It’s been two years since Google disconnected its Drive and Photos services for a “simplified experience” that prevents images from syncing to the cloud storage. For many, managing images from Google Photos became a lot less streamlined on Chrome OS: you would have to download your images from the Google Photos app to organize them in File Manager. Several users have voiced frustration with the lack of synergy between Photos and the Files app, commenting on how frustrating it is to import a selection of images into Chrome OS. That could soon change, however, as we’ve discovered a few work-in-progress commits that hint at deeper integration of Google Photos into the file manager.
As seen recently in the Chromium Gerrit, the developers are laying the groundwork for Google Photos to reside in the Chrome OS file manager navigation pane. This commit explains that you can see your Google Photos uploads when you select files in the file picker.
[filesapp] Show only the photo volume in the file picker.
Google Photos volume should only be shown when choosing files in Chrome OS and hidden when browsing or choosing files in ARC.
BUG = 1170198
For reference, ARC (or rather: ARC ++) deeply integrates the Android subsystem into Chrome OS, allowing you to run Google Play apps on your Chromebook. Not much to see here, but if we look inside select_file_ash.cc, a snippet of code adds an entry point for Google Photos to the navigation pane of Chrome OS file manager. In arc_select_files_handler.cc, Google Photos is not showing in Android file picker.
The other commit adds much of the code that implements a welcome banner and Google Photos visibility logic in the Chrome OS file manager.
[filesapp] Add a welcome banner for Android Photos
Show a welcome banner for the Android Photos DocumentsProvider volume. The banner will be displayed up to 3 times unless closed.
BUG = 1171651
Within file_manager_strings.gdrp, the strings confirm that you can browse the file manager and select your recent photos, which is a huge win for those who want deeper integration with Google Photos. You need to install the Android app version of Google Photos for it to appear in the navigation pane.
Integrating Google Photos into file manager will no doubt be a huge time saver for those who want to quickly import images from Google Photos into Chrome OS. At this point it is unclear whether Google will merge the commits with the Chromium source code. We will continue to monitor the changes and will update as we discover more.
