How Google Photos works with Google Drive

You can see and edit photos and videos from Google Drive in Google Photos.

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Before you sync photos & videos from Google Drive

To sync your photos and videos stored in Google Drive  to Google Photos:

• You have to be the owner of the photos and videos, and the folder in Drive.
• The photo must be larger than 256 pixels.
• The file type must be JPG, GIF, WEBP, TIFF, or RAW. Learn about supported RAW file types.

Note: You can’t sync your photos and videos if you use your account through work or school.

See photos & videos from Google Drive in Google Photos

You’ll see all photos and videos from My Drive and Backup and Sync in your Google Photos library.

1. On your computer, open photos.google.com/settings.
2. Turn on Google Drive. 

What happens when you change or delete a photo

• If you edit photos in Google Photos, changes won’t show in Google Drive.
• When you delete a photo from Google Photos, it’ll also get deleted from Google Drive.
• If you delete a photo from Google Drive, it’ll also get deleted from Google Photos.
  • But if you add that photo to an album in Google Photos, it won't be deleted from those albums. 
• If you delete from the Google Photos folder in My Drive:
  • If you delete individual photos or videos, they will be removed from Google Photos.
  • If you delete folders (including the Google Photos folder), photos and videos won’t be deleted in Google Photos. This is to avoid deleting all your photos and videos by accident.
  • If you move photos from the Google Photos folder to a different folder and delete them from there, they’ll also be deleted in Google Photos.

Check your storage

Your photos and videos are stored using your Google Account's storage space.

• If you upload photos directly to Google Drive, they will count against your storage quota.
• If you upload using Google Photos or Backup and sync, it will count against your storage quota if you upload in original quality. Learn how to change your upload size.

Organize photos & videos using Google Drive

You can move photos and videos into a folder, but the folders won’t become albums in Google Photos.

1. On your computer, open drive.google.com.
2. Click Settings  Settings.
3. Check Create a Google Photos folder.
4. Click Done.