Google Photos - Highlights Folders and Auto Backup

[Analyss14]

Honestly, since I've only ever primarily used Samsung phones (and always had a 64gb card) in the past I got used to just saving everything locally. Since I bought the Nexus 5 I decide to start utilizing cloud storage more but I'm now facing a very irritating problem. Maybe you guys can help. In the Photos app when you view backed-up pics they are grouped by date. This is so frustrating since I have a bunch of albums with only one pic. I have about forty pics people sent to me though WhatsApp and every single pic has it's own album. I have a separate folder for "family" "friends" "dance" ....things that make sense grouped together. I took the time to curate every pic into specific folders but auto back up jacks everything up. I haven't figured out a way to re-organize this. Is this something that can be done? Would I be able to do it through the web client? I honestly think I would just stop using auto-backup completely if it won't let organize my folders how I want. Can anyone suggest a fix?

 

[krifor03]

Honestly, since I've only ever primarily used Samsung phones (and always had a 64gb card) in the past I got used to just saving everything locally. Since I bought the Nexus 5 I decide to start utilizing cloud storage more but I'm now facing a very irritating problem. Maybe you guys can help. In the Photos app when you view backed-up pics they are grouped by date. This is so frustrating since I have a bunch of albums with only one pic. I have about forty pics people sent to me though WhatsApp and every single pic has it's own album. I have a separate folder for "family" "friends" "dance" ....things that make sense grouped together. I took the time to curate every pic into specific folders but auto back up jacks everything up. I haven't figured out a way to re-organize this. Is this something that can be done? Would I be able to do it through the web client? I honestly think I would just stop using auto-backup completely if it won't let organize my folders how I want. Can anyone suggest a fix?

Thats just the way it works, you open up photo and initially ALL of your photos are displayed ( by order of modification date). if you want to see your folders you have to swipe from the left and select folders. As far as your whats app...thats just weird because all of my photos (regardless of who they are from) in whats app go to my whatsapp image folder so I have no idea what you did. The only place it work as you described ( separate folders for different people) is Hangouts and that not even really a "folder", its an album

 

[TraderGary]

I use Microsoft OneDrive and keep my photos in separate folders with no problem.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Analyss14]

Thats just the way it works...so I have no idea what you did. The only place it work as you described ( separate folders for different people) is Hangouts and that not even really a "folder", its an album

You are confusing the ALL tab with the HIGHLIGHTS tab in the Photos app. I understand that the ALL tab allows you view either all of your local pics at once or in folders (though you are unable to set folders as default). My question was specifically about the backed-up pics that appear under the HIGHLIGHTS tab. Look at the space right below the action bar. You will see two tabs, one for ALL and one for HIGHLIGHTS, that are switchable by swiping left or right. This tab only displays pics that have already been backed-up to Google+.

It seems as if when you back up pics to Google it doesn't keep the folders and as such it sorts the pics by "date taken" which is frustrating. That's what I was asking about. If this is a "feature" then I just need to know how (and if it's at all possible) to change it.

 

[krifor03]

You are confusing the ALL tab with the HIGHLIGHTS tab in the Photos app. I understand that the ALL tab allows you view either all of your local pics at once or in folders (though you are unable to set folders as default). My question was specifically about the backed-up pics that appear under the HIGHLIGHTS tab. Look at the space right below the action bar. You will see two tabs, one for ALL and one for HIGHLIGHTS, that are switchable by swiping left or right. This tab only displays pics that have already been backed-up to Google+.

It seems as if when you back up pics to Google it doesn't keep the folders and as such it sorts the pics by "date taken" which is frustrating. That's what I was asking about. If this is a "feature" then I just need to know how (and if it's at all possible) to change it.

And like i said before you ....CAN'T. the back up is just that...a back up of the photos and videos themselves, not of the filing system you use for them. if you want to view by folder SLIDE from the left and SELECT folders

 

[Analyss14]

And I will say AGAIN, sliding from the left and selecting folders ONLY shows you local folders. Are you serious? Why the attitude? You never directly said that it isn't possible to organize the Highlights tab (either from the app or the web), all you was did was give me info I was already aware of about the ALL tabs. The HIGHLIGHTS tab displays the pics in folders already, it's just that these folders are labeled by dates. Now I'm not even sure you clearly understood my question. There are a few things you can do in the web that you can't directly do in the app that is why I was curious if this is one of them.

ps I never said I wanted to use it as a filing system, I said they were already organized and tagged when I backed them up and all I wanted to do was change the way they are displayed or sorted.

 

[Analyss14]

Hey, for anyone who cares or has been looking for a solution. I took the time to go through Google+ Photos and discovered that you CAN reorganize your Highlights folders exactly the way you want. All I did was sign into Google+, navigate to the Photos section and then I went to "Highlights" and I just selected every picture I want in a certain folder/album and then I selected "move" and then "new folder." I was able to group together all the pics I wanted and every single folder I selected to highlight shows up under the Highlights tab in the app, exactly as I organized it. I no longer have an unsightly disorganized mess.

The backed-up folders STILL won't show up if you slide from the left and select folders, as I said multiple times above, but at least this offers some kind of control over the original way the pics are displayed in Highlights. It won't sort newly backed-up pics into the folders you've created (or at least I haven't figured out how to make that happen) but that was never my intent anyway or the question I asked. At least after you upload you can take the time, whenever you have it, to go online and sort them so they are organized. Hope that helps anyone looking for a similar solution.

 

[Q Tip]

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I had just started the daunting tasking of reorganizing my backup photos and was dreading how long this was going to take. I was copying the photos, moving them to a folder, then going back in and deleting the original photos. I looked for a solution and stumbled across yours. You just saved me so much time!!!!