Back up photos to your Pixelbook from your camera or phone

To upload photos from a camera or mobile device to your Pixelbook, you can save them to Google Drive instead of your hard drive. If you use the Google Photos app, your photos and videos will also be available there.

When you use Google Drive and Google Photos, you can see and edit your photos on your Pixelbook or phone.

Step 1: Connect to your Chrome OS device

Note: You'll need a USB-C cable to connect your phone or camera to your device. A two-pin, "charge-only" USB cable won't work.

1. Sign in to your device.
2. Plug the USB-C cable in to your device, then into your phone or camera.

Step 2: Back up photos

1. On your device, the Files app will open
2. Select Import.
3. Your device will automatically find photos that you haven’t saved to Google Drive. Sometimes, this scan will take a while.
4. In the window that appears, select Back up.
5. When your device is done backing up your photos, you'll see "Import done."

If your Files app doesn't open automatically:

1. In laptop mode: In the corner of your screen, select the Launcher Up arrow
   In tablet mode: Go to your Home screen. To get there, tap the Launcher in the corner of your screen.
2. Select Files
3. Select the name of your camera or phone, then open the DCIM folder.

Find your photos

After you back up your photos, you can find them in two places:

• In Google Drive, in a folder called “Chrome OS Cloud Backup"
• In Google Photos​

Photos added to Google Drive can be used with Google Photos, including in animations and albums. Because these photos are added to Google Drive, they’ll use storage quota, unlike photos uploaded to Google Photos. Learn how Google Drive and Google Photos work together.

Related articles

• Take a photo with your Pixelbook
• View manage and edit photos on Pixelbook