Album Archive
NEW effective July 19, 2023
Beginning in June 2023, users may have seen this message when opening Album Archive or have received an email from Google:
Album Archive will no longer be available
Photos and videos that you see here will no longer be available after 19 July 2023. You can use Takeout to download these items before then. Learn more
Google seems to have already removed photos that were also available in Google Photos from the Album Archive. The content which is still available in Album Archive will be unavailable after July 15, 2023. The content can be downloaded from Takeout at: https://takeout.google.com/takeout/custom/album_archive
See also:
https://support.google.com/picasa/answer/7008270
Video Tutorial: Google Album Archive No Longer Available after July 19, 2023
https://9to5google.com/2023/06/16/google-album-archive-photos-delete
https://www.peggyktc.com/2023/06/google-album-archive-shutdown.html
Additional remarks:
This concerns ONLY the "Album archive" https://get.google.com/albumarchive and NOT the Archive in Google Photos. Google Photos will not be affected at all.
Album Archive formerly showed albums that were created in Google Photos. These photos were already removed from Album Archive, but still are shown in Google Photos. What remains in the Album Archive is not part of Google Photos, but possibly from other services such as Hangout, Blogger, etc.
Blogger images will still be available at Blogger after July 19 2023. In Blogger Settings, scroll down to Manage Blog then find "Media from your blog"
After July 19, 2023, the content below will be obsolete and will be removed.
o O o
Picasa Web Albums was discontinued on August 1, 2016. See Picasa Web Albums retirement
Google redirected users to Album Archive at https://get.google.com/albumarchive
When signing in for the first time, you may be asked whether you want to use your account for Google Photos, also. If you select "Yes" you will be able to sign in with the same account to https://photos.google.com/albums
Albums you can see ONLY in the Album Archive and NOT at Google Photos
Auto Backup
The Auto Backup album and it's sub-albums are automatically generated by Google Photos to contain the photos uploaded to Google Photos. The sub-albums are generated and named by Date Taken of the photos as they are uploaded. (Example name: 2016/10/25 #3) Separate sub-albums are generated with #X suffixes as required by Google Photos.
These automatically generated albums cannot be deleted in Album Archive, and at Google Photos only if empty.
When you create your own albums there may be duplicates between your albums and "Auto Backup".
(This Auto Backup album doesn't appear as an "album" at Google Photos; however, the Auto Backup photos do appear in your photos stream and possibly in albums in Google Photos.)
Profile photos
Photos from Blogger (Deleting images from the "Photos from Blogger" album will remove the images from your blog)
Photos from Hangouts / two-user Hangout albums
Photos from Drive (Photos from Google Drive can also be seen in the Google Photos (GP) library if that option was activated in the GP settings, but will not appear in GP as an album. This option is now disabled, but there may still be an older "Photos from Drive" album)
Scrapbook Photos
Cover Images
Hangout video call images
YouTube Channel Art
Nickname Profile ?
Albums you can see in the Album Archive
AND which also appear at Google Photos
AND which also appear at Google Photos
Albums you created at Picasa Web Albums before its retirement
Albums created at Google Photos (New albums created after the retirement of Picasa Web Albums won't appear to anyone that has a link to your album archive; these albums can only be shared in Google Photos.)
Drop Box album (This is an old system album that was created automatically. Images in the Drop Box album are those that were uploaded to Google Groups and forums, and uploads using a special email address. The Drop Box album is not the same as Dropbox.com. It's not possible to change the visibility or delete the album.)
Use the Album Archive to View, Delete, Download
View: When signed in to a Google account, the owner can see all his/her archived albums plus new albums added after Aug 1, 2016. Others used to be able to see all your "Public" albums (uploaded to Picasa Web Albums), but that has been disabled.
Delete: Click 3 dot menu > "Delete album"
Deleting albums in the 3-dot menu is only possible for albums created before the retirement of Picasa Web Albums. For albums that don't have a delete option in the 3-dot menu, go to Google Photos to delete the albums.Download: Click 3 dot menu > "Download album"
To move photos to another album, share images, or change visibility of some albums from public to anyone with a link (or stop sharing), you must do that from Google Photos. Be sure to sign into the Google account that is storing your photos.
About the User ID number at Album Archive
Your Album Archive User ID is a unique series of 21-numbers at the end of the main part of the URL.
Example: https://get.google.com/albumarchive/123456789012345678901These numbers are automatically added when you sign into https://get.google.com/albumarchive