How to Delete Photos from Google Photos without Deleting from Shared Album

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• User Case: Can I Delete Google Photos without Deleting from Album
• Can You Delete Photos without Deleting from a Shared Album?
• How to Delete Photos from Google Photos without Deleting from Shared Album
• Pro Tip: How to Move Google Photos Before Deleting Photos
• In the End

User Case: Can I Delete Google Photos without Deleting from Album

Can You Delete Photos without Deleting from a Shared Album?

Sadly, the answer is No. Generally speaking, if you delete a photo on Google Photos after sharing it with others, it will disappear from the shared album too. To remove photos only from Google Photos instead of shared albums, we have walkarounds. In this write-up, we will introduce you to 2 simple and effective solutions.

How to Delete Photos from Google Photos without Deleting from Shared Album

2 simple and useful methods are provided. One is to archive the photo, and the other is to ask your recipients to add shared photos to their library. Now, let’s figure out each method step by step.

Way 1: Archive Your Photos

The easiest way is to archive your photos on Google Photos. Once you archive the photo, it won’t be shown on the main page. This way, you won’t see them until you head to Archive. Does Google Photos archive take up space? Of course, yes. So, if your space is insufficient, this method isn’t helpful. If your storage is sufficient, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Go to your Google Photos on the web and head to Photos.

Step 2: Select the photo you want to archive and choose Archive in the menu.

Alternatively, you can navigate to Archive on the left lower part and add photos to it directly.

Way 2: Save Shared Photos to Personal Library

As mentioned earlier, if your space is limited, you should then ask your friends or the recipient of the shared album to upload photos from that shared album to their personal Google Photos. This way, they can still access the photos in their library. This is the only way to remove photos only from Google Photos.

Step 1: Ask your friends to save photos from shared albums to her/his account.

Step 2: Go to your Google Photos and delete the photos.

Pro Tip: How to Move Google Photos Before Deleting Photos

It is better to back up photos before deleting them since sometimes you might want to view old memories or useful screenshots. Google Photos canceled its unlimited storage space for compressed photos, which means the space can be run out of more quickly than before. To back up the photos you want to delete without taking up Google space, you can move them to another cloud. 

There are many smart and useful cloud services in the market. For example, MEGA offers 20GB of free space, so you can add many photos and videos to it. To quickly migrate photos from Google Photos to another cloud, the download-and-upload method is time-consuming. You can use a free third-party service – MultCloud. 

MultCloud's Cloud Transfer feature enables you to transfer files directly between different cloud storage services without downloading them to your device. It streamlines the process of moving large files between platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, MEGA, Google Photos, Dropbox, SharePoint, iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, and OneDrive. Here are some details:

Now, refer to the following content to learn how to move Google Photos to MEGA to make a copy before deleting.

Step 1: Log up for a MultCloud account. Alternatively, log in with your Google, Facebook, or Apple ID.

Step 2: Navigate to Add Cloud on the left taskbar. Tap the icon of Google Photos and MEGA respectively to add your account. Then, give MultCloud access by hitting the Allow button.

Step 3: Go to Cloud Transfer. Select Google Photos as the source and MEGA as the target. Finally, hit Transfer Now.

In the End

Now, you know how to delete photos from Google Photos without deleting from shared album. Anyway, you neither archive your photos on Google Photos nor ask your friends to add photos from shared album to their personal accounts. Meanwhile, it is recommended to make a copy of your Google Photos before deleting in case regretting. 

MultCloud is one of the most useful cloud transfer services in the market. It is free to get started and offers 5GB of free data traffic. So, you can have a try to see whether it is helpful. In addition to transferring data between clouds, you can also sync and backup files across cloud drives effortlessly. For example, when you find it hard to sync Google Drive with OneDrive in real-time, you can use MultCloud.