Google Photos Gets New AI-Based Organizational Features

Google Photos is adding a new Photo Stacks feature today that should make organizing similar photos taken together a lot easier. There are also new features for organizing screenshots and document scans.

“We know your photo gallery can get cluttered with similar photos of a single moment or screenshots and documents you snapped for future reference,” a new post to the Google Photos blog explains. “To help you declutter your gallery and keep the focus on your memories, we’re rolling out new AI-powered features that will group similar photos together and intelligently organize screenshots and documents into helpful albums so you can easily find them when you need them.”

These new features should address some problems I’ve had organizing my photos, especially those taken with smartphones in recent years. They are:

Photo Stacks. This feature uses AI to automatically identify and group similar photos that were taken close together and select a top pick that best captures that moment. You can of course modify a stack by choosing your own top pick and adding/removing any other shots. And you can turn off Photo Stacks to view your photos gallery normally.

Screenshot and document organization. Google Photos now uses AI to identify and automatically categorize screenshots and document scans into more helpful albums like ID, receipts, and event information, letting you find them easily without clogging your photos gallery view. You can also choose to automatically archive screenshots and documents after 30 days, which will hide them from your gallery but keep them available in dedicated albums.

Event reminders. Now, when you take a photo or screenshot of a ticket or flier for an upcoming event, Google Photos will offer to let you “Set Reminder” so that you can add it to your calendar.

These new features are rolling out today in Google Photos on Android and the iPhone.