You’ve been putting it off haven’t you? You have dozens of well-organized folders of your photos and videos all on your computer’s hard drive. They need to be in the cloud – in Google Photos, but you’ve heard that you’ll lose your folder structure. All that work! Gone! Well, that’s only if you use the automatic method of uploading – using the old Backup and Sync software, or the new Google Drive for Desktop. To see what I’m talking about, here’s your video: 705.GP-Upload to Google Photos using Google Drive for Desktop.
The good news is that, if you upload your photos using the manual method, you can create an album in Google Photos for each folder of newly uploaded photos. What’s that you say?, You’ve already uploaded them? Not to worry, you can do it again – and create the albums this time – without getting duplicates.
How to upload a folder to an album
The easiest way is to use drag and drop. Arrange your screen so that you can see your computer folders in one part of the screen and your Google Photos library in another part. Now simply drag a folder from your computer to Google Photos – OR, if you don’t want the whole folder, you can select the photos you want and drag them.
Here’s a video about using drag and drop to get folders full of photos from a CD/DVD to an album in your Google Photos:
How to create an album for a folder of photos that are already uploaded
Let’s say you’ve already used the automatic method with Backup and Sync, or Google Drive for Desktop. So, all the photos in your picture folders are already uploaded to your Google Photos account. You can do the upload again, manually. If the photos are already there, they will not be duplicated. If you -pretend- to upload again, you will see the message at the end to create an album. This works great. You will not be uploading the photos again, but you will be creating albums for each folder. Here’s another video about using drag and drop to upload folders and create albums – even if the photos are already uploaded.
Albums are NOT Folders
In case you’re unclear, let me review Chapter 8 in Learn Google Photos, all about albums. On a computer all files are stored in folders. On a computer you learned that pictures should not be stored loose in the My Pictures folder – you made sub-folders according to your organizational style. I set up folders for each month. If I took photos during March of 2008, they were stored in the folder My Pictures\2008 March. When I took photos in April, they were copied from my camera to my computer and stored in a folder called My Pictures\2008 April.
This is NOT how it works with Google Photos. There are no folders. All photos are stored in the Google Photos library and sorted by date taken. If you have 10,000 photos stored in the cloud with Google Photos, all 10,000 of them are in one giant bucket – no folders, no subdivisions.
What are albums?
Albums are virtual groupings. Any one photo can be added to many albums, it is still stored only once. Notice the photo of a dolphin next to 2018. That one photo could be added to an album for August 2018, it could also be added to an album for Ocean and a third for Florida Keys. The photo has not been copied (like it would be for folders), it only exists once. You have just asked for it to show up in each of the albums. You can remove the photo from one album and it will still appear in your library, and in the other two albums. If you delete the photo from the library, it’s gone. It will disappear from all 3 albums.
Add your best photos to albums
Let’s say I took 300 pictures in August 2018. Those dolphins were so photogenic, I snapped at least 50 photos of them! When I make the album for Aug 2018, I am separating the best from the rest. This album will be what I share with friends, I don’t want to bury them in 300 photos! From the 50 dolphin photos (that all look the same!) I’ll choose 4 or 5 of the best ones to add to the album.
How to add photos to albums
To create a new album, I recommend starting by selecting photos. From the main Photos screen, you can select several photos then tap the + at the top of the screen and choose Album and New Album. Type a name for the album then tap the checkmark. I prefer this method of selecting photos first rather than starting with an empty album.
Adding photos to an existing album, select the photos you want to add, click the + and then select the album you want.
When you have your best photos in albums, downloading those albums to your computer is a great way to have a backup. Here’s the video on that: 574.GP-Download from Google Photos to Computer
Everyone can view any episode for free. Just click on the play button above, or the link to any ‘chapter’ in the video.
Members get access to the extensive show-notes Chris writes up after each show – see below. Read them online and follow links directly to the parts you’re interested in. We recommend you print them out and keep them in a notebook. It’s a great reference.
After our 3,000+ miles in August, from the time we got home on September 3, to the end of the month, we just stayed home and chilled. At the end of the month, we just had to go somewhere, so we took the motorhome for a few days in the keys. People come from all over the world to see this beauty and it’s right in our backyard.
In this newsletter:
If you missed our Episode 219 Hodgepodge of Tech Tips, check it out now (see below) – we got a lot of interest in these tips, especially the one about making a website for Photo Albums. Then came #220 about Google Drive for Desktop. This topic was so complex, I wrote a follow up article in hopes of clearing up some of the confusion. For something fun this month, check out the article on Google Maps – navigating to a person’s location. And, everyoneshould go over the list of smartphone keyboard tips to be sure you’re not doing things the hard way!
Nov 26, 7pm ET- Members Only Orientation and Q&A Live
Ask the Geeks Q&A forum. Anyone can read the forum, only members can ask questions. This is a valuable benefit of membership. Join Today! Here are some recent discussions
Google Drive for Desktop: Confusion is strong with this one.
On Oct 1, Google retired the product called “Backup and Sync.” In its place is a product called Drive for Desktop. People are asking,
“What was Backup and Sync, and how do I know if I have it?”
“What is Drive for Desktop and why would I need it?”
“What happened on October 1 and do I need to do anything?”
Episode 220 of our YouTube show was all about Google Drive and the New Google Drive for Desktop. We showed in detail how to use it
and how to migrate from Backup and Sync, but I don’t think we sufficiently answered the questions above, so I’ll try in this article.
No, I’m not talking about finding your future spouse. The name is Google Maps, not Google Matchmaker I’m talking about knowing the whereabouts of your current spouse.
And Google Maps makes it so easy. My husband and I both share our Google Maps location with the other, so if one or the other needs a ride, there is no hassle to get directions to exactly where they are. This 1 minute video will show you how.
This article documents 14 tips for iPhone and Android phone keyboards. All practical skills for working better and faster with your phone’s keyboard.
I know you use the keyboard on your smartphone all the time, but it never hurts to take a minute to “sharpen the saw” and see if there are any bits of knowledge that can make your life easier! So, I’ve made a little checklist here of basic features of the keyboards on smartphones. Since smartphones fall into two categories, I’ll make the
checklist twice, first for iOS: iPhones and iPads, then for Android phones.
If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click the link below and you should see a right sidebar with all Geeks on Tour stuff, scroll down a bit and you should see Reviews and Write a Review.
If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters. If you’ve learned something from us along the way, we’d love a Google Review from you!
I know you use the keyboard on your smartphone all the time, but it never hurts to take a minute to “sharpen the saw” and see if there are any bits of knowledge that can make your life easier! So, I’ve made a little checklist here of basic features of the keyboards on smartphones. Since smartphones fall into two categories, I’ll make the checklist twice, first for iOS: iPhones and iPads, then for Android phones.
iOS Keyboards
Make the keyboard appear: just tap on any area where typing is expected.
Make the keyboard disappear: sometimes it’s covering up an important element. It will disappear if you tap on an area of the screen where typing is not allowed.
iPad Keyboard includes a special keyboard button in the lower right of the keyboard. Tap on that and the keyboard will disappear. Tap in any typing field to bring it back. Long press on it and you will have options for undock, split, or float. Split is for thumb typists. To close the split longpress the keyboard button then choose Dock and Merge (or pinch the space bar together.)
When device is held Vertical you have a smaller keyboard, more room for screen. Turn it Horizontal and you have a bigger keyboard
Correcting Autocorrect: if you notice an error in a previous word, you can tap on it and you should see all the possible choices from autocorrect. Just tap on the right one – it it’s there. You can even make your own autocorrect shortcuts like gotc can autocorrect to GeeksOnTour.com. Use Settings->General->Keyboard->Text Replacement
Type in ALL CAPS: Double tap the shift key. It should turn black with an underline. To turn it off, just tap the shift key again.
Moving cursor: Longpress (Touch and hold) spot that needs to be fixed, you will see an enlarged cursor that will move with your finger so you can accurately place it.
Shortcut for numbersand punctuation: longpress on the 123 key and drag to a number or character. When you let go the letters will come back.
Dictate by tapping the microphone button on the keyboard. When you’re done, tap the keyboard icon to return.
End sentence: tap the space bar twice to enter a period, a space, and capitalize the next word.
Swipe or Glide typing: with one finger, start on the first letter of a word and drag your finger to each subsequent letter without lifting your finger from the screen. At the end of the word, you can lift your finger and it will automatically enter a space so you’re ready for the next word. If instead, you type a period, it will remove the preceding space.
Swipe delete by word: instead of just tapping the delete key, you can drag. Start at the delete key and swipe left across that row of keys. You will be deleting all the characters as you go and it will start to delete word-by-word.
Emojis: Longpress on the globe icon to the left of the spacebar and choose Emoji. The keyboard space is now filled with little icons. Swipe left, or tap the categories at the bottom to see many more. To get back to the regular keyboard, tap the ABC in lower left.
Keyboard Settings: If any of the options above did not work for you, it may be a matter of changing your settings. There are 2 ways of getting to your keyboard settings 1) Home screen, System Settings, General, Keyboards or 2) on the keyboard, longpress on the globe icon then choose Keyboard Settings… For example if the End of Sentence shortcut (double-tap the space bar) doesn’t work for you, look for the “.” Shortcut setting and turn it on. If swipe or glide typing doesn’t work, find the Slide to type setting and turn it on.
Android Keyboards
Android phones may be manufactured by Samsung, Motorola, Google, or others. Each manufacturer can put their own spin on the keyboard. If any of these don’t work for you, Check your keyboard settings – see #13 below.
Make the keyboard appear: just tap on any area where typing is expected.
Make the keyboard disappear: sometimes it’s covering up an important element. It will disappear if you tap on the phone’s Back button at the very bottom of the screen.
When device is held Vertical you have a smaller keyboard, more room for screen. Turn it Horizontal and you have a bigger keyboard
Correcting Autocorrect: if you notice an error in a previous word, you can tap on it and you should see all the possible choices from autocorrect. Just tap on the right one – it it’s there. You can even make your own autocorrect shortcuts in the dictionary like gotc can suggest an autocorrect to GeeksOnTour.com. Tap the gear for settings icon at the top of the keyboard, Dictionary, Personal Dictionary, English, tap the + to enter your own word along with a shortcut to that word. For example my “word” is GeeksOnTour.com and the shortcut is gotc, then I tap the checkmark to save it
Type in ALL CAPS: Double tap the shift key. It should turn dark and maybe have an underline to indicate Caps Lock. To turn it off, just tap the shift key again.
Moving cursor: Sometimes it’s difficult to tap to reposition the cursor exactly where you want it. First tap to get close, then you can rub left or right on the space bar which is like pressing a left or right arrow key on a computer. You may also see a little bubble-handle at the bottom of the cursor that you can grab to reposition.
Shortcut for punctuation: Each letter has another character showing above it. For example, the m has the ? character. If you longpress on the m, you’ll see the ? key and drag up to select it. When you let go the letters will come back.
Dictate by tapping the microphone button on the keyboard. When you’re done, tap the microphone to return.
End sentence: tap the space bar twice to enter a period, a space, and capitalize the next word.
Swipe or Glide typing: with one finger, start on the first letter of a word and drag your finger to each subsequent letter without lifting your finger from the screen. At the end of the word, you can lift your finger and it will automatically figure out the word, then enter a space so you’re ready for the next word. If instead, you type a period, it will remove the preceding space.
Swipe delete by word: instead of just tapping the delete key, you can drag. Start at the delete key and swipe left across that row of keys. You will be deleting all the characters as you go and it will start to delete word-by-word.
Emojis: Tap the smiley face icon, or Longpress on the comma/smiley icon to the left of the spacebar and choose Emoji. The keyboard space is now filled with little icons. Swipe left/right, up/down, or tap the categories at the bottom to see many more. To get back to the regular keyboard, tap the ABC in lower left.
GIFs: Tap the GIF icon above the keyboard and you can choose from Giphy – all sorts of cute animations.
Keyboard Settings: If any of the options above did not work for you, it may be a matter of changing your settings. Tap the Gear icon above the keyboard at the right. If you don’t see a gear, tap the arrow icon at the left edge of the row above the keyboard. Once you’ve tapped Settings, you should see a screenful of options. Look thru them all! For example if the End of Sentence shortcut (double-tap the space bar) doesn’t work for you, look for the Smart Typing option and Auto punctuate (Samsung keyboard.) This option may also be found under Text correction and Double-space period on the Google GBoard. If swipe or glide typing doesn’t work, find the swipe to type setting (Samsung) or the Glide typing setting on Google GBoard, and turn it on. If you don’t see punctuation and characters above the letters, find Preference and Long press for symbols.
To see some of this in action, we have three of our YouTube shows that covered keyboard topics.
No, I’m not talking about finding your future spouse. The name is Google Maps, not Google Matchmaker 🙂 I’m talking about knowing the whereabouts of your current spouse, or significant other, or friend.
And Google Maps makes it so easy. My husband and I both share our Google Maps location with the other, so if one or the other needs a ride, there is no hassle to get directions to exactly where they are. This 1 minute video will show you how.
On Oct 1, Google retired the product called “Backup and Sync.” In its place is a product called Drive for Desktop. People are asking,
“What was Backup and Sync, and how do I know if I have it?”
“What is Drive for Desktop and why would I need it?”
“What happened on October 1 and do I need to do anything?”
Episode 220 of our YouTube show was all about Google Drive and the New Google Drive for Desktop. We showed in detail how to use it and how to migrate from Backup and Sync, but I don’t think we sufficiently answered the questions above, so I’ll try here.
“What was Backup and Sync, and how do I know if I have it?”
First of all, if you have to ask – you probably weren’t using it! So, the fact that it is changing just doesn’t affect you at all. But, just to be sure, let’s dig a little deeper. Backup and Sync was Google’s utility for uploading and downloading between your Computer and Google Drive/Google Photos in the cloud. To know if you used it, review these 3 questions:
Do you use Google Drive?
Google Drive is the cloud storage service for your Google account. You can keep files at https://drive.google.com/ If you see your files there, you are looking at the cloud copy. If you’ve created any Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, you will see them in Google Drive. This can be used all by itself. Any time you want to see a file that is stored in Google Drive, you go to the web.
If you use Google Drive AND you can also access your Google Drive files using your computer’s Filing system – something like: C:\Users\yourname\Google Drive – then you must have been using Google Backup and Sync to copy files back and forth between your computer and the cloud.
Even if you don’t use Google Drive, do you upload to Google Photos?
Do you put photos on your computer that get automatically uploaded to Google Photos? (https://photos.google.com/) Google Backup and Sync was the utility that automatically uploaded photos from your computer to Google Photos.
Can you see the Backup and Sync icon?
You can also just look in your “Systray” in the lower right on a windows computer and see if the icon is there. If it is there, click it, then the 3-dot menu, then Preferences. That’s where you’ll see the settings of what it is backing up. On a Mac, this icon will be in the upper right.
“What is Drive for Desktop and why would I need it?”
Drive for Desktop replaces Google Backup and Sync and serves 2 purposes:
Syncing: To make Google Drive files accessible from your computer’s filing system and computer files accessible from the cloud
To upload photos from your computer to Google Photos
You don’t need it if you are happy using Google Drive from the web interface, and manually uploading any photos to Google Photos.
However, if you have lots of important files stored in Google Drive, and you want them all synced to your local hard drive, Drive for Desktop is how you can do that. If you have thousands of photos on your computer, in hundreds of folders, then Drive for Desktop is the way to automatically upload them all to Google Photos. (See this video: 705.GP-Upload to Google Photos using Google Drive for Desktop)
“What happened on October 1 and do I need to do anything?”
If you were using the old Backup and Sync to sync files from Drive to your computer, OR to automatically upload photos to Google Photos – that process stopped on October 1. Any new Google Docs you created using the web interface after Oct 1 did NOT get synced down to your computer, and vice versa, if you edited a file in C:\Users\yourname\Google Drive – that is not getting synced to Google Drive in the cloud. Also, any new photos added to your computer are not getting uploaded to Google Photos.
If you want those processes to continue, you need to install Google Drive for Desktop. Once you do, you will see a different icon in your Systray.
If you decide you don’t need this syncing function, you can uninstall Google Backup and Sync (and/or Google Drive for Desktop.) Any files that had already been synced to C:\users\yourname\Google Drive will remain on your computer but will no longer be updated.
The results of migrating to Google Drive for Desktop
When you install Google Drive for Desktop, you will have two main areas to set up.
One is to backup folders from your computer to the cloud. These folders are ones outside of the Google Drive folder, like My Documents, Taxes, Clients, or My Pictures. When these folders get synced to the cloud, you will find them at Drive.Google.com in the section called Computers. Or, if you specified to upload photos to Google Photos, they will be at Photos.Google.com
The other is to sync folders from Drive down to your computer. These folders will be found at Drive.Google.com in the section called My Drive. Your only choice here is to:
Stream files. If you choose to Stream – find them on your computer in a virtual drive, probably G: OR
Mirror files. If you choose to Mirror – find them in a folder usually called C:\users\yourname\My Drive. You can click the option to “Change folder location” and put them anywhere you choose. Note: if you are migrating from Google Backup and Sync, that folder was called C:\users\yourname\Google Drive. It is now an orphan and should be deleted. If you choose to “Change folder location” and make Drive for Desktop mirror to C:\users\yourname\Google Drive, be prepared for duplicates when the sync occurs.
The diagram below shows the Google Drive for Desktop preferences on the left and the Drive.Google.com web page menu on the right. Notice how the settings for “My Laptop” relate to the “Computers” tab and the “Google Drive” settings relates to “My Drive.”
Learn More
If you decide to use Google Drive for Desktop, please do watch our Youtube show Episode 220. Here are chapter links to what we taught in that show:
1:04 Example of using Google Drive and collaborating on a document
Everyone can view any episode for free. Just click on the play button above, or the link to any ‘chapter’ in the video.
Scroll down to see the show notes, these will be available for Members Only.
Members get access to the extensive show-notes Chris writes up after each show. Read them online and follow links directly to the parts you’re interested in. We recommend you print them out and keep them in a notebook. It’s a great way to learn.
Everyone can view any episode for free. Just click on the play button above, or the link to any ‘chapter’ in the video.
Scroll down to see the show notes, these are available for Members Only.
Members get access to the extensive show-notes Chris writes up after each show. Read them online and follow links directly to the parts you’re interested in. We recommend you print them out and keep them in a notebook. It’s a great way to learn.
August was a play month! We visited a national park, drove over a 12,000 foot pass in the Rockies, visited lots of friends, showed off our Star Trek geekiness by stopping at the Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk (photo above), slept at a winery, and hung out at the shore. Fun, fun, fun.
We’re home now. Here’s the complete summer tour map:
There were no work stops on our schedule this month, but that didn’t prevent us from doing some online work. Three online events happened to be all about Google Photos – so we decided to dedicate this issue of the newsletter to that topic. See articles below about Editing with Google Photos, Making movies with Google Photos, and 30 questions answered
about Google Photos.
Thank you to our premium members for supporting us and making this newsletter possible! If you learn something from us, and you’re not a member, consider joining us now.
Ask the Geeks Q&A forum. Anyone can read the forum, only members can ask questions. This is a valuable benefit of membership. Join Today! Here are some recent discussions
Jim and I are evangelists for Google Photos, so it surprises us when we meet someone who doesn’t know what it is. We recently asked someone if they used Google Photos, and they said “Sure, I Google for images all the time.” No, no, no, we’re not talking about public photos, we’re talking about your private library of photos and videos. I have 84,000 photos and videos stored in my Google Photos account. From scanned photos of me as a baby, to high school
graduation and world travels, to to selfies from last week at the beach. I can simply search for any photo I want to see.
We pay $20/year for storage space in the cloud. With that we get all the features that are part of Google Photos. In this newsletter issue, we’ll tell you about 2 of these features:
Improving your photos with Editing,
Making movies from your photos and videos.
The 3d article is about our open Q&A session where you’ll be able to see our answer to 30 different questions about Google Photos.
Lastly, we’re announcing a members-only Zoom meeting to discuss recent updates to Google Photos
Editing can take your photos from trash to treasure
Built right in to Google Photos are tools for improving your photos. Tools like Crop, straighten, Adjust exposure, Adjust color. You can use these tools on the computer/web version of Google Photos as well on the iOS and Android app. Whenever you’re looking at your photos, take a minute to make them look better.
This article gives you the exact process to make the changes in the photos above, and it includes a YouTube show where we demonstrate that and more.
Using Google Photos to make instant movies from your photos
If you use Google Photos to store your photos and videos, you need to try making movies! It is drop-dead easy to make short movies complete with music that you can then share with your friends.
This article outlines the 3 basic steps to create a movie and also tells you about some of the options. If you use motion photos (Live photos on iPhone) be prepared for a treat when your movies come to life!
At the end of the article is a 50 minute video with lots of demonstration and discussion about the easiest and best ways to make movies.
If you are a premium member of GeeksOnTour.com, please join us on Monday, Sep 13 at 3pm Eastern time for an update on Google Photos. There’s nothing major, but a lot of minor changes since the book was published in June. Some of these changes could be important for you!
We’ll be using the Zoom links for the Backstage Pass. You can find that link on the Member Login page.
Where: Zoom meeting link for Backstage pass found here.
Topic: Google Photos updates
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