iCloud Photos Shared Albums on Windows PC - terrible UI and bad perfomance

Question

iCloud Photos Shared Albums on Windows PC - terrible UI and bad perfomance

The iCloud photo upload to shared albums is abysmal in its UI and performance. The Explorer add-on is slow to respond, and often hangs (I have the latest version as of 8/7/2017). The shared album seems to remain blank if you upload several hundred pictures, until it is complete, assuming it completes at all. There is no visual indication of the upload happening, and you are left guessing until the end.

Lack of subfolder support is also annoying, as is the fact that you can't simply pick a photos album (already stored in the cloud) and say "share it". I bought 200G of space hoping this would be easy to use and work well. It isn't. If this is a strategy to make people switch to using a Mac then it is unlikely to work, and I hope that isn't the case.

I can see from my iPhone that pictures are being uploaded. Here is what I see in Windows Explorer:

Windows 10, iCloud Shared Albums in Explorer

Posted on Aug 7, 2017 11:58 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 8, 2017 10:10 AM in response to LACAllen

No, I'm disappointed in the user experience for me. I have nearly twenty years of pictures, arranged into folders by year and other categories, which I'm trying to add to iCloud photos, so that I can share them there. They are currently on OneDrive, which makes it a breeze to share from your PC by simply shadowing folders, and giving a visual indication once a file has been synchronized. Copying the files to iCloud is slow and painful, and gives no sign of whether your files are uploading until it has finished, if it does.

I'm curious what others on the forum do if they have to upload a large number of pictures. Perhaps "suck it up" is the answer?

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Answer 2

LACAllen

Level 8

43,590 points

Aug 8, 2017 12:24 AM in response to KaraTheValkyrie

That's not where you would view a shared album. That view is for your PC only. A management view of sorts.

You are sending a link for the shared album to users with an iOS or macOS version of Photos, or you can make a website for non Apple users and send the URL as part of the invite.

None of Apple's photos apps "respect" folders. They are populated by albums.

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Answer 3

LACAllen

Level 8

43,590 points

Aug 8, 2017 1:33 AM in response to KaraTheValkyrie

So, you're disappointed in a poor user experience for something your viewers will never use?

Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

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Answer 4

Aug 8, 2017 1:24 AM in response to KaraTheValkyrie

I know it isn't where you would view it. My complaint is about the upload and poor user experience.

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