Thursday, April 2, 2015

Follow up: Google+ Photos coming to Google Drive

Earlier this week, we announced that the photos and videos you keep in Google+ Photos will now be available in Google Drive. This feature will begin rolling out to Google Apps customers during the week of April 6th. 

A few things to note in advance of next week’s rollout:

  • All users will see a new menu item in Drive called Google Photos, including those who don’t currently use Google+ Photos.**
  • Upon launch, a notification in the Drive web UI will give users the option to add a Google Photos folder to their My Drive, allowing them to manage their photos and videos alongside other types of files. They can also control this feature via Drive Settings > General > “Automatically put your Google Photos into a folder in My Drive.”
    • If the user opts to create the Google Photos folder in My Drive, and is also a Sync Client user, they may want to go to Sync Client Preferences -> “Sync Options” and selectively remove the new Google Photos folder from syncing to their desktop.
    • Users can rename, move, share or delete the Photos folder in My Drive as needed.
    • If at any time a user unchecks the setting to put Google Photos into the Photos folder in My Drive, the folder will continue to exist (unless deleted by the user) but no new photos will flow in.
  • Photos and videos that do count against quota that are backed up to Drive via Auto Backup will only count once against a storage limit, but Apps users may want to review their Google+ Photos Auto Backup settings to avoid inadvertent syncing to their corporate Drive account.

Release track:
Rapid release planned for April 6 (gradual rollout), with Scheduled release to follow two weeks later*

*Update to initial post (Apr 16, 2015): The Rapid release rollout of the launch to make Google+ Photos visible in Drive is currently paused as we work on some performance and feature improvements. The rollout to Rapid release customers will soon resume and rollout gradually, followed by a gradual rollout to Scheduled release customers. 

**Update to initial post (May 26, 2015): Prior to the rollout for Scheduled release domains, we'll be adjusting this feature to respect Google+ settings. Domains with Google+ disabled will not see the Google Photos menu item. This change will go into effect with the Scheduled release rollout, which is now planned for mid-June (gradual rollout). Rapid release customers will also see this change to respect Google+ settings in mid-June. Monitor the release calendar for any timing changes.

For more information:
Help Center


Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

Launch release calendar
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates