Google Photos’ new video editing tools will come to Chromebooks first

In the coming months, Google Photos users will be able to combine their pictures and videos with music and title cards — just with a few clips. Chromebook users will get access to the new movie editor before anyone else, Google said this week. 

Google also teased new and improved default apps on Chrome designed to increase users’ productivity. 

The new Chromebook features come just ahead of the back-to-school season, a major time of the year for Chromebook sales. The low-cost laptops could use a boost — consumers this year have shown more interest in premium PCs, while Chromebook shipments from HP and Lenovo have taken a dive since the middle of 2021.

With the coming movie editor tool, users will be able to make movies from scratch, choosing which videos and photos to include. Alternatively, they can select one of the suggested themes, as well as people (or pets) to feature, and let Google take it from there. Google says the tool will be able to “intelligently” choose the most meaningful clips from long videos. 

Google also plans on adding the LumaFusion app to Chromebooks for professional-grade video editing. The multitrack video editing tool lets you add graphics, visual effects, transitions and distortions, audio tracks and sound effects, narration, color grading and more.

As for productivity improvements, Google next week is adding new PDF editing features to Gallery, Chomebook’s default media app. There’s also a new, preinstalled Cursive app that lets users capture, edit and organize handwritten notes on stylus-enabled Chromebooks. You can then copy and paste your notes into another app or send as a PDF. The preinstalled Screencast app lets you record, view and share transcribed videos and presentations.