The Photo Transfer App
The Photo Transfer App - and that's exactly what it's called - is the best thing since sliced bread. Really. It will make it so easy to copy photos back and forth between your phone/tablet and computer you will never plug your phone in again. Best of all, you won't have to struggle to see which photos you want as you do when you bring them into apps via Dropbox. Even... er, bester, it means you can use your existing digital kits in the Project Life app.
NOTE: Although it's called a transfer app this app doesn't actually move your photos, it copies them from one device to another.
NOTE: Although it's called a transfer app this app doesn't actually move your photos, it copies them from one device to another.
What do you need?
1) You need the Photo Transfer App on BOTH phone and computer (or whatever devices you are using). The app is here and it's available for desktop, iOS and android.
2) You need both devices on the same wifi.
3) It's easier to copy files both ways if you have folders/albums set up in the right place. You will see this as we go through the tutorial.
2) You need both devices on the same wifi.
3) It's easier to copy files both ways if you have folders/albums set up in the right place. You will see this as we go through the tutorial.
Getting Started
PLEASE NOTE: There are lots of ways to use this app and there are useful tutorials on the app's own website and elsewhere.
I use the app while I'm sitting at the computer and control everything from the computer. I'm transferring from PC to iphone and vice versa. If you want to transfer between android devices, Ios to android or other combinations go to this page where there are "how to" links.
The images below are mostly the computer monitor.
1) Open the app on the computer
2) IMMEDIATELY open it on your phone too
3) Click on the "Discover Devices" button and the app will find your phone. Click on the name of the phone.
I use the app while I'm sitting at the computer and control everything from the computer. I'm transferring from PC to iphone and vice versa. If you want to transfer between android devices, Ios to android or other combinations go to this page where there are "how to" links.
The images below are mostly the computer monitor.
1) Open the app on the computer
2) IMMEDIATELY open it on your phone too
3) Click on the "Discover Devices" button and the app will find your phone. Click on the name of the phone.
How it works: Phone to Computer
I use the app all the time to back up the photos from my phone to the computer (I back up the computer elsewhere but that's the subject of another article).
Click on Backup at the bottom of the screen. A window will appear showing you the albums on your phone. Check the ones you want to back up.
Click on Backup at the bottom of the screen. A window will appear showing you the albums on your phone. Check the ones you want to back up.
The window will show the files DOWNLOADING. Note for this app it's the phone that's regarded as the main device so it downloads to your computer rather than uploads. Keep an eye on your phone screen. This shows the action ending slightly after it shows as completed on your computer screen.
Where are your photos??? You will see a folder called Photo Transfer App in your pictures folder. Within that there is a folder for each device you're connecting. Here I have only one device showing:
Once the photos are on your computer you can, of course, move them where you like.
TIP: The albums on my phone follow the same naming protocol I use on my computer so wherever the photos come from they will have the name in the format date-subject. As you can see from the above picture I use the year-month-day method of dating so that my albums are always in date order and I often have several albums in a day. I might have only 3 or 4 photos in an album. You can work out the system that's best for you but it saves time if you use the same system on your phone and computer.
TIP: The albums on my phone follow the same naming protocol I use on my computer so wherever the photos come from they will have the name in the format date-subject. As you can see from the above picture I use the year-month-day method of dating so that my albums are always in date order and I often have several albums in a day. I might have only 3 or 4 photos in an album. You can work out the system that's best for you but it saves time if you use the same system on your phone and computer.
How it works: Computer to Phone
You will no doubt have photos on your computer that you want to use in the PL or other apps. Even if you currently take all your photos using your phone you might want to work on some older photos or photos other family members have taken. You can copy photos from your computer to your phone using the app. Here's a cool thing - journal cards and papers from kits are also photos so you can transfer them too. This means you can use digital kits in the PL app! Make sure you transfer jpegs for this. If your journal cards are png files you will need to convert them. I use Jasc Photo Album 5 to do this in batches but that might not be avaiable now. You can do it one image at a time in Picmonkey.
To make life easier:
1) Start a new album on your phone. Add a photo to it so it's easy to find (any photo, you're going to delete the photo later). Call it anything you like. If it's photos you might want to use the same name as your photo folder on the computer. For journal cards and calendar cards I tend to call them JC DesignerName-KitName. I use C for calendars, WN for week numbers etc. If I'm putting a big set of journal cards on the phone I will often put V and H in the album name to indicate vertical or horizontal orientation. These albums will show in alphabetical order when you're finding them within the PL app so try and be consistent with your system.
2) Set up a folder on your computer for the images you're transferring. I don't bother if it's just one or two cards but you might want to organise it into a folder if there is a big kit. You don't want stuff on your computer you're never going to use and you might want to split vertical and horizontal cards or different sizes for a big kit.
The examples below show me copying calendar cards for use in the Project life app. Open the app on computer and phone and click on the name of your phone. You will see all the albums on your phone in the list in alphabetical order.
To make life easier:
1) Start a new album on your phone. Add a photo to it so it's easy to find (any photo, you're going to delete the photo later). Call it anything you like. If it's photos you might want to use the same name as your photo folder on the computer. For journal cards and calendar cards I tend to call them JC DesignerName-KitName. I use C for calendars, WN for week numbers etc. If I'm putting a big set of journal cards on the phone I will often put V and H in the album name to indicate vertical or horizontal orientation. These albums will show in alphabetical order when you're finding them within the PL app so try and be consistent with your system.
2) Set up a folder on your computer for the images you're transferring. I don't bother if it's just one or two cards but you might want to organise it into a folder if there is a big kit. You don't want stuff on your computer you're never going to use and you might want to split vertical and horizontal cards or different sizes for a big kit.
The examples below show me copying calendar cards for use in the Project life app. Open the app on computer and phone and click on the name of your phone. You will see all the albums on your phone in the list in alphabetical order.
Click on the new album you just made. As you can see, I'm planning to copy over some 2016 calendar cards by One Little Bird so the name I chose is C2016 One Little Bird. The photo I chose to start the album is a pic of my Santa Crocs. Since I can see this isn't a calendar I will know to delete it.
1) Select the album from the list
2) Click on Upload at the bottom of the screen
3) A window will open - find the folder on your computer and select the images then click "open"
You will see the copying action on both devices.
Once your images are copied over to the phone you can use them just like any other photo. Remember to delete these extra photos once you've finished with them to save space on your phone.