# How do I sort albums in Google Photos? — Adinand Auto File Sorter

Last reviewed: September 25, 2026. HTML version: https://adinandsorter.com/answers/sort-albums-in-google-photos

**In the Google Photos app, tap Collections, then Albums, then Sort by — and choose Album title, Last modified or Most recent photo.** That orders the list of albums. Ordering the photos inside one album is a different control, covered at the end.

## Sorting the album list <p>Google's Android steps, verbatim: "At the bottom, tap Collections Albums", then "To sort your albums, tap Sort by", with three choices — Album title, Last modified, Most recent photo. Above the list you can also narrow it first: "To filter your albums, tap All , Shared with me , or My albums" ([*Create & edit photo albums — Android*](https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6128849?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid), read 25 September 2026).</p> <p>Google names the three orders without defining them. Our reading of the labels: Album title is alphabetical, Last modified puts the album you most recently changed first, and Most recent photo goes by the newest picture inside each album. Try each once; the difference is obvious on your own list.</p>

## No manual order for the list <p>Inside an album, Google documents dragging: "You can re-order photos, videos, text, and locations by dragging them." For the album list itself, the same Android page documents only the three Sort by options and no dragging, and the computer version of the page has nothing on sorting the album list at all ([*Create & edit photo albums — Computer*](https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6128849?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop), read 25 September 2026).</p> <p>The workaround we use is to let the titles carry the order. Choose Album title as the sort and start each name with something that sorts the way you want — `01 Family`, `02 Trips`, or a year such as `2026 Goa`. Renaming an album is documented on the Android page above: open it, "Tap the title, then type a new title", then Done.</p>

## Albums are labels, not folders <p>Sorting or emptying an album does not move or delete anything. Google says "Photos and videos you remove from albums will still be in your Google Photos library unless you delete them from the main “Photos” section", and an album has a size limit: "You can add up to 20,000 photos or videos to an album" (Android page above). Pictures on the phone itself are reached a different way: for screenshots, Android's help sends you to Collections › On this device › Screenshots ([*Take a screenshot or record your screen on your Android device*](https://support.google.com/android/answer/9075928?hl=en), read 25 September 2026). [How folders and albums relate.](https://adinandsorter.com/answers/organize-photos-on-android)</p>

## Inside one album <p>Open the album, tap Edit album, then Sort by — Newest, Oldest or Recently added — or drag items by hand (same Android page). [More on ordering photos in the gallery](https://adinandsorter.com/answers/sort-photos-android-gallery), and [why the main timeline follows dates instead](https://adinandsorter.com/answers/put-google-photos-in-chronological-order).</p>

Related: [Sorting photos in the Android gallery](https://adinandsorter.com/answers/sort-photos-android-gallery) · [Putting Google Photos in order](https://adinandsorter.com/answers/put-google-photos-in-chronological-order) · [Organizing photos on Android](https://adinandsorter.com/answers/organize-photos-on-android) · [Google Photos: free up space](https://adinandsorter.com/answers/google-photos-free-up-space)