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    Get your photobooth photos into your live wedding gallery (via Google Drive)

    5 min read·

    A photobooth is one of the most-loved parts of a wedding — and one of the most siloed. The booth quietly saves its shots to a folder somewhere (very often Google Drive), while every phone photo your guests take lives in a separate app or gallery. Two piles of memories that never meet.

    If you collect guest photos with PixBearer, they don't have to stay separate. Because PixBearer saves everything to your own Google Drive, and your photobooth probably does too, a single 'Import from Drive' step brings the booth's shots into the same live gallery and slideshow as the phone uploads — full quality, one place, nothing re-uploaded.

    Why photobooth photos and guest photos usually live apart

    Most modern photobooths — whether a hired setup or a DIY iPad booth — export their images to cloud storage, and Google Drive is one of the most common destinations. That's great for ownership, but the files just sit in a Drive folder. They're not in whatever gallery your guests are watching on the screen, and they're not in the slideshow.

    Meanwhile the phone photos your guests snap go wherever your collection tool puts them. With a closed platform, that's the vendor's servers — and there's no way to merge an outside folder in. This is the quiet advantage of a Drive-based tool: the booth's folder and your gallery are on the same side of the wall.

    How Import from Drive works

    In your PixBearer dashboard gallery, there's an Import button. It opens the Google Picker, where you select the photobooth's photos and videos straight from your Drive. PixBearer registers them as gallery items — they appear in your live guest gallery and big-screen slideshow next to the phone uploads within seconds, thumbnails and all.

    Nothing is copied or moved in your Drive; the files stay exactly where the booth put them. You're just telling the gallery to include them. And because it uses Google's own file picker, PixBearer only ever sees the specific files you choose — it can't browse the rest of your Drive.

    What you can import (and what's skipped)

    Photos and videos are supported — JPEG, PNG, HEIC, MP4, MOV and the usual formats — up to 500 MB per file. That covers essentially every photobooth still and boomerang clip.

    A couple of sensible limits: RAW camera files are skipped (they can't be previewed in a browser gallery — export JPEGs instead), and anything that isn't a photo or video (a PDF print template, a settings file the booth dropped in the folder) is ignored automatically. You get a quick summary of what came in and what was skipped.

    Import from Drive is part of the Premium plan, alongside the live gallery and slideshow it feeds — a one-time $29 upgrade, no subscription.

    The payoff: one screen, every memory

    During the reception, your slideshow becomes the whole night instead of half of it: phone candids and polished booth strips cycling on the same screen. Guests see themselves and keep the energy going.

    After the wedding, there's no reconciling two exports. Everything — booth and phones — is already together in your Google Drive, at original quality, yours forever with no hosting expiry. If you're still choosing a collection tool, our comparison pages walk through why Drive ownership matters, and how to collect wedding photos from guests covers the phone-upload side.

    Try PixBearer for your event

    Create a QR code in 5 minutes. Guests upload photos to your Google Drive — for free.

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    Frequently asked questions

    Does my photobooth need to use Google Drive?

    To import directly, yes — the photobooth should save (or sync) its photos to your Google Drive. Many booths offer a Google Drive export option; some save to a computer that syncs a folder to Drive. Once the files are in your Drive, PixBearer's Import from Drive can pull them into your gallery.

    Will the photobooth photos show in the live slideshow?

    Yes. Imported photos and videos become regular gallery items, so they appear in both the live guest gallery and the big-screen slideshow alongside phone uploads, usually within a few seconds of importing.

    Do photobooth videos work too?

    Yes — video files (MP4, MOV, etc.) up to 500 MB each are supported, so boomerangs and short booth clips import fine. RAW camera files are skipped since browsers can't display them; export them as JPEGs first.

    Is importing from Drive safe — can PixBearer see my whole Drive?

    No. Import uses Google's own file picker, so PixBearer only gets access to the specific files you select — not the rest of your Drive. Nothing is copied or moved; the originals stay right where your booth saved them.

    Which plan includes Import from Drive?

    It's a Premium feature, bundled with the live gallery and slideshow it feeds. Premium is a one-time $29 upgrade — no subscription, and everything still saves to your own Google Drive.

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