Windows desktop:
Sharing photos and location with the cloud
This course outlines how you can share your photos and other important documents from your Windows desktop computer using the cloud. You'll also learn how you can locate your other devices using the cloud and your desktop computer.
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Transcript
Welcome to the "Windows desktop: Sharing photos and location with the cloud" course. When you create a Google Account, you also get free cloud services. In this course, you'll learn how to use your Google Account cloud service to share files, photos and videos between your Windows computer and your Android phone. You'll also learn how to locate your Android phone using your Google Account on your computer. To follow along with this demonstration, your computer must have the latest Windows operating software. All computers with the latest Windows operating software installed work in a similar way, but because each computer maker does things a little differently, some of the screens in this video might vary from those on your computer. Don't worry, though You should still be able to follow along. It should take around 14 minutes to complete the video, but you can pause or rewind to check any steps you're unsure about.
Before you begin, make sure your Windows computer is: Installed with the latest version of Windows; Plugged into mains power; Properly connected to a monitor, mouse, and keyboard; Connected to the internet; Switched on and showing the latest version of the Chrome web browser on the desktop. You should also have an email account set up on your computer. The second part of this course shows how you can use your computer to find your Android phone, should it become lost or stolen. Your Android phone will need to be installed with the latest version of its operating software, switched on, and connected to the internet either via Wi-Fi or mobile data. You'll need to be signed in to your Google Account in the Chrome browser on your computer and on your phone. Type google.com into the Search bar and follow the steps. To get the most from this course, you should also back up the photos and videos on your Android phone to your Google Account cloud service, ready for viewing on your computer. You can learn how to do this in the "Cloud back up and photo sharing" courses.
Let's begin by checking that you're signed in to your Google Account. Click on the profile icon in the top right. In our demonstration, it looks like an initial inside a circle, but yours may be a photo or image. A pop up will appear. If you see your name and email address here, you're signed in. Well done! To close the pop up, click anywhere in Chrome except on the pop up. You're now ready to view photos and videos that you've backed up previously. To do this, type photos.google.com in the Chrome Search bar, and press Enter on your keyboard. The Google Photos web page will appear. In our demonstration, it shows a grid of photos and videos we took earlier and backed up using our Android phone. They are arranged by date, with the newest photos and videos at the top of the page. You can scroll the page to see older photos and videos. If you've set your Android phone or tablet to automatically back up to your Google Account, whenever you take a photo or video, you'll be able to see it on the Google Photos web page.
You can share a video or photo with a friend or family member by creating a link. A link lets you share files that are too large to send as attachments, so it's good for sending multiple photos and videos. Let's look at how to share a few photos via a link in an email. To select a photo for sharing, put your mouse in the top left corner of a photo's thumbnail. A small grey circle with a tick in it will appear. Click the grey circle to turn it blue. This photo is now selected, and the Google Photos web page is now in selecting and sharing mode. You can see that now all the other photos have an empty grey circle in the top left corner. Click the circles on the photos you want to share, to turn the circles blue and add the photos to your selection. In the top left of the page, you can see how many photos you have selected. For instance, if you have three photos, it will say '3 selected'. When you've selected all the photos you want to send, look in the top right of the page for the Share icon. It's to the left of the plus sign, and looks like three little circles connected by lines. Click the Share icon and a pop up will appear titled Send in Google Photos. At the bottom of this pop up, look for 'Create link' and click on it. The pop up will change to show some text explaining that you are about to create a link that anyone can use to view your selected photos. When you're ready, click Create link. After a moment, a blue link will appear at the bottom of the pop up. Click 'Copy' to copy the link.
Now let's open an email. In our demonstration, we're going to use Google's Gmail. Don't worry if you don't have an email address, or use another email provider, you can still follow along and see how it works. To open Gmail, type 'gmail.com' in the Chrome Search bar and press 'Enter' on your keyboard. The Gmail web page will open. Click on 'Compose' to create a new email. Enter the email of the friend or family member you want to share the photos with in the To box. Click on the Subject box and add a subject. Now use your mouse to right-click in the main body of the message. A pop up menu will appear. Find Paste and click it. The link you just copied will appear in the body of your email. You can add a personal message if you like. But for our demonstration, we'll just click the Send button at the bottom left. When your friend receives this email they can click the link to view the photos! They can do this on their own computer, and on their phone or tablet too. To finish up this course, you'll learn how to use your Google Account and Chrome web browser to find your Android phone if it becomes lost or stolen. Type google.com/android/find in the Chrome Search bar, and press 'Enter' on your keyboard. The Google Find My Device' web page opens. If this is the first time you've used the feature, a pop-up box will tell you how it works. Once you've read it and are happy to proceed, click Accept.
The box closes and you'll now see a map. Your Android phone will appear in the top left of the page, with information about its battery charge, and if it is connected to a Wi-Fi network. The map will be centred on the location of your phone. You might need to wait a moment for it to appear. Under the name of your phone, it should say 'Last seen just now'. If it says something like 'Last seen 30 minutes ago', click the circular arrow to refresh the map. You can also use Google Maps to see where friends and family are, which can help you feel secure. Let's see how that's done. For a person to share their location, they need to have Google Maps on their phone, and be signed in with their Google Account. They must have already shared their location with you from their phone or tablet, and you can learn more about how to do this in the "Cloud location services" courses.
It's not possible to invite someone to see your location from a Windows computer. On your computer, type maps.google.com into the Chrome browser's Search bar, and press Enter on your keyboard. The Google Maps web page will appear. To see people who are sharing their location with you, look for the Menu button in the top left of the page. It looks like three horizontal lines. Click on it. A menu will open from the side of the page. Find Location sharing and click on it. The map will change to show a list of people who are sharing their location with you. For our demonstration, we're sharing our whereabouts with just one person, Lee. You can click on a person's name to make the map zoom in on their location and to see some more information about them in the panel. For now, we're going to click on Manage your location. The Location Sharing page from your Google Account website appears with details about the personal information that is shared by those using the feature.
You can stop sharing your location with someone by clicking the cross next to their name. Congratulations! This is the end of the "Windows desktop: Sharing photos and location with the cloud" course. When you're ready, you can continue with some of the other courses to learn more about what your Windows computer can do.