# Manage media items

In addition to [accessing and
retrieving](https://developers.google.com/photos/library/guides/access-media-items) media items after you
[upload](https://developers.google.com/photos/library/guides/upload-media) them, you can also change their
descriptions.

## Required authorization scope

Changing descriptions of app-created content requires the
`photoslibrary.edit.appcreateddata` scope. For more information on scopes, see
[Authorization scopes](https://developers.google.com/photos/overview/authorization).

## Changing media item descriptions

To change a media item's description, make a [`media items update
call`](https://developers.google.com/photos/library/reference/rest/v1/mediaItems/patch) with the identifier
of the media item, and include the new description in the request.

To change a media item's description, your app must have uploaded the media
item, and the currently authenticated user must be the owner. Descriptions can
be no more than 1,000 characters in length.

### REST

Here's a PATCH request header to update a media item description:

```
PATCH https://photoslibrary.googleapis.com/v1/mediaItems/media-item-id?updateMask=description
```

This request determines what properties are being updated by including a
field mask, indicated by the `updateMask` parameter in the URL.

Include the new description in the body of the request:

```restructuredtext
{
  "description": "new-media-item-description"
}
```

If successful, the response returns the updated media item:

```restructuredtext
{
  "id": "media-item-id",
  "description": "new-media-item-description",
  "productUrl": "media-item-product-url",
  "baseUrl": "media-items-in-album",
  "mimeType": "mime-type-of-media",
  "mediaMetadata": {
    ...
  },
  "contributorInfo": {
    ...
  },
  "fileName": "item-filename"
}
```