Google Photos is a fantastic way to meet your photos and the powerful search makes information technology easy to find pictures of certain people, places or times. Earlier 1 June 2021, Google did offer unlimited free storage for photos. Now, things have changed.

Yous only become 15GB of Google storage in total, which counts files on your Google Drive and Gmail, as well as Google Photos. Therefore, if yous desire to upload more photos and videos that will accept your limit past 15GB, yous'll need to purchase more storage with Google One.

There's four tiers of storage currently on Google One. These are:

  • 15 GB - Free
  • 100 GB - £ane.59 per calendar month/£15.99 per twelvemonth
  • 200 GB - £ii.49 per calendar month/£24.99 per year
  • ii TB - £7.99 per calendar month/£79.99 per year

Sadly, no unlimited storage choice is currently available. You'll have to await at other Deject storage options if you want that. Y'all tin can likewise make more room for photos and video by clearing out large files on your Google Drive.

There'south no need to worry nearly existing files from earlier one June, equally these photos volition remain on Google's servers and won't be deleted or blocked if you lot don't pay - that's a common misconception.

If, like me, you have a photograph library full of pictures you took prior to owning a smartphone, chances are they're sat on a hard drive somewhere. Google hasn't made it easy to upload them, merely here's are two means to upload every single photo, one of which is automated.

Upload to Google Photos via a web browser

Earlier I get to the all-time way, hither'southward the obvious way: head to photos.google.com and click on Upload.

How to upload to Google Photos from Windows

Unfortunately, the easy way won't work for nearly people because the Upload option in Google Photos will just upload the contents of a single folder.

Most people keep their photos in multiple folders and then they take 'albums' for different occasions. Unless you're willing to get through dozens or fifty-fifty hundreds of folders and copy – or move – those photos into a single folder, y'all won't be able to utilise this selection.

Y'all could laboriously utilize the Upload button for each folder you lot have but, again, that'due south impractical if y'all take a hundred or more than.

TIP: Earlier you lot upload all your photos, upload 1 or 2 and cheque that Google Photos can correctly identify when they were taken. Otherwise, you'll have a tough time finding them again.

One time uploaded, you lot should be able to enter the date it was taken, such as '22 May 2000' and all photos from that appointment should be shown. If not, search for the exact filename of the photo you lot just uploaded, and Google Photos should show it. Click the i symbol at the top and you'll come across the info for that photo.

How to upload to Google Photos

If at that place is a problem and the 'date taken' isn't identified correctly, you'll need to use a tool to edit this metadata.

Once you've hit the limit of what you tin upload, Google volition inform yous. If yous need more space, you can become a premium Google I account.

Upload to Google Photos via Backup & Sync

And so we come to the all-time option for uploading your whole photo library to Google Photos. Information technology involves downloading Google'south Backup & Sync utility, choosing a folder or folders to sync, and so leaving information technology to upload the photos, as well as any videos in those folders.

If those folders happen to be on a NAS drive as mine were, you may find you cannot select the root folder in Backup & Sync. The workaround is to create a folder within that (phone call it upload or whatever y'all like), and then move all your folders of photos into that.

Hither, footstep by step, is how to become virtually installing Backup & Sync and uploading all those snaps to Google Photos.

Annotation: this only works for Windows computers and you lot'd need to install the Google Photos app on Android or iPhone if you want to upload the camera roll from your phone. This guide is primarily aimed at those who've already done that and now desire to upload photos stored on their Windows laptop or PC.

1. Beginning, head to the Google Photos website https://photos.google.com/apps and click the Download button.

How to upload to Google Photos

2. When the file is downloaded, click on information technology in your web browser, or navigate to the folder where downloaded files are stored – ordinarily Downloads. Double-click on the file (called installbackupandsync.exe) and click the Go STARTED button.

How to upload to Google Photos

3. You'll demand to sign into your Google account, the one you employ for Google Photos.

four. On the 'set-upwards' screen, choose Back up photos and videos.

How to upload to Google Photos

5. Adjacent, you need to tell Backup & Sync which folders your photos are in. This could exist as simple as clicking the box adjacent to Pictures, just if your photos are stored elsewhere, such equally another folder on your hard drive, on an external bulldoze or on a NAS drive, click Choose FOLDER and navigate to it.

How to upload to Google Photos

You tin can sync multiple folders, simply you can't select multiple folders at the same time.

6. Select the quality you want for your photo/video - Storage Saver takes up less room, just compresses the file. Meanwhile Original Quality will not compress the files, only will take up more storage in your quota.

7. Click Showtime and Backup & Sync will begin uploading photos and videos in the binder(s) yous've called to Google Photos.

eight. If you want to check on progress, click the ^ symbol on the Windows Taskbar and click the little white cloud symbol. Yous'll see a scrolling list of the files being uploaded.

How to upload to Google Photos

How long it will take to upload all your photos and videos will depend on the total amount of data to be uploaded and the upload speed of your internet connexion, which is typically a lot slower than the download speed.

Leave your laptop or calculator on while it's uploading the files. In my case, with a 16Mbps upload speed, information technology took around 24 hours to upload xxx,000 photos and videos from hundreds of folders on a NAS drive.

Again, the corporeality yous'll exist able to upload will depend on the corporeality of storage you have in your Google One business relationship.

Related manufactures for further reading

  • Best alternatives to Google Photos
  • What to do when Google Photos costless storage ends
  • How to download all your photos from Google Photos in one go