understanding the difference between camera roll and gallery

Question

where should i be sorting and categorizing and creating folders of photo and video files? in gallery or camera roll and whats the difference

Answer 1

Hello

Gallery technically is NOT a folder or a location. It is just a way to present all of your pictures and videos from all of the folders you define that could contain such files. By default, it is the Pictures folder. It pulls them for all over the places and presents them to you like a gallery view. So, that's not where you would do files organization.

You would need to go to Pictures folder and Videos folder. That's the actual locations where files live. From there you can do your organization.

Answer 2

"Camera roll" and "gallery" describe different things:

• Camera roll
  • A specific folder where the device saves photos and videos taken with the camera.
  • On Windows/HoloLens this is typically Pictures > Camera Roll.
  • Many apps and services (Photos app, OneDrive, Phone Link, etc.) look specifically at this folder and sometimes also a Screenshots folder. For example, Phone Link only shows images from the Camera Roll and Screenshots folders on the Android device.
  • Mixed reality captures on HoloLens are also saved into Camera Roll.
• Gallery
  • A viewing experience or app that shows media from one or more folders (including Camera Roll).
  • In the Windows Photos app, the Gallery view shows all photos in the Pictures folder by default, and more folders can be added. It is essentially an organized view over multiple folders, not a single physical folder.

Where to sort, categorize, and create folders

• Use folders in the Pictures (or equivalent) library as the main place to organize photos and videos.
  • In the Windows Photos app, folders can be created and photos moved into them for organization.
  • The Photos app’s Gallery view will then reflect that folder structure.
• Treat Camera Roll as the “inbox” where new captures land.
  • After import or capture, move or copy items from Camera Roll into the organized folders (albums, year/month folders, event folders, etc.) under Pictures.
  • This keeps Camera Roll from becoming cluttered while still allowing apps that rely on it to work.

In short: Camera Roll is a specific capture folder; Gallery is a view over one or more folders. Organize by creating and managing folders under Pictures (or the main photo library), and let Gallery display them; use Camera Roll mainly as the place where new photos and videos arrive.

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References:

• Files and folders in the Music, Pictures, and Videos libraries
• Create mixed reality photos and videos
• Manage photos and videos with Microsoft Photos app
• Troubleshooting photos in the Phone Link
• Seeing pictures that are not my photos in OneDrive