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Android 12 marks a shift in how Google handles backups with the platform. Users volition work with Google One for their device backups. The system is a significant improvement over the previous solutions and should be a welcome change to anybody.

One aspect of Google Ane is that it makes it much easier for users to define what is backed upwards to their Google cloud drive. Permit'southward pose a scenario. Y'all have numerous applications installed on your Android device. Many of those apps are used for communication and collaboration. Say, for case, y'all make heavy utilize of Instagram, Messenger and Twitter for your business social media. From those accounts you download files. Or maybe you employ Slack to interact, and the files you interact with are saved in your device Download folder.

See: Research: Video conferencing tools and cloud-based solutions dominate digital workspaces; VPN and VDI less popular with SMBs (TechRepublic Premium)

Are the folders those apps used being backed up? Probably not. The expert news is that Google One makes information technology really like shooting fish in a barrel to add those locations and apps to your fill-in. The grab is twofold: Kickoff, how you enable these locations and apps isn't exactly intuitive. Second, making these changes volition count toward your Google Drive storage space. So, if y'all have limited space in Drive, you might desire to avoid doing this (especially if y'all save a lot of data/files from these services).

If, on the other hand, you practise want to enable the fill-in of sure apps and locations, let me show you lot how.

What you'll demand

To make this work, y'all'll need an Android device that includes Google Ane. It's important to annotation, however, that Google One is a subscription service and it has plans starting at $i.99/calendar month for 100GB. You tin can check out the Google One price matrix to effigy out which plan best suits your needs. If you lot're a heavy Google Drive user, upgrading to a subscription should be an absolute no-brainer. I was constantly bumping up against my storage limit until I purchased a 2TB program. Now I don't accept to worry about running out of infinite on Google Bulldoze for some time.

Once you subscribe to a program, brand sure to install Google One on your Android device (if information technology doesn't automatically install).

And that's all you need. Let's become this configuration taken care of.

How to add multimedia messages to Google Ane

The commencement thing we'll do is enable multimedia messages (photos, videos, and audio files) to the Google 1 backup. This is done through the bodily Google Ane app. You'll detect the Google 1 app in your App Drawer. Open the app and then tap on the Settings tab. Under Fill-in AND SHARING, tap Manage backup settings (Effigy A).

Effigy A

The Google Ane app settings window gives you access to the fill-in settings option.

In the resulting window (Figure B), tap the ON/OFF slider for Multimedia letters.

Figure B

Adding multimedia letters to the Google One backup schedule.

How to add device folders to your Google Drive backup

Next, we're going to add device folders to the backup programme. This is done via the Google Drive app. Open up Google Drive on your Android device and tap the iii horizontal lines in the upper right corner of the window. From the resulting sidebar (Effigy C), tap Settings.

Figure C

Accessing the Settings option from within Google Drive.

From inside the Settings window, tap Fill-in and Reset. In the new window (Figure D), tap Photos & Videos.

Effigy D

The Google Bulldoze settings window gives you access to several important options.

Roll down and tap Back Upwards Device Folders. In the resulting window (Effigy E), tap the ON/OFF sliders for all of the device folders you want to add together to the backup.

Effigy Due east

Calculation device folders to your Google Drive fill-in.

And that's all there is to calculation device folders and saved multimedia to your Google Drive backup. Merely recollect, if this results in your Google cloud account filling up, you'll need either disable these features and remove files from Drive, or upgrade your subscription to requite you more than storage space.