Google Photos is a fantastic fashion to run into your photos and the powerful search makes it easy to find pictures of sure people, places or times. Before 1 June 2021, Google did offer unlimited free storage for photos. Now, things have changed.

You only get 15GB of Google storage in full, which counts files on your Google Drive and Gmail, every bit well equally Google Photos. Therefore, if yous desire to upload more than photos and videos that will accept your limit past 15GB, y'all'll demand to purchase more storage with Google 1.

In that location's four tiers of storage currently on Google One. These are:

  • 15 GB - Free
  • 100 GB - £ane.59 per calendar month/£xv.99 per yr
  • 200 GB - £2.49 per calendar month/£24.99 per year
  • two TB - £7.99 per calendar month/£79.99 per year

Sadly, no unlimited storage option is currently available. You'll accept to expect at other Deject storage options if yous want that. Yous can likewise make more room for photos and video past clearing out large files on your Google Bulldoze.

At that place'south no need to worry nearly existing files from before one June, equally these photos will remain on Google's servers and won't be deleted or blocked if y'all don't pay - that'due south a common misconception.

If, like me, y'all have a photo library full of pictures you lot took prior to owning a smartphone, chances are they're saturday on a hard bulldoze somewhere. Google hasn't made it piece of cake to upload them, simply hither's are 2 ways to upload every single photo, one of which is automatic.

Upload to Google Photos via a web browser

Before I become to the best way, hither'southward the obvious way: head to photos.google.com and click on Upload.

How to upload to Google Photos from Windows

Unfortunately, the piece of cake style won't work for most people because the Upload option in Google Photos will but upload the contents of a unmarried folder.

Most people continue their photos in multiple folders and then they have 'albums' for unlike occasions. Unless you're willing to go through dozens or even hundreds of folders and copy – or move – those photos into a single folder, you won't exist able to use this option.

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

TIP: Before you lot upload all your photos, upload 1 or 2 and check that Google Photos can correctly identify when they were taken. Otherwise, y'all'll take a tough time finding them once again.

Once uploaded, you should be able to enter the engagement it was taken, such as '22 May 2000' and all photos from that date should exist shown. If not, search for the exact filename of the photo you simply uploaded, and Google Photos should bear witness it. Click the i symbol at the top and you'll run into the info for that photo.

How to upload to Google Photos

If at that place is a problem and the 'date taken' isn't identified correctly, you lot'll need to utilise a tool to edit this metadata.

Once you lot've hit the limit of what you can upload, Google volition inform you. If y'all need more infinite, you can get a premium Google One account.

Upload to Google Photos via Backup & Sync

And so we come to the best option for uploading your whole photograph library to Google Photos. Information technology involves downloading Google's Backup & Sync utility, choosing a folder or folders to sync, then leaving information technology to upload the photos, every bit well as whatever videos in those folders.

If those folders happen to be on a NAS drive equally mine were, you 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 like), then motility all your folders of photos into that.

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

Notation: this simply works for Windows computers and you'd demand to install the Google Photos app on Android or iPhone if you want to upload the photographic camera whorl from your phone. This guide is primarily aimed at those who've already washed that and at present want to upload photos stored on their Windows laptop or PC.

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

How to upload to Google Photos

2. 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 (chosen installbackupandsync.exe) and click the GET STARTED push button.

How to upload to Google Photos

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

4. On the 'ready-up' screen, cull Back upwardly photos and videos.

How to upload to Google Photos

v. Next, you lot need to tell Backup & Sync which folders your photos are in. This could be as simple as clicking the box adjacent to Pictures, merely if your photos are stored elsewhere, such as another binder on your hard drive, on an external bulldoze or on a NAS bulldoze, click Choose FOLDER and navigate to it.

How to upload to Google Photos

You lot tin sync multiple folders, merely you can't select multiple folders at the same time.

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

7. Click Get-go and Fill-in & Sync volition begin uploading photos and videos in the folder(south) you've chosen to Google Photos.

eight. If you lot desire to cheque on progress, click the ^ symbol on the Windows Taskbar and click the lilliputian white deject symbol. Yous'll see a scrolling listing of the files existence uploaded.

How to upload to Google Photos

How long information technology will take to upload all your photos and videos volition depend on the full amount of data to be uploaded and the upload speed of your internet connexion, which is typically a lot slower than the download speed.

Go out your laptop or computer on while it's uploading the files. In my example, with a 16Mbps upload speed, it took around 24 hours to upload 30,000 photos and videos from hundreds of folders on a NAS drive.

Once more, the amount you lot'll exist able to upload volition depend on the amount of storage you have in your Google One business relationship.

Related articles for further reading

  • All-time alternatives to Google Photos
  • What to do when Google Photos free storage ends
  • How to download all your photos from Google Photos in one get