File Format & Compatibility

How to Fix Incorrect Photo Dates When Exporting Google Photos to OneDrive

Adam Davis Oct 13, 2026 871 views

Question details

The user needs to recover and preserve the original date-taken metadata for photos downloaded via Google Takeout and uploaded to OneDrive.

Fix Incorrect Photo Dates After Exporting Google Photos to OneDrive

Product: Google Photos and OneDrive
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Migrating a large photo library from Google Photos to OneDrive using the Google Takeout export feature.
Observed behavior: Photos uploaded to OneDrive display the recent upload or file modification date instead of the original date the photos were taken, disrupting the chronological sorting.

Before you start

Before attempting to merge or modify metadata, ensure you have backed up the original Google Takeout ZIP files to prevent accidental loss of your JSON metadata files.

Solution 1Recommended

Use a Metadata Tool to Merge JSON Data

This method resolves the issue where Google Takeout separates EXIF date data into external JSON files, preventing OneDrive from reading the correct dates.

Google Takeout does not strip metadata from the image file itself, but if you modified the date in Google Photos, that specific correction is exported into a separate .json file.

Using a dedicated EXIF tool allows you to write the corrected date metadata from the .json files back into the actual photo files before uploading them.

Extract Google Takeout Files

Unzip all your downloaded Google Takeout ZIP files into a single master folder on your local computer.

Locate Paired JSON Files

Ensure that the .json files generated by Google are in the same folder as their corresponding image files (e.g., photo.jpg and photo.jpg.json).

Process with an EXIF Tool

Download and run a trusted metadata tool, such as EXIFTool or a dedicated Google Takeout helper script, and follow the software's prompt to merge the JSON date information into the image EXIF tags.

Upload to OneDrive

Once the tool finishes processing and confirms the EXIF 'Date Taken' field is restored, upload the updated photo folders to your OneDrive account.

Metadata Preserved: OneDrive will now read the embedded EXIF 'Date Taken' data and correctly sort your photos chronologically.

Solution 2

Download Directly from Google Photos (For Small Batches)

If you only have a few hundred photos, downloading them directly from the web interface usually preserves standard EXIF date metadata better than relying on Google Takeout.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Google Takeout remove the dates from my photos?

Google Takeout rarely removes embedded EXIF data. However, if a photo lacked original EXIF data or if you manually edited the date inside Google Photos, Takeout exports that modified date in a separate .json file rather than rewriting the actual image file.

How does OneDrive determine the date of an uploaded photo?

OneDrive primarily looks for the 'Date Taken' EXIF metadata embedded inside the image file. If this information is missing, it falls back to the file's 'Date Modified' or 'Date Created', which is usually the date you downloaded or copied the file.

Can I manually fix the date of a photo inside OneDrive?

Yes, for individual files, you can right-click the photo in the OneDrive web interface, select 'Details', find the date under the information pane, and click 'Edit date'. However, this manual approach is not practical for thousands of photos.

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