How to export and back up your Google Maps saved places.

Step by step

Export your saved places with Google Takeout.

1. Open Google TakeoutGo to takeout.google.com in a browser and sign in to the Google account you use in Maps. Everything is selected at first.
2. Select only what you needChoose Deselect all, then tick “Saved” (your saved lists) and “Maps (your places)” (starred places and your reviews).
3. Go to the next stepScroll down and select Next step.
4. Choose delivery and frequencyPick “Send download link via email” or a cloud drive, then a one-time export or one every 2 months for a year.
5. Choose the file typeZip opens on any computer or phone. Keep the default size.
6. Create the exportSelect Create export. Google emails a link when it is ready — minutes for most people, longer for big accounts.
7. Download it within a weekArchives expire after about 7 days, and each can be downloaded a limited number of times.

Inside the zip

What the download actually contains.

What it doesn’t contain: your photos from the night, what you ordered, or who you were with. A saved pin is a bookmark, not a memory of the meal.

Keep it backed up

Make it automatic.

On the “Choose frequency” step, pick the repeating option and Takeout makes a fresh export every two months for a year. Send it to a cloud drive so the copies collect in one folder. Put a reminder in your calendar for eleven months from now to set it up again.

If they vanish

Saved places disappeared? Check these first.

• The account: tap your profile picture in Maps. Lists belong to one Google account; a work and a personal account show different saved places.
• The right tab: in the Google Maps app, your lists live under You → Your lists. Lists you follow from other people sit under Lists you saved.
• Offline: without a connection, lists may not load. Try again on Wi-Fi.
• The app version: update Google Maps; menus move between versions.
• Shared lists: if someone else owns a list and deletes it or removes you, it goes from your saved lists too.
• On a computer: sign in at maps.google.com and open Saved from the menu to see whether the problem is only on the phone.

Moving lists

Moving places from another app into Google Maps.

There is no import button for lists in Google Maps. If you are moving bookmarks from another app, the reliable way is slow but sure: create a list in Maps (You → New list), then search each place and save it to that list. Doing ten a day clears a few hundred in a month.

A pin vs a memory

Saved places are for where you want to go.

Map lists are brilliant for places you want to try. They are thin for places you have tried: no dishes, no photos, no people. That is the half we built PlateDiary for. One photo of the table cuts each dish out as a save, files it under the place and the night, and pins it to your own food map — with your usual and every visit on each place page. It lives on your phone, and exporting your own data is never locked.

Many people use both: Google Maps for the wish list, a food journal for the memories. There is a side-by-side in Google Maps saved places vs PlateDiary.