Google Photos is a fantastic way to run into your photos and the powerful search makes it piece of cake to find pictures of certain people, places or times. Before i June 2021, Google did offering unlimited complimentary storage for photos. Now, things have changed.

You simply get 15GB of Google storage in total, which counts files on your Google Bulldoze and Gmail, as well as Google Photos. Therefore, if you want to upload more than photos and videos that volition take your limit by 15GB, you'll demand to purchase more storage with Google Ane.

There'southward four tiers of storage currently on Google 1. These are:

  • xv GB - Costless
  • 100 GB - £1.59 per month/£fifteen.99 per year
  • 200 GB - £2.49 per month/£24.99 per year
  • 2 TB - £seven.99 per month/£79.99 per twelvemonth

Sadly, no unlimited storage option is currently available. You'll have to look at other Deject storage options if you want that. You can as well make more room for photos and video past immigration out large files on your Google Drive.

There's no need to worry about existing files from before 1 June, as these photos volition remain on Google'southward servers and won't be deleted or blocked if y'all don't pay - that'southward a mutual misconception.

If, like me, you have a photo library total of pictures you took prior to owning a smartphone, chances are they're saturday on a hard drive somewhere. Google hasn't made it easy to upload them, but here's are 2 ways to upload every single photo, 1 of which is automatic.

Upload to Google Photos via a spider web browser

Before I go to the best way, here'due south the obvious way: caput to photos.google.com and click on Upload.

How to upload to Google Photos from Windows

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

Most people go along their photos in multiple folders and then they have 'albums' for different occasions. Unless you're willing to get through dozens or fifty-fifty hundreds of folders and re-create – or move – those photos into a single folder, you lot won't be able to apply this pick.

You could laboriously use the Upload button for each folder you lot accept merely, again, that's impractical if you have a hundred or more.

TIP: Before yous upload all your photos, upload one or 2 and check that Google Photos can correctly place when they were taken. Otherwise, you'll have a tough fourth dimension finding them once again.

Once uploaded, yous should be able to enter the date information technology was taken, such as '22 May 2000' and all photos from that appointment should be shown. If not, search for the verbal filename of the photo y'all just uploaded, and Google Photos should evidence it. Click the i symbol at the superlative and yous'll see the info for that photo.

How to upload to Google Photos

If there is a trouble and the 'date taken' isn't identified correctly, you'll need to apply a tool to edit this metadata.

Once you've hit the limit of what you can upload, Google will inform you. If you demand more infinite, you can become a premium Google One account.

Upload to Google Photos via Backup & Sync

And and then we come to the best option for uploading your whole photo library to Google Photos. It involves downloading Google's Fill-in & Sync utility, choosing a folder or folders to sync, then leaving it to upload the photos, besides as any videos in those folders.

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

Here, step by step, is how to get about installing Backup & Sync and uploading all those snaps to Google Photos.

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

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

How to upload to Google Photos

two. When the file is downloaded, click on it in your web browser, or navigate to the folder where downloaded files are stored – usually Downloads. Double-click on the file (called installbackupandsync.exe) and click the GET STARTED button.

How to upload to Google Photos

three. Yous'll need to sign into your Google account, the one you use for Google Photos.

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

How to upload to Google Photos

5. Adjacent, you need to tell Fill-in & Sync which folders your photos are in. This could be as simple as clicking the box side by side to Pictures, simply if your photos are stored elsewhere, such as some other binder on your difficult bulldoze, on an external drive or on a NAS drive, click CHOOSE Binder and navigate to it.

How to upload to Google Photos

Y'all tin can sync multiple folders, but you can't select multiple folders at the aforementioned time.

vi. Select the quality you lot desire for your photograph/video - Storage Saver takes up less room, but compresses the file. Meanwhile Original Quality will not compress the files, only will take up more storage in your quota.

vii. Click Starting time and Backup & Sync will begin uploading photos and videos in the folder(s) y'all've chosen to Google Photos.

8. If y'all want to check on progress, click the ^ symbol on the Windows Taskbar and click the little white cloud symbol. You'll run into a scrolling list of the files being uploaded.

How to upload to Google Photos

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

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

Again, the amount you'll exist able to upload volition depend on the amount of storage y'all have in your Google I account.

Related articles for further reading

  • Best alternatives to Google Photos
  • What to practice when Google Photos free storage ends
  • How to download all your photos from Google Photos in one get