Managing your Google Photos on your Chromebook may soon get a lot easier as Google is working on integrating Google Photos into Chrome OS's file manager. Right now, Chrome OS users have to manually download their photos off Google Photos and then organize them into their file manager, which is as tedious as it can get. Many users have complained about this in the past, and it looks like Google finally seems to have realized this counterintuitive approach that Chrome OS users have to take to access their photos.

Our friends over at Android Police have discovered some new commits on Chromium Gerrit that hint that Google is working on deeply integrating the Google Photos into the navigation pane of the file manager, allowing users to quickly access their uploaded photos right from within the file manager.

The following commit suggests that users will be able to view their Google Photos when picking files in the file picker.

[filesapp] Only show Photos volume in file picker

Google Photos volume should only be shown when picking files in Chrome

OS, and hidden when browsing or picking files in ARC.

BUG=1170198

Meanwhile, another commit mentions adding a welcome banner for Google Photos.

[filesapp] Add a welcome banner for Android Photos

Show a welcome banner for the Android Photos DocumentsProvider volume. The banner is shown up to 3 times unless dismissed.

BUG=1171651

Further digging into the code by Android Police confirms that the integration will let users browse and select their recently uploaded photos right from the file manager. The Google Photos shortcut will show up on the navigation pane after the user installs the app on their ChromeOS device.

As exciting as this change is for Chrome OS users, there's no guarantee Google will merge these commits into the Chromium source code and turn the feature into a reality. If and when Google decides to finally ship the feature to Chrome OS, we'll be sure to let you know.