When we think of Google we often think only of their mobile apps for Android and iOS rather than their desktop apps with the exception being Chrome. The reality is that the Mountain View company makes some pretty desktop apps that, while often utilitarian in nature, do a great job at what they are designed to do. A good example of this is the Google Photos desktop app. Designed for Mac and Windows, the app allows you to upload photos from any folder, drive or even a storage card to your Google Photos account. Moreover, it gives you complete control of the quality of the uploads (High Quality or Original) so you can decide which will work best for you. Best of all of course is that the Google Photos desktop app is free as we have come to expect from Google.
Google Photos Desktop App – Free – Download Now
Once you download and install the Google Photos desktop app, you will need to sign in with your Google account to gain access to your Google Photos. If you have two factor authentication
Google Photos Desktop App
enabled the app also supports it. After that, in Windows, you are brought to a familiar looking dialog box where you will see the folders selected to backup to Google Photos. By default these will be any camera or storage card you have connected to your PC, your Desktop and your My Pictures library. To remove any of these from backing up to Google Photos just removed the check in the checkbox. To add a different folder, click the Add… button and you can select any folder on your hard disk or an external drive to back up to your Google Photos.
Like the Google Photos apps for Android or iOS, on the desktop app you can select the quality of photo that you upload to your account. Remember that your Google Photos is connected to your Google Drive so if you upload photos in their original size they will consume storage space on your account. If however you select High Quality, those uploads are free. What’s the difference? Generally speaking, if you are using a camera with less than 16MP, using the High Quality setting will essentially make no difference in the quality of the image. If you are uploading photos larger than 16MP then your photo will be reduced down to 16MP. Which setting works best for you is really a matter of choice but the point of all of this is that you can adjust this within the Google Photos desktop app just like you can in the mobile apps.
Once you have decided on the photo quality and the folders you want to back up, click the Start Backup button and the photos in the folders selected will be automatically uploaded into your Google Photos account.
If you have a lot of photos to add to your Google Photos account or a lot of different folders, the Google Photos desktop app could be a handy little tool for you to use.
Google Photos Desktop App – Free – Download Now
