Google is about to make a major change to the Google Drive desktop app, and if you rely on it to automatically back up your computer’s photos to Google Photos, you’ll need to make some changes very soon.

Starting August 10, the Google Drive for desktop app will no longer support automatically uploading photos to Google Photos. Any folders on your computer currently set up for automatic backups will stop uploading photos within a few days.

Google first announced this change in May and began notifying affected users by email. Then, in June, it removed the ability to set up new folders for automatic Google Photos backups through the Drive app. Starting August 10, any folders you already have set up will no longer upload photos either.

While this is undoubtedly a frustrating move by Google, the good news is that any photos already uploaded to Google Photos won’t disappear and will remain safely stored in the cloud. However, any new photos you add to those folders on your computer will no longer be uploaded automatically.

Fortunately, there is a way to keep your computer’s photos automatically backed up to Google Photos. Here’s how.

Developer

Google

Subscription cost

Free

How to keep automatic photo backups working

You’ll need to set up your folders to sync through Google Photos now

If you want to automatically back up any new photos or videos on your computer to Google Photos, you’ll need to set up a new folder connection directly through Google Photos.

The main caveat is that Google doesn’t have a dedicated Google Photos desktop app like it does for Google Drive. So, if you want to keep folders on your PC containing photos or videos automatically backed up to Google Photos, you’ll need to set up the connection through the Google Photos site. Here’s how:

1. Open Google Photos on the web on your PC.

2. Click the Plus (+) button in the top-right corner.

3. Select Back up folders.

4. Choose a folder on your PC to automatically back up to Google Photos.

5. After you select the folder, a pop-up will appear asking you to “Allow this site to view and copy files.” Click Allow.

And voilà, once you’ve selected a folder and allowed Google Photos to view and upload the files in it, your photos and videos will start backing up to Google Photos again.

However, there’s another caveat to be aware of: this process isn’t as automatic as it was in the Google Drive desktop app. In order for your photos or videos to start backing up automatically, you’ll need to open Google Photos in your web browser. So, with that in mind, I recommend opening Google Photos in a browser tab whenever you add new photos or videos to the folder you’ve selected on your computer. That way, Google Photos can start backing them up right away and keep them safely stored in the cloud.

For more information and additional help, you can check out Google’s support page about these changes here.

As a reminder, Google is ending support for Photos backups in the Google Drive desktop app on August 10. If you use this feature, it’s best to make the changes I outlined above in Google Photos as soon as possible to ensure that the photos and videos in your computer’s folders continue to be backed up automatically.