The Photos page is changing...

[Darren S.1]

I've just seen the banner that says "The Photos page is changing on 30 June 2017 but your pictures will stay safe in your Dropbox account. Learn more". The gist is that they are removing the final remants of the Carousel functionality - which makes me wonder what the point was in purchasing it in the first place:

"After that date, you’ll no longer be able to create or share albums on the web, or browse photos in the current timeline view. However, all your photos will remain safe in your Dropbox account."

Even funnier, it says:

"Creating a better photos experience

We’re continuing to work on new photos and file experiences on dropbox.com. As we learn more about how our users prefer to work with photos, we’ll launch improvements to the experience."

With these changes there will be no photos experience that is any different to normal files. If they remove camera uploads, that would be the last straw for me and I'll be moving to a different service.

[Peter M.33]

I have to agree with Darren, that didn't answer the question at all!

The key thing for me is why should I stay with dropbox rather than paying Google for full-quality photo storage? I can get the same backing up behaviour and many more photos features, plus plenty of space in Drive to store all the rest of my junk.

[currybum]

I have been using dropbox for years..managing to get my IOS using family away from iCloud as the automatic time lining of photos from all our devices (android/IOS) and cameras could be consolidated in a single place. The ability to quickly scroll through 15 years of digital photos from phones and SLR’s together is the key defining feature we use, it has basically replaced any local storage on my phone apart from a NAS sync dropbox is my storage for photos.  

If I read this right you are taking away this functionality to replace it with a traditional folder view..?

If so, what does dropbox offer in functionality over and above my internet connected NAS drive?

I would rather not have the hassle of moving several TB’s of data across to googles servers, but losing the timeline feature and albums removes the point of using dropbox for me.

[JedDinger]

Responding to your request for constructive criticism, would it be possible to post a visual aid to the new UX. A simple YouTube video describing the new user experience would go a long way towards helping your customers understand the upcoming changes.

[Mike H.57]

---

@JedDinger wrote:
Responding to your request for constructive criticism, would it be possible to post a visual aid to the new UX. A simple YouTube video describing the new user experience would go a long way towards helping your customers understand the upcoming changes.

---

On similar lines: is there going to be any functionality that replicates e.g. albums and timeline? Or will photos just be treated as files like any other (as the messages seem to imply)

[Mike H.57]

For those thinking of switching, as I am, here is a recent of photo sharing sites

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/comparing-the-best-ways-to-store-your-photos-online/

I am thinking either Flickr or Google Photos. Unfortunately I had just renewed Dropbox for a year ... I wonder if I can get my $$ back?

(Ironically, the review above says  "Dropbox, for example, has a standalone photo-focused app called Carousel, designed for simple photo sharing that backs up your photos to your account automatically".)

[Drakhar]

It seems they are indeed going to completly remove Photos as part of their interface.

If this happens I'll have to move to Google Drive.

Google Photos was always better solution but I really liked Dropbox so I was using it for all my photos.

It seems that was major mistake on my part.

Now I'll be forced to transfer 30-40 GB of photos to Google Drive. That will be easy part, the hard part will be organizing it again into albums and sharing the albums I need shared. It's gonna be messy but Google Drive has better pricing for my needs anyway (100 GB option)

https://www.google.com/drive/pricing/

This is really sneaky move on Dropbox part. None of their explanation makes any sense, for killing a great funcionality.

[Rich]

I've merged several topics into this one so that all comments are organized in a single location. It doesn't make sense to have them spread out all over the place. A single large topic gains more visibility and makes it easier for Dropbox to see everyone's opinions. Please keep any discussion of this topic within this thread. Thank you.

[Daniel G.52]

Organizing photo files in separate folders and then sharing them is NOT a subtitute to the photo albums. The Dropbox team must understand they are taking one important funcionality away and not replacing it properly. Unless there's new photo tools on the way -- and the first responses to the community indicate there won't be any -- my first reaction here is to look for another storage service that will let me keep handling and organizing my pictures with basic gallery/album tools. Why not just going back to Google Drive/Photos? I never thought I'd consider that, but here I am. I've been using Dropbox to store all my files including my pictures, but suddenly it's not good for pictures anymore. As a user this change feels just gratuitous and misguided.

[cdysthe]

The new Photos may be better by I do not understand why existing albums can't be turned into folders automartically (at least as an option) as part of the update so people keep their pictures sorted somewhat like they are used to. I have tons of albums and will have to spend hours on creating folders to re-create the way I have my photos organized. It's like Dropbox pushes a large part of the burden of a extensive update over on their (paying) users. This may give me the Google Photo's itch again. I so want to stay with Dropbox, but this turn may be one too much. I hope not though.

And there's no mention of mobile, in my case Android. Will this affect how photos are synced, accessed and organized on my phone? I would really like to see the option to choose synced folders on the phone like Google Photos has. I would also like to get rid of the "Camera Uploads" folder concept used today. Maybe this will change also after June 30?

For me Dropbox is a finely tuned tool I use to move seamlessly between computer, phone and web access to files and photos in which sync and share is a very important aspect. I am so afraid this will mess it all up for me. I already know it will create a lot of work! It may be a long hot summer! 🙂

//C

[Mike H.57]

The page https://www.dropbox.com/help/photos-videos/changes-photos?oref=e says

"As we learn more about how our users prefer to work with photos, we’ll launch improvements to the experience."

I think it's pretty clear that many users "prefer to work with photos" by keeping the albums that they spent so long creating ...