Google Photos: How to view your photos in order by date-uploaded rather than date-taken

On a computer, you can see the timeline of your
photos by moving your mouse to the right sidebar.
These dates represent the date the photo was taken.

When you use Google Photos to store your pictures, they are organized in one great big stream, by date the photo was taken. The most recent photo is on the top, as you scroll down you're going back in time. On a mobile device you can pinch the screen until you see your photos grouped by year and month.

Old Photos get lost

A friend of mine just uploaded a group of old photos from her computer to Google Photos.  When she opened Google Photos, she expected to see those photos at the top. When they weren't there, she assumed she had done something wrong and not uploaded them correctly. She tried it again - still no photos. 

What she didn't realize is that these old photos got organized into her "stream" according to the date they were taken. She had no idea what dates these photos were taken, so she had no way to find them!

How to change the order to "Date Uploaded"

Google Photos does not give us many tools to re-order photos. Albums are generally our only tool for customizing how photos are grouped. But, there is a way to just view your library in order of Date-Uploaded rather than Date-taken.

1. On a computer/browser view your photos
2. Click in the search bar at top, don't type anything to search for
3. Scroll down to the section that includes Videos, Selfies, Screenshots - click "Show More"
   
4. Now you should see an option for "Recently Added" - click that
5. You should now be viewing your library of photos with the most recently added at the top, scroll down and you still go back in time, but by date added now rather than date taken

What about Mobile apps?

[Jan 2020 update] you can now enter "Recently Added" in the search bar to see your library in date added order.
On mobile apps this option does not show up. I have no idea why. The search bar is there, when you click on it you see Videos, Selfies, Screenshots and "Show More," but when you click Show More you will not see Recently Added!?!?! 

Where there's a will, there's a way! On your mobile device, instead of using the Google Photos app, open a browser and go to Photos.Google.com - just like you would on a computer. Now you will be seeing the same thing you do on a computer - including the Show More with Recently Added.

A shortcut

URL:  https://photos.google.com/search/_tra_

On a browser, after you've clicked the Recently Added option, take a look at your address bar - you will see the specific URL that has been used. You can enter that URL yourself (or save a bookmark) 

Mrs. Geek's Guide to Google Photos

 If you have the book, this feature is covered in Chapter 5: Explore and Organize. The section is called "View by Date Uploaded."

---

"
Chris Guld is President and Teacher-in-Chief at GeeksOnTour.com. She has been in computer training and support since 1983. She is now a Top Contributor for the Google Photos Forum, owner of the LearnGooglePhotos.com blog, and author of Mrs. Geek's Guide to Google Photos. 
She loves to teach! If you want to learn, you’ve come to the right place.

Pictures of My Feet

I like taking pictures of beautiful scenery as much as the next person, but I also like taking pictures of my feet. Yep, I take a lot of pictures! 

This morning as I was sprawled on the couch with my cup of coffee reading my latest Kindle book ("Buffering" by Hannah Hart) I looked down toward my feet and noticed the beautiful morning light coming in through the window with the palm fronds swaying outside, and I just had to take a picture. 

Since I'm reading the Kindle book on my phone, I didn't even have to move. I just switched from the Kindle app to the camera app and snapped the shot.

Looking at the picture made me think of other times that I've put my feet in the shot. In the days before selfies, it could be the only way to put myself in the picture! I specifically remember a time (summer of 2000) when we were vacationing in Ireland and visiting the famous Cliffs of Moher. I sat down on the edge of the cliff and took a picture looking down. Can you hear Jim yelling at me from a distance? "You're crazy! Be Careful."

The only way I knew to get perspective in the photo was to include my feet in the shot. Gee, I wonder where I could find that photo?

Any ideas? 

How about I ask Google Photos to find me all photos of "feet"? I just pulled up the Google Photos app on my phone (still not moving from my comfy position on the couch), typed "feet" into the search box and tapped Done. It came up with lots of photos - some of which had nothing to do with feet - but there, towards the bottom, were these two shots: 

And, here's a sampling of the other photos that came up in the search results:

How about you? If you use Google Photos to search your collection of pictures what interesting finds do you get?

---

Continue your Education with Geeks on Tour by subscribing to our Newsletters!

Chris Guld is President and Teacher-in-Chief at GeeksOnTour.com. She has been in computer training and support since 1983 and owned a Computer Training Center called Computer Savvy from 1983-1996. She was one of the first WordPerfect Certified trainers in 1986; President of the International Computer Training Association in 1993; Author of the Beginner’s Guide to Picasa and the PicasaGeeks.com website. She is now a Top Contributor for the Google Photos Forum and owner of the LearnGooglePhotos.com blog. She loves to teach! If you want to learn, you’ve come to the right place.

Ask Google Photos to Find a Photo with 2 Named People

by Chris Guld, GeeksOnTour.com
On our What Does This Button Do? show this past week (Episode 85) we demonstrated some search tricks with Google Photos. Slide the YouTube playhead to the 17 minute, 13 second mark to see the demos.

Step One: Automatic Face Groups

If you use Google Photos, you probably know that it automatically groups like faces together, but did you know that you can ask for pictures that have 2 particular people in the photo? I have 50,000 photos in my Google Photos library. With one search, I can instantly see just the photos with two named people in the photo.
Obviously there are lots of pictures of people in my 50,000 collection. With one click on Albums, then another on People, I see automatic Face Groups. Click on one face and I see all the pictures with just that face.

Step Two: Name the Face Groups

When you click on the face of any group, it opens up to display all the photos that include that face. You will also see a little note asking “Who's this? Add a private label to search by name” Just type a name in the space provided and click Done.

Step Three: Search for Two Names

Once the faces are named, you can now use Search. In the example above, clicking on Jim displays hundreds of photos with Jim’s face, clicking on Devon does the same with Devon’s face. But using Search for Jim and Devon, and the results are just dozens of photos with both Jim and Devon in the shot.

Have Fun Searching!

---

Chris Guld is President and Teacher-in-Chief at GeeksOnTour.com. She has been in computer training and support since 1983 and owned a Computer Training Center called Computer Savvy from 1983-1996. She was one of the first WordPerfect Certified trainers in 1986; President of the International Computer Training Association in 1993; Author of the Beginner’s Guide to Picasa and the PicasaGeeks.com website. She is now a Top Contributor for the Google Photos Forum and owner of the LearnGooglePhotos.com blog. She loves to teach! If you want to learn, you’ve come to the right place.