Previously, when you were using the web version of Google Photos, you needed to manually select and upload images from your computer if you wished to back them up in the cloud. This hassle is no more thanks to this new update which will allow you to automate this process.
You can set up automatic folder backups by visiting photos.google.com and going for the new “Back up folders” option, situated in the Upload menu. You will then be prompted to choose a folder and provide permission to view files in the folder every time you visit the page.
Once you have it set up, the feature will show the selected folder in the Folder backup pop-up window. The window will indicate the backup size and number of files uploaded. You can, of course, also choose to remove the selected folder by clicking the three-dot menu button next to it.
In order to work though, you need to be visiting Google Photos’ webpage now and then to back the folders up.
This may not be as convenient as the background uploads in Google Drive, but it’s way better than just manually uploading images from your computer. I am a big fan of allowing people to choose automation when possible, and backing up photos is a great thing to automate.
Google Photos has been getting loads of nice additions to its feature set recently. I really like the option to tell AI-generated images apart from real ones that Google is currently working on, for example. Google Photos is also working on adding a Timeline feature instead of Memories, which is also pretty interesting.