You Can Use the New Google Photos Web App to Automatically Back up From Your Laptop
When you think of Google Photos, the first things that probably come to mind are the mobile apps available for Android and iOS , but Google Photos is also available on the web , and this web app now has a very useful photo and video backup feature. directly from your Windows and macOS computer.
While most of your photos and videos are likely taken on your phone, this desktop functionality means you can also easily put photos from digital cameras, old hard drives, and anywhere else into the cloud.
However, this isn’t the only way to sync photos and videos from Windows and macOS to Google Photos: For several years now, Google has also offered a desktop client for Google Drive that lets you sync your cloud files to a folder on your computer. and this client also supports Google Photos.
Here’s how you can use either method to backup photos directly from your computer or laptop.
Back up photos and videos using the Google Photos web app
First up, a new option: Back up all your Windows or macOS folders via the Google Photos web app . This works in addition to the one-time upload tool that was previously available in the web app, which allows you to select specific files from Windows or macOS to upload to the cloud.
The last option allows you to point Google Photos to specific folders on your computer, which are then automatically backed up and anything new added to those folders is pushed to the cloud without the need for any action. However, this is not true two-way sync: deleting files in the specified folders will not remove them from Google Photos.
Google Photos will check your selected folders for new files and automatically back them up whenever you have the web app open, so you’ll need to remember to periodically open Google Photos in your desktop browser so any new files can be transferred . (If you need something more assertive, use the second option below.)
Here’s how to set it up: On the Google Photos website, click Upload (top right), then Back up Folders . Select the folder you want to add, then click Browse Files to give the web app permission to access it. After this, the backup will begin – you will see a small dialog box on the screen showing the progress of the file transfer and a notification about its completion.
Folders will not appear in a separate section from the rest of your library; photos and videos are simply added to the overall mix, so you’ll have to manually add them to specific albums if that’s important to you. To add or remove folders or check the progress of the backup, click Upload and then Backup Folder .
Backup via Google Drive desktop app
The Google Drive app for PC gives you another option for backing up to Google Photos (and Google Drive) from Windows and macOS. It can constantly run in the background, automatically downloading photos and videos from selected folders. With Google Drive included, you can also back up other types of files.
Go to the Google Drive for PC download page and find the download that suits your operating system. Once installed, click the app icon in the notification area (Windows) or menu bar (macOS), then click the gear icon and select Settings . Click your computer’s name on the left to begin selecting the folders you want to back up.
When adding a folder, you have two options. The first is synchronization with Google Drive . In this case, all files from the folder (including photos and videos) will be placed in the Google Drive cloud storage. It also offers true two-way synchronization: if you delete something on your computer, it’s also deleted in the cloud, and vice versa. This is useful for backing up important files to Google Drive online.
The second is “Backup to Google Photos” . This only backs up the photos and videos in the folder and nothing else, and the sync isn’t two-way—deleting photos and videos on your computer won’t remove them from Google Photos. You can choose both options if you want (though this will use more of your Google cloud storage), or you can choose different settings for different folders.
You can always check which folders are copied from the desktop client and make changes if necessary. Click the gear icon (top right) and you can choose whether images and videos are downloaded in full original quality, or in slightly reduced quality to save space (you can read more about this here ). macOS also includes a checkbox that allows Google Photos to back up the main system Apple Photos library.