App to Sync Photos to Cloud Then Back to PC?

[consultant1027]

I know there are a lot of other frustrated users in my shoes. Here's the problem. More and more people these days are using their phone to take photos. And those people typically have the Google Photos App which automatically uploads your photos to your Google Photos.

It used to be there was a Google Photos folder in your Google Drive so you could get a file folder structure view of all your Google Photos and you could sync that folder to your PC. So if you wanted to email or do something with one of those folders using your PC you could easily access them from Windows Explorer.

Now that that Google got rid of that functionality, the only way to get photos out of Google Photos that were not already on your PC to begin with is to download them on demand. Yes you can use Google Takeout to get everything downloaded but that's messy and unnecessary when you just need a few photos.

For anyone not following what I'm meaning pick and read any article here:


https://www.google.com/search?safe=...gle+drive"+"google+photos+folder"+"no+longer"

I've searched and there appears to be no solution to sync Google photos to the PC (only to sync photos from the PC to Google Photos.) If that's true has anyone found an alternative photo storage solution that automatically uploads your photos from all your devices and syncs everything back down to your PC so photos taken on your phone that get uploaded get downloaded to your PC or at least you get a network mapped drive that is just symbolic pointers to all your photo files and folders?

 

[mustang7757]

Hi , all my photos in Google photos are already sync to Google photos on computer with same account

 

[consultant1027]

Hi , all my photos in Google photos are already sync to Google photos on computer with same account

I don't think you understood the question. Maybe if I explain it this way more simply. I take a photo on my phone, it automatically gets uploaded to Google Photos. I compose an email in Outlook, click the button to attach a file to the email, there's no way to attach the photo I took without going to Google Photos Website, finding the photo then downloading it first.


I solved the problem. I'm a big Google/Android person. Most people are either an Apple ecosystem person, a Google/Android person, a Microsoft person (OneDrive) or an Amazon ecosystem person. But unfortunately in this case, Google, you lost me.

I dumped Google photos last night and switched to Amazon Photos and am SO much happier. I now have my Photos syncing back to my PC like it used to be before Google shot themselves in the foot by removing the Google Photos folder from Google Drive. One intention may be to create a stronger long-term relationship as once you don't have the ability to access your photos via file folders like you can with all your other documents (PDFs, Word Processing, Spreadsheet, etc) it's not as straigtforward to move things around and organize things let alone move to another service.

Here's the trick, when you setup Amazon Photos on your PIC, it wants to set it up as a Backup, not a Sync. That's fine if you don't mind when you want to delete something you have to manually delete it both on the PC side and on the Amazon side. What I did was:

1) First downloaded all my photos from Google via Takeout. Of course Google makes their own folder structure which was fine.
2) Searched for and deleted all the json files that Google includes and the Trash folder
3) Installed Amazon Photos and after setting it up, I removed the backup folders for Pictures and Videos it created (I can't remember if you can avoid doing this at install, I think it automatically finds the folders on your PC and adds them)
4) Enable Sync in Amazon Photos and sync your Pictures folder on Amazon to wherever you want on your PC (mine ended up being D:\Amazon Drive\Pictures as I selected D:\ as the local location to sync with)
5) Copy all the folders I downloaded from Google Takeout into the D:\Amazon Drive\Pictures
6) Download the Amazon Photos app on my Android phone and turn on automatic uploads (unless you want to manually select which photos from your phone are uploaded.) What is interesting, and kind of nice, is it puts the photos from your device in it's own subfolder under Pictures. But when you view your Pictures from Amazon Photos on the Web it's just like Google Photos in that it organizes by location, date, album with robust search.

Now if I add or delete a photo on Amazon Photos via Web, via app on my phone, or via my PC, it deletes/adds the photo everywhere inlcuding the local folders on my PC. So the D:\Amazon Drive\Pictures folder is always in sync and I can easily access my photos from any Windows app directly from that folder and don't have to mess with accessing them through the Amazon Photos website and download them. I can also access my photos when I don't have an Internet connection.

Another benefit is if you need a lot of storage (which I do), their 1 TB plan is $6.99 at Amazon as opposed to $9.99 and Google. A much better solution all around. And there are other benefits too. Sorry Google, you're not the best at Photo storage anymore. Ran across this too:

https://www.scanmyphotos.com/blog/2...e-service-google-photos-or-amazon-photos.html

 

[mustang7757]

I don't think you understood the question. Maybe if I explain it this way more simply. I take a photo on my phone, it automatically gets uploaded to Google Photos. I compose an email in Outlook, click the button to attach a file to the email, there's no way to attach the photo I took without going to Google Photos Website, finding the photo then downloading it first.


I solved the problem. I'm a big Google/Android person. Most people are either an Apple ecosystem person, a Google/Android person, a Microsoft person (OneDrive) or an Amazon ecosystem person. But unfortunately in this case, Google, you lost me.

I dumped Google photos last night and switched to Amazon Photos and am SO much happier. I now have my Photos syncing back to my PC like it used to be before Google shot themselves in the foot by removing the Google Photos folder from Google Drive. One intention may be to create a stronger long-term relationship as once you don't have the ability to access your photos via file folders like you can with all your other documents (PDFs, Word Processing, Spreadsheet, etc) it's not as straigtforward to move things around and organize things let alone move to another service.

Here's the trick, when you setup Amazon Photos on your PIC, it wants to set it up as a Backup, not a Sync. That's fine if you don't mind when you want to delete something you have to manually delete it both on the PC side and on the Amazon side. What I did was:

1) First downloaded all my photos from Google via Takeout. Of course Google makes their own folder structure which was fine.
2) Searched for and deleted all the json files that Google includes and the Trash folder
3) Installed Amazon Photos and after setting it up, I removed the backup folders for Pictures and Videos it created (I can't remember if you can avoid doing this at install, I think it automatically finds the folders on your PC and adds them)
4) Enable Sync in Amazon Photos and sync your Pictures folder on Amazon to wherever you want on your PC (mine ended up being D:\Amazon Drive\Pictures as I selected D:\ as the local location to sync with)
5) Copy all the folders I downloaded from Google Takeout into the D:\Amazon Drive\Pictures
6) Download the Amazon Photos app on my Android phone and turn on automatic uploads (unless you want to manually select which photos from your phone are uploaded.) What is interesting, and kind of nice, is it puts the photos from your device in it's own subfolder under Pictures. But when you view your Pictures from Amazon Photos on the Web it's just like Google Photos in that it organizes by location, date, album with robust search.

Now if I add or delete a photo on Amazon Photos via Web, via app on my phone, or via my PC, it deletes/adds the photo everywhere inlcuding the local folders on my PC. So the D:\Amazon Drive\Pictures folder is always in sync and I can easily access my photos from any Windows app directly from that folder and don't have to mess with accessing them through the Amazon Photos website and download them. I can also access my photos when I don't have an Internet connection.

Another benefit is if you need a lot of storage (which I do), their 1 TB plan is $6.99 at Amazon as opposed to $9.99 and Google. A much better solution all around. And there are other benefits too. Sorry Google, you're not the best at Photo storage anymore. Ran across this too:

https://www.scanmyphotos.com/blog/2...e-service-google-photos-or-amazon-photos.html

Maybe outlook does it differently on pc , but in Gmail when I compose a message next to send I have option to insert photo(Google photos) Google drive ,ATTACH a file .

 

[consultant1027]

Maybe outlook does it differently on pc , but in Gmail when I compose a message next to send I have option to insert photo(Google photos) Google drive ,ATTACH a file .

Yes, I know of that method. But there are so many other scenarios. I may want to open Photoshop, and load a photo to edit. Can't do it directly now that Google got rid of the Google Photos folder in Google Drive. Lots of other scenarios.

The other cool thing I just discovered is by adding the Amazon Drive app to my phone in addition to the Amazon Photos app, now if I use Gmail on my phone to send an email and want to access my photos through a folder structure, the same that is on my Windows PC, I can select Amazon Drive as the location I want to browse to attach the images and I can see all my images from Amazon Photos in a folder on Amazon Drive like Google used to do it.

 

[mustang7757]

Yes, I know of that method. But there are so many other scenarios. I may want to open Photoshop, and load a photo to edit. Can't do it directly now that Google got rid of the Google Photos folder in Google Drive. Lots of other scenarios.

The other cool thing I just discovered is by adding the Amazon Drive app to my phone in addition to the Amazon Photos app, now if I use Gmail on my phone to send an email and want to access my photos through a folder structure, the same that is on my Windows PC, I can select Amazon Drive as the location I want to browse to attach the images and I can see all my images from Amazon Photos in a folder on Amazon Drive like Google used to do it.

Strange , I can do this either pc or phone, let me see if @B. Diddy knows something we missing here .

 

[consultant1027]

Strange , I can do this either pc or phone, let me see if @B. Diddy knows something we missing here .

I think you can do that because you are also using OneDrive aren't you?

If you're not using OneDrive or Amazon Photos/Drive like I outlined, then this is what it looks like if you try to attach a photo from Google Photos via the phone.



This is what it looks like when using Amazon Photos & Drive loaded. My original message was looking for a solution using only Google apps. It's not possible. You have to use OneDrive or Amazon Photos. But I see no point in continuing to uses Google Photos combined with another cloud storage solution like Onedrie if I can just accompish it using one solution online such as Amazon Photos.

This is what it looks like using Amazon Photos/Drive without anything else including Google Photos and/or Onedrive.



In fact attaching those two screenshots I just took seconds ago was a piece of cake as they were already sync'd to my PC before I even got to the point in this message to attach the images. Again, using only one software solution. Not a combination of two.

 

[consultant1027]

The other cool thing is if I want to attach the photos by browsing albums or doing metadata search look you do in Google Photos, instead of selecting Amazon Drive when attaching, I just select Amazon Photos and get the similar organization that you get with Google Photos. So I have the option to browse/attach in a folder structure or the photo app structure and the folder structure is mirrored locally on my PC. Again, without having to combine two cloud services like Google Photos and Onedrive, or Google Photos and Dropbox.

 

[mustang7757]

I think you can do that because you are also using OneDrive aren't you?

If you're not using OneDrive or Amazon Photos/Drive like I outlined, then this is what it looks like if you try to attach a photo from Google Photos via the phone.

View attachment 332298

This is what it looks like when using Amazon Photos & Drive loaded. My original message was looking for a solution using only Google apps. It's not possible. You have to use OneDrive or Amazon Photos. But I see no point in continuing to uses Google Photos combined with another cloud storage solution like Onedrie if I can just accompish it using one solution online such as Amazon Photos.

This is what it looks like using Amazon Photos/Drive without anything else including Google Photos and/or Onedrive.

View attachment 332299

In fact attaching those two screenshots I just took seconds ago was a piece of cake as they were already sync'd to my PC before I even got to the point in this message to attach the images. Again, using only one software solution. Not a combination of two.

I'll give example just from my hotmail app on my Note20U what option I can choose when composing a message

 

[mustang7757]

I never liked or use One Drive

 

[consultant1027]

Gallery would only work if you still had the photos stored on your phone. I attach photos taken from many other sources than my phone that are all sync'd to Amazon Photos and my PC. If you take a photo on your phone, remove it from your Gallery, it will only be in Google Photos, not Drive and it won't be on your PC either.

 

[mustang7757]

Gallery would only work if you still had the photos stored on your phone. I attach photos taken from many other sources than my phone that are all sync'd to Amazon Photos and my PC. If you take a photo on your phone, remove it from your Gallery, it will only be in Google Photos, not Drive and it won't be on your PC either.

My gallery sync to Google photos

 

[consultant1027]

My gallery sync to Google photos

Ya but you won't be able to access your Google Photos from File Explorer on your PC like this unless either the photo was on your PC to begin with or you download it from Google Photos manually. That was the whole point of my original post. Any photo I take from any of my devices will show up on my PC in the Pictures folder without me doing anything. This used to be possible when Google Drive had a Google Photos folder that you could sync to your PC. Can't do that anymore. With Google.

 

[mustang7757]

Ya but you won't be able to access your Google Photos from File Explorer on your PC like this unless either the photo originated from your PC or you download it from Google. That was the whole point of my original post. Any photo I take from any of my devices will show up on my PC in the Pictures folder without me doing anything. This used to be possible when Google Drive had a Google Photos folder that you could sync to your PC. Can't do that anymore.

View attachment 332302

If I open Gmail and compose a message I can attach my google photos or g drive instantly

 

[consultant1027]

Go into any app on your PC that isn't a Google App. Like a photo editor such as Photoshop or video editor, or Microsoft Word, or anything that isn't accessed through your browser. Then try to open/attach/ebmed one of your Google Photos images without going to Google Photos and downloading the photo to your PC manually.

My original post wasn't about not being able to access my photos from any Google apps.

 

[consultant1027]

This is why it doesn't work. Pick any article.

https://www.google.com/search?safe=...gle+drive"+"google+photos+folder"+"no+longer"

 

[mustang7757]

Go into any app on your PC that isn't a Google App. Like a photo editor such as Photoshop or video editor, or Microsoft Word, or anything that isn't accessed through your browser. Then try to open/attach/ebmed one of your Google Photos images without going to Google Photos and downloading the photo to your PC manually.

My original post wasn't about not being able to access my photos from any Google apps.

Ok gotcha , yeah that's true.

 

[consultant1027]

Another cool thing I just discovered is when browsing in Amazon Photos if you go to delete any images it asks if you want to delete the photos from both Amazon Photos and your device. It was such a pain before cleaning up all my photos because so many things I take using my phone are just for temp use that I don't want to keep. Yes, I could turn the auto-upload off but drop your phone in the lake or get it stolen and say bye bye to all your current photos on your device if you don't have auto-upload enabled. Before I had to go delete the photos from Gallery on my device and then go delete them in Google Photos. Was a pain. No more with Amazon Photos.

 

[mustang7757]

Another cool thing I just discovered is when browsing in Amazon Photos if you go to delete any images it asks if you want to delete the photos from both Amazon Photos and your device. It was such a pain before cleaning up all my photos because so many things I take using my phone are just for temp use that I don't want to keep. Yes, I could turn the auto-upload off but drop your phone in the lake or get it stolen and say bye bye to all your current photos on your device if you don't have auto-upload enabled. Before I had to go delete the photos from Gallery on my device and then go delete them in Google Photos. Was a pain. No more with Amazon Photos.

Yeah thats pretty cool, I have Amazon photos but It gives only 5gb free so don't use it much as I already pay for other cloud services.

 

[B. Diddy]

As far as I know, there's no way to have your Google Photos in the cloud readily available on your PC without first downloading the photo manually from Google Photos. It's a shame that they detached Google Photos from Google Drive. I use a Chromebook almost 100% of the time, and I read that Google is trying to add a way where Google Photos in the cloud can be accessed right from the Chrome OS file manager. But I don't think that would carry over to PC or Mac, so that wouldn't solve your problem.