Google Is Moving G+ Photos To Google Drive…And More

When I said a few days ago that I was moving my blog to G+, I mentioned that I would use this Blogger platform, on occasion, to talk about any technical changes coming down the road that might be of interest to fellow Bloggers.  It didn’t take all that long as Google is in the middle of some changes that every blogger should be aware of. 

The changes involve our old friend “Photos”.  First, came Picasa, then G+ Photos and now our photos are being uploaded to Google Drive.

Here’s how Google explained the move:

We take all kinds of photos, from pics of friends and family to snapshots of a scenic view. We also use photos for more practical purposes, like planning a wedding, remodeling a kitchen, or capturing meeting notes from a whiteboard. But while you may snap all sorts of images, your experience across Google should be seamless and consistent. That’s why starting today, the photos and videos you keep in Google+ Photos will also be available in Google Drive.

To get started, just look for the new Photos menu in Drive for Android, iOS and the web. From there you'll be able to manage your photos and videos alongside other types of files. For example, you can now add pictures of wedding venues and cakes to the same Drive folder as your guest list and budget.

Google+ Photos will of course keep helping you store, edit and share your pics. But if you want to organize all your files, all in one place, Drive is here to help. You’ll start seeing your photos in Drive today—immediately if they’re new, and a few weeks for your entire library—so give it a try, and let us know what you think. For more specifics, you can always visit the Help Center.

A few hours ago, I posted a blog with a link to a G+ post I had written just this evening that explained, in detail, what this Photos change was all about and how it affected the Blogger platform.  Somehow, someway I managed to delete it forever and its floating around out there in cyberland. 

In the meantime, there’s only one thing Bloggers have to be aware of and that’s if you delete a photo from Google Drive it will also be deleted from G+ Photos and thus from Blogger!  Same goes if you delete a G+ Photo – it will be deleted from Google Drive as both products share the same Google Cloud Storage.

Now, I’m off to search the clouds to see if I can somehow recover the 600 word post I wrote earlier explaining all of this.

UPDATE:  Thought I’d add my reply to Janna’s question as it’s a good one and might help clarify what Google is actually doing here.

Janna Clark 1 hour ago  - 

I sure hope you find that post!  I've always been confused about Google+, Google Drive, geez, couldn't we just have ONE place??  And on limited GBs, I'm not letting Google move photos anywhere!

Reply

Rick Doyle

What it basically amounts to is that Google is making G+ photo services available now on Google Drive as well as G+ Photos. Both share the same cloud storage anyway so in its simplest form it's more like Google just "throwing a switch".

They are doing this is so that people who are not members of G+ will be able to use G+'s great photo storage and enhancement products and to expand Google services to folks who for whatever reason have refused to join. 

Google is no longer trying to force people to join G+ to use services like Photos and Hangouts.  The Google Stream, of course, will remain an integral part of G+ with a G+ ID requirement - just like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc.

This change in photo strategy probably won't have any affect on Bloggers or current G+ users.  Things will carry on as usual BUT my point in addressing this is to ensure that if anyone does happen to look at their Google Drive storage and say "hey, those photos shouldn't be here" and starts deleting them then that could be a disaster. 

G+ Photos, Google Drive and even our old friend Picasa Web Albums all share the same cloud storage so it's very important to be aware that by deleting a photo from one of these sites it deletes it from all including any you have previously posted to your blog!!

There's always been a very strong case for making G+ Photos and Hangouts separate apps outside of G+.  It seems to me that Google has recognized that now and has started to make it happen.  

Thanks for visiting!