Google Photos is at the moment one of the best cloud storage options available, thanks to its smart organizing tools, handy editing tools, and seamless sharing options. But one of its most misunderstood features is the Google Photos archive – so what exactly is the archive and how should you make use of it?
Once you are familiar with it, the Google Photos archive has some of the best features. If you are already set to make use of Google Photos on your smartphone or a desktop device, there is every chance that you would have seen the archive icon. But what exactly dies Google Photos archive do, and how is it different from simply just deleting your photos? Well, we have put together some details that would explain it well to you.
What is Google Photos Archive?
To simply put it, the Google Photos archive is one way for you to hide your photos without having to delete them. you can choose to send any images from your library to the archive and it would remain in the cloud storage for as long as you would want it to. What is the benefit? Archived images would pop up in the main feed right on your Google Photos.
What this means is that you can easily declutter and clean up your Google Photos feed, without having to permanently take out any images directly from your cloud backup.
Let’s say that your feed is filled with screenshots, receipts, and travel tickets, for example. Archive all of these and you just might want to hide some embarrassing selfies or leave only the best snaps from your holiday in the feed. Send out the rejects to the Google photos archive and they would get hidden, but still available to view and use whenever they choose to.
What Happens to Photos on Google Photos Archive?
All images that are sent to the Google photos archive are still safely stored in the cloud. Instead of showing up in the main feed, they get filled right under a separate ‘archive’ tab, that can be accessed via the Google photos app found on Android or iOS, as well as through a desktop web browser.
Archived images still get to appear in Google Photos search results, so archiving would not actually affect your ability to make use of Google’s intelligent search tools to locate specific images.
Similarly, sending a photo to the archive would not take it from any folders or albums that you have sorted it into. You can choose to clean up your main feed, while still organizing batches of snaps right into useful collections.
More importantly, images that you make use of would not be used in movies or animations that were created by Google. So you would not need to worry about those compromising party snaps that appear among your otherwise wholesome holiday memories.
How to Use Google Photos Archive on Android
In other to send photos to the Google Photos archive using an android device is quite simple, open the Google Photos app. Select a photo from the feed, tap and hold it, then tap on the three little dots icon. Next, tap the ‘Move to Archive’ shortcut in the toolbar. And you are done.
The very first time that you archive an image, you would see a pop-up that confirms that your photo has been archived, with a brief explanation of what that means. You would be presented with the option to continue browsing or to go to the Google Photos archive. When you archive further photos, you get to see a simpler confirmation banner, and it includes the undo option.
If you wish to send more than one picture to the Google Photos archive, this is really easy to do. On the main feed, long-press on a particular image and choose it. After that, scroll down the feed and tap on other images, and choose them. Once you have chosen all the images that you want to archive, simply tap the “Archive’ Shortcut from the toolbar at the bottom.
How to Use Google Photos Archive on iOS
In other, for you to send images to your Google photos Archive using the iOS device you would be required to pretty much follow the same steps as you did with the android process. You can start by launching Google Photos App on your iPhone or iPad. To send a single image to the archive, open it directly from the main feed, tap the three little dots found at the top right corner, and then select the ‘Archive’ icon directly from your toolbar.
In order for you to archive multiple images directly from the main feed, long-press to select a snap tap found on any additional photos that you would like to archive then scroll across the toolbar located at the bottom, and then select the ‘Archive’ button.
How to Use Google Photos Archive on Desktop
Making use of Google Photos archive is a little different on desktop, with an additional way for you to archive images. You can start by heading over to Photos.google.com right on your web browser. If you are signed in, you would be presented with your main Google Photos feed.
In order for you to archive a single image, you can open it, click three vertical dots found at the top right corner of the screen, then select ‘Archive’ using the drop-down menu. Alternatively, you can choose to make use of the ‘Shitf+A’ shortcut to instantly archive any photo that you are viewing full-screen. You get to see a confirmation pop-up right at the bottom-left corner.
You also get to select individual or multiple photos directly from the main feed. Hover your mouse right over an image, then click the grey checkmark that appears. Your chosen image would get highlighted in blue. Then you can work through your feed, selecting the images that you would like to archive – or just simply make use of the Shift A shortcut to send all the selected images to the Google Photos Archive.
The Archive tab is located right under the ‘Library’ section on the left side of the screen. This is where you would find all of the photos that you have archived. It is also where you would find a third way to archive your photos: In the top-right corner, you get to see a button labeled ‘Add photos’.
Click this and you should be able to select multiple photos from your feed to send the archive. Also, you can search for photos from the screen. Right after you have selected, click ‘Done’ located at the top-right corner and those photos would get archived.
