How to Create a Shared Album on Google Photos

Google Photos is one of the finest ways for storing as well as editing your photos online. Anyone who has a Google account can easily make use of Google Photos and access all its features for free by just logging in to their respective Google account.

With every passing day, Google Photos is adding new features, and “Shared Albums” is one of them. Let us have a close look at what Shared Albums are and how to make Shared Albums.

What exactly are Shared Albums?

As the name suggests, Shared Albums allow Google Photos users (who wish to collaborate together) to join a group and contribute to an album. Users can share photos, albums, videos, as well as movies or animations amongst themselves.

You can make Shared Albums using Google Photos on the web browser as well as on the Google Photos app. Here is an easy guide on how to make shared albums in Google Photos using either way.

Making a Shared Album using Google Photos on the Web

In order to create your shared album, you need to follow the following steps:

• On your browser open google.com
• Now, sign in to your Google account.

If this is your first album then follow the following steps:

• If you do not have an album yet then first select the photos you want to add to the shared album by clicking on them. On clicking, the photo gets selected. This can be seen as all selected photos will have a small tick mark on them.

• Now, click on the plus (+) sign above. This will open a menu with options like Album, Shared Album, Animation, and The menu that is displayed as shown below.

• Next, click on the shared album option. This will prompt you to make a new album with the following window.

• Next, click the new shared album On clicking this option, a new album will be created and you will be prompted to add the album name.

• Now you can share this album by clicking on the share button on the top right corner of the screen.
• On clicking share all, contacts on your contact list will be displayed. You can choose amongst the contacts and click on send This will share your album with the selected contacts.
• An alternative to the previous step is to create a link. For this click on the create link option in the same window where the contact list is displayed.
• Clicking on this will create a link and a message box displaying the link will be shown to you on the screen as follows:

• You can now copy the link and send it to your desired contacts or you can share it via your social media accounts as well.

If you have created an album beforehand then follow the following steps:

• Click on the main menu link which is in the form of three lines in the left-hand corner of the screen. This will display a menu in front of you. Now select the albums option from the menu.

• All albums created in Google Photos by you will be displayed to you under the Albums category.
• Hover over the desired album, you want to share. On moving the mouse over the album, three dots will be displayed on it. See the picture below.

• Click on these dots to reveal the following menu.

• Click on the share album On clicking on the share option, all contacts on your contact list will be displayed. You can choose amongst the contacts and click on the send button. This will share your album with the selected contacts.
• An alternative to the previous step is to create a link. For this, click on the create link option in the same window where the contact list is displayed.
• Clicking on this will create a link and a message box displaying the link will be shown to you on the screen as follows:

• You can now copy the link and send it to your desired contacts or you can share it via your social media accounts as well.

Making a Shared Album using Google Photos App

Making a shared album using the Google Photos app is roughly the same as the way we make it using the web. For this, follow the following steps:

• Open the Google Photos app.

• Click on the three dots on the right corner of the app to reveal a menu. The menu that appears is shown below.

• From the menu, select Shared album. On clicking this, you will be prompted to add a title of your choice for your album.

• You will also be able to add new photos by tapping on the select photos button.
• Now, select the photos you want to add to your album. Tap on the photo to select it. Selected photos will have a tick mark on them. Tapping it again will deselect the selected photo.

• Once you have made the selections, add the photos to the album by clicking on the Add button in the top right-hand corner of the app.
• Now, the album is created and it is ready for sharing.
• Tap on the share button in the top right-hand corner of the app.

• On clicking the share button, all the contacts on your contact list will be displayed. You can choose amongst the contacts and click on the send button. This will share your album with the selected contacts.

• NOTE: -The only demerit of shared albums is that you cannot really limit the number of users who can actually see the shared album. This is due to the fact that when a shared album is created, then Google Photos creates a custom link for that album. This link is then shared amongst the users. An alternative to the previous step is to create a link. For this, click on the create link option in the same window where the contact list is displayed.
• Clicking on this will create a link and a message will be flashed on the screen showing that the link has been copied to the clipboard.
• You can now paste the link and send it to your desired contacts or you can share it via your social media accounts as well.

So there is no way to limit the access as persons with whom you have shared the link might share it further and you have virtually no control over it. The only solution to this would be to stop the sharing of the album.

Final Words

The shared album feature of Google Photos is of great help for sharing photos or videos irrespective of whether they are family photos or photos of any event. It is for the ease of users to create as well as share the albums with their family, friends, and at work too.

So go ahead and try out the shared albums feature of Google Photos today and save a lot of time from loading all those photos.