Share Photos with Google Drive

Yesterday, I walked a reader through the process of sharing a large number of photos via Gmail. (Click here to read that article.) While that’s a fairly simple process, there’s an even more convenient way that doesn’t leave your recipient with a whole bunch of files to download.

Let’s look at how to do it. If you already have a single folder with all those photos in them, you can skip the step where we create a folder. If not, follow these steps if you’re using a PC.

Start by opening the Pictures library in File Explorer and right-clicking to create a new folder.

Name your folder.

Then drag and drop or copy and paste images into that folder.

Next, go to your browser and open your Gmail inbox. Click the little square of squares in the upper-right corner. The choose Google Drive from the menu. If you have a Gmail account, you have Google Drive cloud storage whether you are using it or not.

Click the big plus sign to the left.

Choose Folder Upload.

Then select your folder and click Upload.

Confirm that you wish to upload.

You can track the upload progress in the lower-right corner.

The folder now appears in your Google Drive.

Right-click on the folder and you’ll see options to Share or Get a shareable link.

Choose Share and you can enter the name of a Gmail contact or an email address to share the file with.

Click the pencil icon at the right to decide if the recipient can make changes to the file or only view it. If you’d like to allow them to add photos, you’d allow them to make changes.

Or you can choose, Get shareable link and you’ll have a handy link to share via a message or an email with anyone. If you want the recipient to be able to make changes, they will need a Google account. To view, you can just send the link.