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Transfer photos

vicmaster

Lurker
I've tried to transfer photos from Pixel 2 to windows computer and can't do it. I checked online and what they say to do doesn't match anything on my phone. Help

I've tried to transfer photos from Pixel 2 to windows computer and can't do it. I checked online and what they say to do doesn't match anything on my phone. Help
 
I'd recommend installing the Google Photos app on your Pixel phone, it includes a handy and automatic backup & sync function so the entire photo library on your phone gets uploaded into your online Google account wirelessly. If you have a lot of photos the initial upload could take a while but once done you'll at least have a fully accessible backup, which it sounds like you don't currently have. Be sure to go into the app's Settings menu and set it up properly -- in the Back up & sync menu under 'Upload Size' choose the 'Original' option instead of 'High quality' (the former uploads your photos at their full resolution, the latter scales them down to save on storage space); and enable the 'Google Drive' option, linking the Google Photos and Google Drive services so you can then access your entire photo library on your PC using a web browser. You can go to
https://photos.google.com
and access your photos through the Google Photos web interface or
https://drive.google.com
and access your photos directly as actual files.

If you don't want to have your photos automatically backed up over WiFi and/or mobile data and just want to use a USB cable to manually copy your photos over to your computer, you can either use Windows Explorer on your PC or install a file manager app on your Pixel to transfer files. Look for a folder on your phone named 'DCIM', that's the common default storage folder the Camera app uses (Digital Camera IMages) but also check for photos in 'Download' as that's the common default folder for a lot of web browser and texting apps. Or if you've intentionally set up your microSD card as the default storage for your Camera app, don't forget to look for photos there too.
 
I'd recommend installing the Google Photos app on your Pixel phone, it includes a handy and automatic backup & sync function so the entire photo library on your phone gets uploaded into your online Google account wirelessly. If you have a lot of photos the initial upload could take a while but once done you'll at least have a fully accessible backup, which it sounds like you don't currently have. Be sure to go into the app's Settings menu and set it up properly -- in the Back up & sync menu under 'Upload Size' choose the 'Original' option instead of 'High quality' (the former uploads your photos at their full resolution, the latter scales them down to save on storage space); and enable the 'Google Drive' option, linking the Google Photos and Google Drive services so you can then access your entire photo library on your PC using a web browser. You can go to
https://photos.google.com
and access your photos through the Google Photos web interface or
https://drive.google.com
and access your photos directly as actual files.

Obviously this is the best way, given that you have a fast and unlimited Internet connection.
 
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