Google Photos is a fantastic service for backing up and accessing your photos from any device. Whether you’re looking to download all your memories, organize your albums, or move your photos elsewhere, knowing how to select all of them is a crucial first step. This guide will walk you through the simple steps to select all your photos on Google Photos, ensuring you can manage your entire photo library efficiently.
Selecting all photos in Google Photos can be done on both desktop and mobile, each with a slightly different approach. Here’s how to do it:
On your computer (Web Browser):
- Go to the Google Photos website (photos.google.com) and sign in to your Google account.
- Scroll down to the very bottom of your photo library. This is important to ensure all photos are loaded for selection.
- Once you’ve scrolled to the end, press Ctrl + A on Windows or Cmd + A on Mac. This keyboard shortcut will select all the photos currently loaded on the page.
- If you have a very large library, Google Photos loads photos in batches. You might need to scroll down and press Ctrl/Cmd + A again to ensure all photos are selected if they weren’t loaded in the initial scroll. Alternatively, for very large libraries, consider selecting photos by year or month for more manageable batches.
On your mobile device (Android or iOS App):
- Open the Google Photos app on your phone or tablet.
- Navigate to the “Photos” tab at the bottom.
- Similar to the web version, scroll down through your photo library until you reach the bottom. This may take a while for large libraries.
- Tap and hold the first photo you want to select.
- After selecting the first photo, tap and hold the last photo in your library. This should select all photos in between. Alternatively, after the first photo is selected, you can drag your finger to select multiple photos quickly. However, there isn’t a true “select all” button on mobile. Selecting a large range is the closest method to selecting all.
- For very large libraries on mobile, it’s often easier to select photos in smaller chunks (by day, month, or year) for better performance and to avoid potential app issues when selecting thousands of items at once.
Once you have selected all your photos, you can then perform actions like downloading them, adding them to an album, or moving them to the trash. Keep in mind that for extremely large libraries, performance might be affected, and it might be more practical to work in smaller batches or utilize Google Takeout for downloading everything.
Selecting all photos in Google Photos is straightforward on desktop using keyboard shortcuts. While the mobile app lacks a direct “select all” button, understanding how to select a range allows you to manage your entire Google Photos library effectively across all your devices.
