Managing Google Photos on your Chromebook may be much easier soon, as Google is working to integrate Google Photos with the Chrome OS file manager. At the moment, Chrome OS users need to manually download their photos from Google Photos and then organize them in their file manager, which is as tedious as possible. Many users have complained about this in the past, and it seems that Google finally seems to have realized this counter-intuitive approach that Chrome OS users have to take to access their photos.
Our friends in Android Police have discovered some new commits in Chromium Gerrit that suggest that Google is working on a deep integration of Google Photos in the file manager’s navigation panel, allowing users to quickly access photos sent directly from the file manager.
The following commit suggests that users will be able to view their Google photos when choosing files in the file chooser.
[filesapp] Show only the volume of photos in the file picker
Google Photos volume should only be shown when selecting files in Chrome
OS and hidden when browsing or selecting files in ARC.BUG = 1170198
Meanwhile, another commit mentions the addition of a welcome banner to Google Photos.
[filesapp] Add a welcome banner for Android photos
Displays a welcome banner for the Android Photos DocumentsProvider volume. The banner is shown up to 3 times, unless dismissed.
BUG = 1171651
Investigating the code further by Android Police confirms that the integration will allow users to browse and select their recently uploaded photos directly from the file manager. The Google Photos shortcut will appear in the navigation pane after the user installs the app on their ChromeOS device.
As exciting as this change is for Chrome OS users, there is no guarantee that Google will merge these commits into the Chromium source code and make the feature a reality. If and when Google finally decides to send the appeal to Chrome OS, we will let you know.