How to organize Google Photos
Short answer: use a few albums for what you come back to, favorite the important photos, and rely on search for the rest. Clean out screenshots and duplicates regularly, because they bury the photos you care about.
1. Create a few albums
Library > New album. Keep it short: Travel, Family, Receipts, Ideas. Add photos from a selection with "Add to album".
2. Use favorites
Tap the star on photos you open often. They all show in the Favorites album.
3. Search instead of sorting everything
Google Photos can search by places, things and the text in photos. Type a word you remember.
4. Archive what you don't want in the main view
Archive hides photos from your timeline without deleting them, which is good for documents and receipts.
5. Deal with screenshots separately
Screenshots are the biggest source of clutter. They pile up fast and most are only useful for a day. Sort the keepers and delete the rest, along with duplicate photos.
Shotbox for screenshots
Shotbox works on the same files on your phone, so it doesn't fight with Google Photos. Every new screenshot lands in an inbox; one swipe files it in a box or deletes it. Search finds any screenshot by the words in it, and duplicates go in one tap.
FAQ
It uses albums. A photo can be in several albums.
No. They stay where they are, so Google Photos still sees them.
Try Shotbox
Sort photos and screenshots into boxes, remove duplicates and find any picture by the words in it. Private, on your phone.
See how it works