Discontinuation of Google Photos

On January 3, 2024 Syracuse University will discontinue availability of Google Photos as a supported app in the g.syr.edu domain Google Workspace. Google Photos is primarily a personal photo backup and storage system with no known (or limited) use-cases, for teaching and learning, in the g.syr.edu domain.  Google Photos consumes the same storage as Google Drive, competing for the soon-to-be implemented individual storage quotas.  There is no way for Syracuse University Google admins to manage or control space usage that is allocated in Google Photos.  This action is recommended by the Google's Workspace account team for Education plans, with many universities already disabling the application. Please see Google Workspace Storage Limit Policy for detailed information on upcoming, individual storage quotas.

Before this application is discontinued, on January 3, 2024, users should make an  effort to migrate photos to a personal Google account or download them to a personally owned device.

Photo files can still be stored in a user’s personal drive space and shared like any other file within the current terms of use.   Disabling the Google Photos application is necessary to prevent mobile device photo backup to the Google Photos mobile app using your Syracuse University Google Workspace account.   

It is critical that you delete your photos once you've moved them.   Unwanted photos that are not moved could count against your allocated Syracuse University Google Drive space.

Backup your Google Photos from the Google Photos Application

Google Photos should be copied to a personal Google account, a local hard drive, a portable hard drive, or your Syracuse University OneDrive storage.   It is also important to stop any mobile devices from syncing photos to your Syracuse University g.syr.edu Google account.   

• Go to https://photos.google.com and login with your Syracuse University Google Workspace account (g.syr.edu)
• Photos can be found under Photos in the left hand navigation menu
• Videos can be found under  Categories > Videos in the left side navigation menu
• Click on photos or video files that you want to save.   In the action menu for each item, choose download.   This will copy the files from the Google Photos Application to your local storage disk.
• After you backup the files that you want, click the delete icon and choose Move to Trash

Empty the Trash

After you are finished and have verified that the photos are saved to the new location, make sure to empty the trash in your Syracuse University Google Workspace account.  

• On the left hand navigation menu, click Trash then choose Empty Trash.