How to Stop Google Photos from Uploading Screenshots

How to Stop Google Photos from Uploading Screenshots

Google Photos works like a gallery and a photo storage service. It offers two ways to upload photos. First, photos taken from the camera are added to it when backup is enabled. Second, you must allow backup of device folders, such as screenshots manually. But what if the screenshots are automatically uploaded to Google Photos? Let’s see how to fix it.

We usually want to save photos of our family in Google Photos. When screenshots continue to add automatically, it disrupts the overall experience of using it, unless you want to share it or transfer it to other devices.

If you’re having the same problem, let’s see how to disable uploading screenshots to Google Photos on Android.

Why screenshots go to Google Photos

To keep files organized on your phone, the operating system stores them in different folders. The location of a folder plays an important role in Google Photos.

We know that when backup is enabled in Google Photos, it creates a backup of images in the default Camera folder. However, this is a bit wrong. Indeed, this actually creates a backup of the DCIM folder which hosts the Camera folder. If there are other folders in the DCIM folder, they will also be automatically uploaded to Google Photos. You do not need to enable backup for them separately from the device folders.


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Now the screenshot added to the Google Photos problem occurs on phones such as Samsung and Mi. On these phones, you should have guessed that the Screenshot folder is present in the DCIM folder. This is not the case with original Android phones which keep screenshots outside of the DCIM folder.

How to turn off the screenshot folder for backing up to Google Photos

You would think moving the Screenshots folder out of the DCIM folder would help. Yes, but not completely. If you change the location of the folder, a new Screenshots folder will be created immediately when you take a new screenshot. Thus, moving the folder will only help you stop backing up old screenshots provided they have not yet been saved to Google Photos.

So let’s see other methods to solve the problem.

1. Add a .nomedia file

The first method is to add a .nomedia file to the Screenshots folder. When you add a .nomedia file to your folder, it hides the files so that they do not appear in different applications, except for File Manager. So when you add it to the Screenshots folder, the screenshots do not appear in the Google Photos app and are not uploaded to Google Photos.

To add a .nomedia file, launch the File Explorer application on your phone. The steps may vary for different file managers, but the basic principle is the same. In other words, go to the DCIM> Screenshots folder. Press the Add button and select File. Name it .nomedia and save it. That’s it.


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Point: If the preinstalled file explorer does not support adding a file, install third-party explorers such as ES File Explorer, Solid Explorer, etc.

Obviously, the downside of this method is that you won’t be able to see the screenshots through another gallery app. You can only access it through the File Explorer application.

2. Use a third-party application to change the location of the folder

You can use the help of third-party applications that automatically change the target location of your files. One such application is Auto Transfer Lite.

With this application, you need to change the target location of your files in the Screenshots folder to a folder outside the DCIM folder. So every time you take a screenshot, instead of going to the Screenshots folder, it will go to the new target folder. Thus, the screenshots will not be part of the DCIM folder and will not be saved in the Google Photos service.

Hope for the best

We hope you are satisfied with one of the methods mentioned above to stop uploading screenshots to Google Photos. We want other smartphone manufacturers to also take the lead in Android stock and change the default location for the Screenshots folder.

Then:

Don’t like the Google Photos app? Find out what happens if you uninstall Google Photos from your app using the following link.

Last updated March 8, 2020

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