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Everything you need to know about organizing Google Photos
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This wikiHow guide will show you how to organize photos in Google Photos. You can use albums to keep your photos organized in Google Photos. Albums are like containers for your photos — you can sort them into albums based on any criteria you choose. You can add, edit, or remove photos from an album at any time. Learn how to create and manage albums in Google Photos, as well as how to rearrange the order of photos outside of their albums.
Organizing Your Google Photos Images & Albums
- Organize photos in your albums by going to Edit Album and dragging and dropping them into place.
- Photos can also be sorted by date or when they were added to an album.
- To sort your albums, select the sort button on the Albums screen and choose Last modified , Album name , or Most recent photo .
Steps
Section 1 of 6:
Creating an Album
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Open the Google Photos app or visit http://photos.google.com . To keep your photos and videos organized, try sorting them into albums. You can do this using the Google Photos app or in a web browser.
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Create a new album. The steps are a little different depending on your device:
- Mobile:
- Tap the plus sign in the upper-right corner.
- Tap Album under the "Create New" heading.
- Add a title, then click Select photos .
- Web:
- Click Albums in the left menu, then click Create album in the top right.
- Type in a title for your album and click Add photos . You’ll see a grid of your photos.
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Click or tap the photos you want to add. The photos will be automatically added to the album. You can select as many photos as you’d like.
- See Adding Photos to an Album to learn how to add additional photos later.
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Click Done (computer) or Add (mobile). This will create the album and take you to it.
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Add a description. How you do this varies based on what platform you're using. Note that you may not be able to update a photo's description while the photo is syncing.
- Mobile:
- Tap on the photo, then tap the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner.
- Tap Add description... under the photo's upload date.
- Type a description.
- Web:
- Click on the photo, then click on the "i" button in the upper-right corner.
- Click Add a description under the "Info" header.
- Type your description. To save the description, click out of the text box.
- Mobile:
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Back out to the main Google Photos page. As soon as you add a photo to an album, it's automatically saved to your Google Photos. To view a list of all of your albums next time you sign in, tap Collections in the bottom bar on mobile or click Albums in the sidebar on the web.
- Next, check out how to download images from Google Photos to your computer .
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Section 2 of 6:
Adding Photos to an Album
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Open one of your albums in Google Photos. To see all of your albums, tap Collections in the bottom bar on mobile or click Albums in the sidebar on the web. On mobile, you'll need to tap the Albums collection to see your full albums list.
- If you don’t see any albums, you’ll need to create one first .
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Click or tap an album to modify it. The album’s current contents will appear.
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Click or tap the Add Photo button. On mobile, you'll see a button that says Add photos at the top of the album. On web, the button is an icon of a photo with a plus sign, and it's in the upper-right corner of the screen.
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Click or tap to select a photo. When you select a photo, the circle at its upper left corner will turn into a check mark. All photos with check marks will be added to the album. You can select as many photos as you’d like.
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Click or tap Done (website) or Add (app). It’s at the top right corner of the screen. The photos you selected are now added to your album.
- Did you know you can order photo prints from Google Photos ? It’s a helpful feature for getting physical copies of any image!
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Section 3 of 6:
Rearranging Photos in an Album
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Open one of your albums in Google Photos. To see all of your albums, tap Collections in the bottom bar on mobile or click Albums in the sidebar on the web. On mobile, you'll need to tap the Albums collection to see your full albums list.
- If you don’t see any albums, you’ll need to create one first .
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Select an album to manage. The contents of the album will appear.
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Click or tap the three-dot menu icon. It’s at the top right corner of both the website and the mobile app.
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Select “Edit Album.” The album is now in edit mode, indicated by the editing symbols at the top right corner of the screen.
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Drag a photo to move it. You can drag it as far up or down as you wish. When you’ve found a good spot for the photo, let go of the mouse (or lift your finger from the screen) to drop it there. [1] X Research source
- You can rearrange as many photos as you wish, but you’ll have to drag them all individually.
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Sort the photos (optional). You can sort the photo order in the album by date or by when you added them. To do so:
- Click or tap the sort button (two arrows) in the top right of the album in Edit Mode.
- Select a sorting option in the pop up menu.
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Click or tap the check mark to save. The photos are now in the order you selected.
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Section 4 of 6:
Sorting Albums
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Go to your album list in Google Photos. On mobile, tap Collections in the bottom bar, then Albums . On the web, click Albums in the sidebar.
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Click or tap the button of an upwards and downwards arrow. On mobile, this is directly above your albums, and on the web this is in the upper-right corner. This is the sorting button, and the default sort method will be Most recent photo .
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Select a sort method. There are three sorting methods you can choose: Last modified , Album title , and Most recent photo .
- Choosing Album title will sort your albums alphabetically.
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Section 5 of 6:
Removing Photos from an Album
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Open one of your albums in Google Photos. To see all of your albums, tap Collections in the bottom bar on mobile or click Albums in the sidebar on the web. On mobile, you'll need to tap the Albums collection to see your full albums list.
- If you don’t see any albums, you’ll need to create one first .
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Select an album to manage. The contents of the album will appear.
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Click or tap the three-dot menu icon. It’s at the top right corner of both the website and the mobile app.
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Select “Edit Album.” The album is now in edit mode, indicated by the editing symbols at the top right corner of the screen.
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Click or tap the X button next to a photo to remove it. This will bring up a popup letting you know that photos removed from an album won't be removed from Google Photos entirely. Tap Remove in this popup to continue with the deletion process.
- You'll have to remove each photo individually from an album.
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Section 6 of 6:
Deleting an Album
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Open one of your albums in Google Photos. To see all of your albums, tap Collections in the bottom bar on mobile or click Albums in the sidebar on the web. On mobile, you'll need to tap the Albums collection to see your full albums list.
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Select an album to manage. The contents of the album will appear.
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Click or tap the three-dot menu icon. It’s at the top right corner of both the website and the mobile app.
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Select Delete album . A confirmation pop-up will appear, reminding you that deleting an album is permanent. Remember: the photos inside the album will not be deleted — just their container.
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Click or tap Delete (website) or Delete album (app). The album will now be removed from the album list.
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Expert Q&A
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QuestionWhat's the best way to save photos?Jessica McKnight is a Photographer & Business Coach based in Southwest, Florida. She first fell in love with photography at the age of 12 and has maintained that passion ever since. Her studio is currently in downtown Punta Gorda, but she also often travels for her work. Her award-winning technique has earned her "Best of the Best" twice from the Tampa Bay Times. Her work has been featured in countless magazines & publications. Her studio offers boudoir, fashion, headshot/branding, commercial, event, senior portrait, family, children, and engagement/wedding sessions. Jessica McKnight also runs Brilliance Key, a photography coaching & mentoring business that provides one-on-one mentoring, 8-week mastermind groups, workshops, and photography retreats around the globe featuring some of the biggest names in the industry.You can start saving them on your mobile device, or if storage space is limited, use your laptop or computer. Investing in an external hard drive for additional backup and storage capacity is another great approach. Lastly, you can use photo cloud services that offer automatic syncing capabilities, which can provide convenient access to your photos across multiple devices.
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Questioncan I create google albums for someone else to download photos into a specific albumKyle Smith is a wikiHow Technology Writer, learning and sharing information about the latest technology. He has presented his research at multiple engineering conferences and is the writer and editor of hundreds of online electronics repair guides. Kyle received a BS in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.You can create a shared album for others to add photos to. In the mobile app, go to the "Sharing" tab and tap "Create shared album". Then, you'll be able to invite people to the album, allowing them to view and add photos.
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QuestionMy album got too large. Is there a way to split an album into two albums? For example: pics from Day 1 and a second album wih pics from Day 2.Kyle Smith is a wikiHow Technology Writer, learning and sharing information about the latest technology. He has presented his research at multiple engineering conferences and is the writer and editor of hundreds of online electronics repair guides. Kyle received a BS in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.There isn't a feature to split an album directly, but you can make a new album and add photos from the first album. When making the new album, search for photos by the first album's name. Then, select the photos you want to place in the second album. You'll need to delete the photos in the first album after creating the second album.
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Tips
- To share an album with others, open the album and click or tap the Share icon—a less-than symbol (<) with three dots. You can share over SMS, social media, email, and other methods.Thanks
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Expert Interview
Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about digital file organization, check out our in-depth interview with Jessica McKnight .
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