Google Album Archive Will Be Discontinued At The End Of The Month

(CTN News) – A few years ago, Google Hangouts, which was immensely popular, was retired in favor of Google Chat, which is now very popular as well.

Some of the images you shared on the platform and other defunct services remain on Album Archive, allowing you to view them from one convenient place regardless of which device you sent them from.

Because of this, some users are now receiving emails informing them of Album Archive’s impending shutdown, and encouraging them to back up their content using Google Takeout.

A number of users, including a few members of the Android Police team, have already received the email.

Even if there is no email announcing this change, if a user visits the Album Archive page from a Google account manually, he or she is greeted with a banner on top informing the user that their content will be deleted after July 19, 2023.

In the email, Google specifies that the “content that is only available in Album Archive” will be deleted as of July 19.

According to the company, it is possible that this could either be Hangouts data that is currently stored within Album Archive or even background images that were uploaded via the Gmail theme picker before 2018 that have been stored within the album.

A small thumbnail photo, album comment, or like that may have been saved within Album Archive as well would be deleted, according to the email.

On the Album Archive page, you will find a gallery view of images and videos you have sent over time through older Google services, such as Hangouts in my case.

Whenever there is something worth maintaining, Takeout lets you receive a download link through an email, or you can transfer the file to a cloud service like Drive, Box, OneDrive, or Dropbox if it is worth saving.

Please note that Google Takeout download links generated by email are only valid for seven days. Further, Google indicates that Workspace users will require their administrator’s approval before downloading their images/videos.

According to a support page detailing the sunsetting of Album Archive, users may continue to view and manage their content on services such as Blogger, Hangouts (Chat), Photos, and their default Google Account.

There’s nothing better than going through old content you shared on a service (and probably forgot about) on the Album Archive page.

Nonetheless, some people have been confused by the email announcement, especially since the images and videos will still be available on other Google services beyond July 19, 2023.

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