Google Photos works to make it easier to copy and paste images

When you’re quickly trying to work with content from one app in another, one of your best options for easily moving stuff around is your device’s clipboard. Copying and pasting avoids creating a lot duplicate files eating up your limited storage, and we love seeing ways to make it more efficient. That seems to be something Google’s thinking about right now, as we find evidence for a new copy workflow in Photos.

Right now, if you want to copy a picture from Google Photos to your clipboard, first you tap the “Share” icon, and then you’ll find a “Copy” button at the top of your share sheet. That works fine, but it also doesn’t feel quite right — copying locally isn’t really “sharing,” is it?

Well, now in version 7.79 of Google Photos for Android, we’ve uncovered work towards a new “Copy photo” button that’s directly accessible when viewing pictures in your library. One quick tap, and you’ll see confirmation that the image has been copied to your clipboard:

OK, that’s great for copying and pasting, but what about what we’d be losing in the process? Without the “Add to” button, how should you go about inserting a picture in an album or moving it to a locked folder? This option will still be present, but now hiding up in the overflow menu in the top-right:

Beyond the new, prominent “Copy photo” button down below, Photos is also working on giving you the ability to copy an image by long-pressing on it. Currently, that only surfaces the option to turn it into a sticker, but developers have begun preparing to add a “Copy photo” option there, too.

None of these changes are currently live in the Photos app, but Google could be getting ready to turn them on pretty much any time now. We’ll keep looking for signs of any further tweaks to these copy options.