To put Google Photos on your desktop for easy access, you can create a shortcut directly from the website.
Creating a Google Photos Desktop Shortcut
One of the simplest ways to get Google Photos on your desktop is by creating a web shortcut that links directly to the service. This allows you to click an icon on your desktop to open Google Photos in your web browser.
Here is the core method, as indicated by the reference:
- Open your preferred web browser.
- Navigate to the Google Photos website. The standard URL is
https://photos.google.com/u/0/. - Drag the URL to your desktop. As the reference states, "Basically, just drag the URL https://photos.google.com/u/0/ to your desktop." You typically do this by clicking the icon (like a lock or 'i') next to the web address in the address bar and dragging it onto your desktop background.
- A shortcut icon will appear on your desktop, often with the Google Photos favicon.
Clicking this newly created shortcut will open Google Photos in your default web browser.
Quick Access via Browser Bookmarks
While not creating an icon on the desktop itself, many users find that bookmarking Google Photos provides equally convenient and fast access directly within their web browser.
The reference highlights this preference: "Personally, I just like having it in the Bookmarks Bar of my browser (along with other things I access frequently, like Gmail, YouTube, News, X, Reddit)".
Steps to Bookmark Google Photos:
- Visit the Google Photos website (
https://photos.google.com/u/0/) in your browser. - Find the bookmarking option (usually a star icon near the address bar).
- Click the icon to bookmark the page.
- Save it to your Bookmarks Bar for easy visibility.
- You can edit the Bookmark description to be very brief (or non-existent) to save space in your browser bar, which is a useful tip mentioned in the reference.
Both the desktop shortcut method and browser bookmarking offer quick ways to access your Google Photos library online.
