How to embed Google Photos images in Blogger using Google Drive

Many Blogger who use Picasa Web album may have realized that Google has just lost their mind.

On Sunday August 7^th 2016, I awoke to discover that I could no longer access Picasa Web album to embed pictures in my blog My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica. Worse, all those thousands of pictures I’d posted over the years no longer had active embed links pointing to Picasa Web album....as they had all been removed.

Wil have to fix that later in a massive undertaking!

Initially panicking, I tried to embed pictures for the cutting posit I was in at the time, that being my blog article entitled “JPSCo US$5 million Smart Grid and Tesla Motors Battery Storage Tech Fixes Low Power Periods”.  

It was then I realized the truth; Google Photos, the new host for my Picasa Images, does not support embedding.

So what was I to do to host and embed my pictures?

Migrating Google Photos to Google Drive – Making photos Embeddable

A quick search of Google revealed a solution on the Product Forum for Google Photos entitled How can I embed my images in another website using Google Photos?

The steps for this solution are rather involved but provide an elegant solution who sharing:

Open your Google drive for your Blog

Click on the Gear Wheel and select Settings.

Select General and then scroll down to Create a Google Photos folder. Then check the box Automatically put your Google Photos into a folder in My Drive to auto-populate you Drive with your Google Photos!

Within minutes your Picasa Folders, now in Google Photos will be synched to your Google Drive, ready for embedding using the method as described in my blog article entitled “How to use Dropbox, Google Drive and Sound File Sharing Websites to Share”.

However, this post actually applies to videos; how do you embed photos?

Embedding photos using Google Drive – Production Line Patience required

Embedding photos in Google Drive is a little complicated. You might have to set up a mini production line on a notepad to do this.

First you need to open a blank notepad sheet as shown below

Go into you Google Photos Folder. Mine goes back several years by the way

Select an image. Right-click on the image, and select Share.

Click on the Advanced option.

Click on the Change option.

Select On - Public on the web, then click Save.

Copy the string of characters between “file/d/” and “/view? As shown below

To create your image URL, use the format http://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=FILEID. Change FILEID to the string of characters you just copied e.g. ‘img src="http://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0B2nmJ_DIvLZtS0VGSnNRVlVTQTA" alt="Google Logo" with “<” and “>” added at the start and end respectively.

Thus you’ll have the following embeddable image, whose see you can adjust using Blogger’s built in settings.

That's it! Sharing is caring about your fellow bloggers so share this as widely as possible!