Apr 3, 2019
How do I share my places on all devices
This question is locked and replying has been disabled.
Community content may not be verified or up-to-date. Learn more.
Apr 4, 2019
There is an unofficial way to do what you want for GE Pro.
You can move My Places to Google Drive. While you can't currently do this with Google Earth out-of-the-box, you can manually change the location where Google Earth places the myplaces.kml file to directory of your local Google Drive.
Type regedit into Start search bar or the Run command. Backup the registry.
Change the KMLPath field to your Google Drive path in this location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Earth Pro
I created a Google Earth folder in Drive in File Manager to keep myplaces.kml separate from any other saved My Places. The path in that case would be C:\Users\username\Google Drive\Google Earth.
Do that to each Windows computer. This works best if you're the only user. The last computer to close GE Pro will overwrite the myplaces.kml.
Original Poster Ronald Skees marked this as an answer
Apr 5, 2019
Thanks again. That makes sense as I read it, I'll give that a try.
Seems a bit odd these days with everything linked in "the cloud" that this isn't just a setting, but where there's a will there's a way.
Awesome fix!
Original Poster Ronald Skees marked this as an answer
Apr 3, 2019
HI Ronald,
No version of Google Earth saves your files online. You can save you work as .kmz files and import the files into another version. Here's the instructions for GE Pro. Earth for Chrome is similar.
You can right click on My Places in the Sidebar and select 'Save Place As...'. This will save your My Places on your hard drive as a .kmz file (not .kml). You can move this file to your new computer as an email attachment, with removable media or by saving it to a cloud service. If you need to do this manually, Google has instructions Here.
On your new computer, first install GE. Load your saved file from the old computer to Downloads or wherever. When you click on the file GE should open with your information in Temporary Places. Right click on the file and select 'Save to My Places' or drag and drop as necessary.
Google My Maps saves your work in Google Drive. You can access it from any computer. That might work better for you.
Please post here if you have any problems.
Original Poster Ronald Skees marked this as an answer
All Replies (16)
HI Ronald,
No version of Google Earth saves your files online. You can save you work as .kmz files and import the files into another version. Here's the instructions for GE Pro. Earth for Chrome is similar.
You can right click on My Places in the Sidebar and select 'Save Place As...'. This will save your My Places on your hard drive as a .kmz file (not .kml). You can move this file to your new computer as an email attachment, with removable media or by saving it to a cloud service. If you need to do this manually, Google has instructions Here.
On your new computer, first install GE. Load your saved file from the old computer to Downloads or wherever. When you click on the file GE should open with your information in Temporary Places. Right click on the file and select 'Save to My Places' or drag and drop as necessary.
Google My Maps saves your work in Google Drive. You can access it from any computer. That might work better for you.
Please post here if you have any problems.
Original Poster Ronald Skees marked this as an answer
Jun 28, 2019
Jun 28, 2019
Hi Michael,
I don't know why the same idea wouldn't work on a Mac. I don't have a Mac to test, so I'm not willing to give exact instructions. Saving My Places to Google Drive works in the Linux version by changing the path in .config. OS X isn't much different. You have to develop some kind of protocol for multiple users because every time GE gets shut down, that My Places overwrites the version in Google Drive.
People have been asking for My Places to be saved online as long as GE has been available. Google has never felt comfortable with the security problems involved. If you check, the same problem is occurring with the new web version. My Places is saved with your browser data on your computer. That's really a problem because if you clear the browser data, you lose My Places.
The technology exists. It's used in Google My Maps and, more importantly, in the new Earth Studio. The best way to tell Google you would like a change is to use feedback in the app.
I can try to answer any questions you might have.
Last edited Dec 20, 2019
Aug 10, 2019
You can then share this KMZ with other users in a read-only mode. So changes have to go through one person. Still someone else can save a folder and you can import the folder into your KMZ if you want to work together.
Nov 29, 2019
Thanks
Nov 30, 2019
Hi Carlos,
You can save your placemark as .kmz and then open it in Google My Maps. Any map in My Maps is available in Google Maps under the 3 bar menu>Your Places>Maps.
You can always switch from Google Earth Pro to Google Maps by the button at the far right of the Toolbar.
I hope that helps.
Dec 19, 2019
the issue now is, when we go to open that file again, we get several duplicates of the files we have created, is there a work around or a fix for this.
Dec 19, 2019
Hi Caleb,
Duplication of KML files is usually caused by some kind of confusion using Temporary Places. You open a file from your hard drive in Temporary Places. That file is a copy. The original remains on your hard drive.
When you try to close Google Earth, a window pops up asking you if you want to Save or Discard the file in Temporary Places. You choose Save. The file is saved to My Places.
The next time you want to use the file, you choose the original on your hard drive and go through the same workflow. Now you have two files in My Places and one on your hard drive.
There may be variations of this but the end result is multiple files in My Places. To correct it, you should make a choice to save the file in Temporary Places to your hard drive. Right click on the file and select 'Save Place As...'. You should probably work out a protocol with your collaborators to overwrite the original file or create edit versions or whatever suits you .
Does that sound anywhere close to what's happening to you?
Dec 20, 2019
Dec 20, 2019
I'm glad that helped. That's why we're here.
Please ask any questions you like.
Dec 20, 2019
A convention that I have found to work is to make my changes in My Places. When I close Google Earth Pro, I choose to "Discard". The next time I open GE Pro, my changes are there in my places as desired.
If I choose "Save" another copy is there in Temporary Places, next time I open the file. I suspect that Temporary Places is there to make my changes, in case of a mistake. Then I would need to move my work from Temporary Places to My Places. Since I think this would cause confusion, I just keep my work in My Places and choose Discard each time I close GE Pro. I am sure there are other acceptable methods.
Dec 21, 2019
Hi Harold,
What you are saying is best practice for Google Earth Pro. A potential problem arises if you are keeping all your work in My Places and not making regular manual backups. A crash can not only lose all your work for that session, it can lose My Places without possibility of recovery.
Always backup to your hard drive and try to keep work you're not using at the moment on your hard drive also. A large My Places can slow the program down and increases the likelihood of a crash.
Your advice is welcome on the forum anytime.
Dec 21, 2019
"People have been asking for My Places to be saved online as long as GE has been available. Google has never felt comfortable with the security problems involved. If you check, the same problem is occurring with the new web version. My Places is saved with your browser data on your computer. That's really a problem because if you clear the browser data, you lose My Places.
The technology exists. It's used in Google My Maps and, more importantly, in the new Earth Studio. The best way to tell Google you would like a change is to use feedback in the app."
I'm not interested in making multiple copies of .kml or .kmz files and sprinkling them across my devices (some Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, etc). Most people on this forum have probably used Google Drive for lots of different kinds of files, some probably with personal information that might pose a security risk. That said, Cloud storage is becoming the norm across multiple platforms, and encryption comes with its own risks and benefits.
Perhaps as the technology evolves, we can direct GE to look for .kmz or .kml files in a CLOUD directory, whether Google Drive or something else. Until that happens, I know to keep "My Places" in ONE file on ONE machine. If I'm logged in somewhere else and have a place to save, I know I need to email it to myself, etc and then open it separately and merge it with my "Official" file on this machine.
Ahh, well.
I here Google has successfully tested a quantum computer which will ultimately render all current encryption practices obsolete anyway.
Thanks team! Stay informed!