Can you have Google Photos just put all new photos into a single folder? I don't use Google Photos, so I'm not familiar with the options. I'm also thinking there must already be a solution out there to do this, some sort of service or option in Google Photos. But again, since I don't use Google Photos I can't be of much help. Is there a forum for Google Photos users where you can ask?
Thanks again Gary. I will look into this further and write back if I find an easy solution. I think I may be able to use Automator Folder Actions to monitor say the size of the Google Photos folder and trigger a Automator Workflow when the size of the folder changes.