Welcome to Picasa and Picasa Web Albums! In this guide, you'll
learn how to organize and edit your photos with the Picasa
software, and how to upload and share them using Picasa Web Albums.
1.0 The Picasa Software The Picasa software lets you organize,
edit, and upload your photos in quick, easy steps. Download Picasa
at http://picasa.google.com Two things to know Add your photos
Organize your photos Edit your photos Share your photos Discover
more features Picasa Web Albums Looking for a simple way to get
photos from your camera and computer on the web? Picasa Web Album
provides one GB of free storage that makes sharing your photos a
snap. Visit http://picasaweb.google.com Sign up Upload photos to
Picasa Web Albums View your albums Share your albums Add Favorites
Discover more features
Two things to know The Picasa software provides a simple way to
view, edit, and organize the photos on your computer. As you get
started, there are two things you should always remember: Picasa
does not store the photos on your computer. When you open Picasa,
it simply looks at the folders on your computer and displays the
photos it finds. It displays the file types that you tell it to
find, in the folders that you tell it to search. Your original
photos are always preserved. When using editing tools in Picasa,
your original files are never touched. The photo edits you make are
only viewable in Picasa until you decide to save your changes. Even
then, Picasa creates a new version of the photo with your edits
applied, leaving the original file totally preserved. Add photos to
Picasa Use Picasa to view photos already on your computer, or to
import photos from your camera. Add photos already on your computer
Once you've downloaded and installed Picasa, you have total control
over the photos that Picasa displays. Picasa shows you the photo
and video file types that you tell it to find, in the folders that
you tell it to search.
Control the folders that display Control the file types that
display Click Tools > Folder Manager to control which folders
are Click Tools > Options (PC) or Picasa > Preferences (Mac)
to displayed: control which file types are displayed Import new
photos Of course, not all your photos reside on your computer. You
can import photos into Picasa from many sources, including cameras,
CDs, memory cards, scanners, webcams, and more. Photos you import
are saved on your computer and displayed automatically in Picasa.
Organize your photos
The folder list on the left is the hub for Picasa organization.
By scrolling through this list, you can access all photos displayed
by Picasa. To understand Picasa organization, you need to
understand the following three collections: Folders Folders in
Picasa represent the folders on your computer. You control the
folders that are scanned and displayed by Picasa. Changes you make
to folders in Picasa affect the corresponding folders on your
computer's hard drive. For example, if you delete a photo in a
Picasa folder, that photo is also deleted from the computer. Albums
Unlike folders, albums exist only in Picasa. Albums allow you to
create virtual groups of photos taken from multiple folders on your
computer. Albums display those photos without actually moving the
photo -- it's like a playlist for photos. When you delete or move
photos from an album, the original files remain in their original
folders on your computer. People In this collection, you can
organize your photos by what frequently matters most -- the people
in them. Picasa uses facial recognition technology to find and
group similar faces together across your entire collection of
photos. By adding name tags to these groups of faces, new people
albums are created. These people albums are just like the albums
above: when you move or delete faces, the original files stay put.
Edit your photos
Picasa provides a range of one-click fixes to help you improve
almost any photo, adjust its color and lighting, and add effects
like black and white or sepia toning. Double-click a photo and use
the three editing tabs on the left. Basic Fixes Tuning Effects Make
simple edits -- such as cropping, Use the sliders to adjust the
color and Choose from 12 effects to make your photos straightening,
removing redeye, retouching lighting aspects of your photo to
produce a more interesting: Sharpen, convert to sepia blemishes, or
adding text -- to your photos. more visually enhanced image. Learn
more or black and white, warm the photo, apply Or click I'm Feeling
Lucky to try Picasa's about Tuning tint, saturate the colors, and
more. Learn all-in-one lighting and contrast fix. Learn more about
Effects more about Basic Fixes Share your photos
Your photos take on more meaning when you share them with
friends and family. Here are two ways to quick share your photos:
Upload photos to the web Use the Upload button in Picasa to upload
all selected photos to Picasa Web Albums. Don't feel like picking
through your photos? The Share button uploads an entire folder or
album, and sends email invitations to your friends and family.
Email photos Click the Email button in Picasa to quickly send all
selected photos to friends and family, using the email provider of
your choice. Keep in mind that email doesn't accomodate a large
number of photos, so if you want to share a lot of photos, consider
uploading them to Picasa Web Albums, where you can take advantage
of the free one GB of storage that's available. Discover more
features
If you've read this far, you're familiar with the basics of
Picasa. As you become a power user, here are some of the features
for you to explore: Resize photos: One of the most popular -- and
most hidden -- features of Picasa is the ability to resize photos.
Use the Export button to quickly resize your photos. Sync to Web:
When you enable Sync to Web in Picasa for a folder or album, edits
made to your photos in Picasa are reflected immediately in the
corresponding album in Picasa Web Albums. Make a collage: Make a
collage and share it with your friends and family. Experiment with
six different types of collage, and maintain total control over
your collage content and layout. Add captions: Adding captions can
help tell the rest of the story. While editing a photo, click the
text below that says 'Make a caption!'. Captions are displayed in
Picasa, Picasa Web Albums, and other IPTC compatible programs. Use
Movie Maker: Combine your photos, videos, and music into a movie
and upload it directly to YouTube. You can also trim existing video
files. Map photos: Use the Maps tab in Picasa to embed latitude and
longitude information into the EXIF data of your photo file. This
geographic data accompanies your photo when you upload it to Picasa
Web Albums. Print photos: Use the Shop button to order prints from
our online print partners or use the Print button to print your
photos at home. Add tags: Tags are like keywords. By applying
single or multiple-word tags in Picasa, you can quickly search and
locate photos. The Tags tab offers quick tags, tag counts and the
ability to manage your tags.
Upload to Blogger: Use the BlogThis! button to post photos
directly from Picasa to Blogger. Back up your collection: Protect
those precious memories. Use Picasa to back up your photo
collection to either an alternate drive or to CD/DVD. Editing
Overview: Resize photos
When you resize a photo in Picasa, you're creating a new copy
with an adjusted image resolution (pixel count) and with all photo
edits applied. The original photo on your hard drive is never
altered. You can resize your photos by exporting, emailing, or
uploading your photos to Picasa Web Albums. Resize by exporting
Exporting lets you resize your photos while controlling the JPEG
compression (image quality) introduced by your applied photo edits.
The result is newly resized copies of your photos, saved to your
hard drive. During the export process, you can adjust both the
"Image Size Options" and the "Image Quality" settings in the
"Export to Folder" screen. When selecting image size, choose the
"Resize to" option and adjust the size slider. The number of pixels
you select with this slider determines the length or height of your
photo (whichever is longer). The other dimension is determined
automatically to maintain the aspect ratio of the photo. Select the
image quality for your photo using the "Image Quality" drop-down
menu: o Automatic: Preserves the original image quality o Normal:
Balances quality and size o Maximum: Preserves fine detail for
large file sizes o Minimum: Yields some quality loss for small file
sizes o Custom: Lets you to select your own value Resize by
emailing If you're sending photos by email, you may want to resize
them in order to get under the attachment size limitation. To
change the size of the photos you email from Picasa, follow these
steps: 1. In Picasa, click Tools > Options (Windows) or Picasa
> Preferences (Mac). 2. Select the Email tab. 3. Use the slider
to set your desired pixel size when emailing multiple photos. Use
the radio buttons to set the pixel size for emailing single photos.
4. Click OK. Resize by uploading to Picasa Web Albums
If you're sharing a large number of photos, you may not want to
upload all of the photos at their original size. When you upload
images from Picasa, you can choose the upload size using the "Size
to upload" drop-down menu or else you can set your preferred
default size for photo uploads. Sync to Web: 'Sync to Web' basics
When you enable Sync to Web for a folder or album, edits made to
your photos in Picasa will be reflected immediately in your online
album. To use the sync feature, follow these steps: 1. Click the
Sync to Web button on the right side of the folder or album header
in Picasa. 2. Sign in to your Google Account for Picasa Web Albums.
3. You'll be prompted to upload the photos in that folder or album
to Picasa Web Albums. By clicking the Change Settings button, you
can adjust your default upload settings like image quality and
album visibility. When the upload is complete, subsequent Picasa
edits should automatically sync to your online album. See a list of
the specific edits that can be synced. You can disable the sync
feature at any time by clicking the Sync to Web button again, or by
selecting Disable Sync in the drop- down menu to the right of the
Share button in the folder or album header. All your photos and
their edits will remain online, but new edits and changes will no
longer be synchronized. This feature only syncs changes from Picasa
to Picasa Web Albums. You can manually copy captions, tags, and
geo-tags from your Picasa Web Albums to Picasa. Collages: Creating
a collage
You have total artistic control over your collage content and
layout. Experiment with six different collage types in the hands-on
collage creation screen. To create a collage, follow the
instructions below: 1. Select the photos you'd like to include in
your collage. 2. Click the Collage button in the Photo Tray. You
can also create a collage for all photos contained in a folder or
album by clicking the Create Photo Collage button located in the
folder or album header. 3. On the collage creation page, use the
Settings and Clips tabs to control the appearance and content of
your collage: Collage Style You can choose from six different
styles of collage using the top drop-down menu on the Settings tab:
1. Picture pile: This collage looks like a pile of scattered
pictures. You can drag photos around the collage, bring a photo to
the top or bottom of the pile, and adjust the scale and angle of
each photo. Click an image in the collage and the wheel will appear
on top of your selected image. Adjust the scale and angle of the
photo by clicking and dragging the wheel button. 2. Grid: All of
your selected photos are arranged into regular rows and columns. 3.
Mosaic: Picasa automatically fits your photos into the page. Unlike
the 'Grid' collage, the pictures are not aligned into neat rows and
columns. 4. Contact sheet: Your photos are arranged neatly as
thumbnails. 5. Multiple exposure: Your selected photos are
superimposed over one another. You'll see the best results for this
collage if you use fewer images. 6. Frame mosaic: You can create a
mosaic of your selected images, all surrounding one prominent
center image. You can change the center image by clicking your
desired center image, and then clicking the Set as Frame Center
button. Settings You can use various options on the Settings tab to
alter the appearance of your collage. These options vary depending
on the type of collage you choose.
o Grid spacing - Available for 'Mosaic', 'Grid', and 'Frame
mosaic' collages. Use this slider to adjust the amount of border
space between photos. o Picture borders - Available for 'Picture
pile' and 'contact sheet' collages. Add a white edge or polaroid
edge to each photo. o Background options - Choose a color or a
photo as the background theme for your collage. o Page format -
Pick a size for your collage. Picasa will automatically adjust the
appearance of your collage. To fit your collage for your computer
desktop, select Current Display from the 'Page Format' drop-down
menu. o Orientation - Orient your design vertically or
horizontally. o Draw shadows - You can provide some depth to your
collage by selecting the 'Draw Shadows' checkbox. o Show captions -
Available for the 'Picture pile' collage. Select the 'Show
Captions' checktbox to add your photo captions on the collage. Add
more photos During the collage creation process, you can add more
photos at any time on the Clips tab. 1. Click the Clips tab on the
left side of the collage creation page. The folder of photos you've
been working with will be available under the Clips tab. 2. Select
the photos you'd like to add, and click the (+) button to insert
them in the collage. 3. If you want to add photos from a different
folder, click the Get More button to find additional photos in your
Library. 4. Select the photos from your Library. 5. After you've
finished, click Back to Collage in the Photo Tray. You should now
see your additional images displayed on the Clips tab. 6. Select
the images you'd like to add, and use the (+) button to add them to
the collage. You can use the (-) button to remove images from the
Clips tab. 4. Use the buttons above and below the collage to help
select and arrange the photos included in the collage. To remove a
photo from the collage, select the photo in question and click the
Remove button above the collage. 5. When you're satisfied with your
work, click Create Collage. Alternatively, click the Desktop
Background button to create the collage and set it automatically as
your computer desktop image. Once you've created your collage, you
can share it with friends by uploading to Picasa Web Albums,
emailing, or printing it in high-resolution.
Picture Data: Creating and editing captions When you create
captions for your photos, they're saved along with the photos and
stay with them, even when you upload them, export them, or send
them by email. However, your captions will only be displayed in
Picasa, Picasa Web Albums, and other IPTC compatible programs. To
create a caption for a photo in Picasa, please follow these steps:
1. Double-click the photo. 2. On the Edit Photo screen, click the
gray Make a caption! strip below the photo. 3. Type your caption in
the space provided. To edit a caption, click the caption text and
use your keyboard's arrow keys (rather than your mouse) to change
the cursor's position. If you'd like to delete a caption, simply
click the trash can icon to the right of the caption text on the
'Edit Photos' screen. Learn how you can control the display of
captions when viewing your Picasa Library. When uploading photos
from Picasa, all photo captions will be uploaded with your photos.
As Picasa Web Albums has a caption limit of 1024 characters,
captions longer than 1024 characters will be truncated
appropriately for display in Picasa Web Albums. Changes made to
captions in Picasa can automatically be reflected in your online
albums by enabling Sync to Web in Picasa. You can also manually
prompt your captions created and edited in Picasa Web Albums to be
synced down to your photos in Picasa. Learn more about copying your
online changes to Picasa. Movies: Creating a movie Combine your
photos, videos, and music into a movie, and convert it to a .wmv
(Windows) or .mov (Mac) file. Share it with friends by uploading it
directly to YouTube. To create a movie, you can follow these steps:
1. Select the photos and videos you'd like to include in your
movie.
2. Click the Movie button in the Photo Tray to go to the 'Movie
Maker' screen. You can also create a movie for all photos in any
folder or album by clicking the Create Movie Presentation button in
the folder or album header. 3. Use the Movie, Slide, and Clips tabs
to alter movie settings, add text to slides, or insert new photos
respectively. Click a link below to get additional movie-making
tips and details about each tab: Movie tab Use this tab to adjust
the audio, appearance, and flow of your movie: o Audio track: You
can load one supported audio file for use with each movie. Choose
from three different options to sync your photos to music. o
Transition style: Determine how to go from one picture to the next
during the movie, e.g. wipe from left, dissolve, pan and zoom. o
Slide Duration: Use the slider to adjust the amount of time spent
on each slide. o Overlap: Adjust the amount of overlap during the
transition from slide to slide. o Dimensions: Control the
resolution of your movie. When choosing a dimension for your movie,
it's useful to consider the format in which your movie will be
viewed. o Show captions: Choose whether or not your photo captions
should appear in your movie. o Full frame photo crop: Crop all
movie images so that they completely fill the space on the slide.
Slide tab Use this tab to add text to the slides in your movie. You
can add text on top of any image or create a text-only slide to
serve as a cover slide or a divider in your movie. 1.Click the
Slide tab on the 'Movie Maker' screen. 2.Add text in the text box.
The preview of your slide or photo will automatically update.
3.Adjust the font, size, style, and color of your text and
background. Change the style and location of your text using the
'Template' drop-down menu.
By default, each movie has a cover slide that displays the
title and date of your album. To create a new text-only slide,
click the Add a new text slide button located below the Play button
on the 'Movie Maker' screen. Clips tab Use this tab to add or
remove photos, and to retrieve additional photos from your Library
for use in your movie. 4.Click the Clips tab on the left side of
the 'Movie Maker' screen. 5.Click the Get More button to find
additional photos in your Library. 6.Select your desired photos
from your Library. 7.After you've finished, click Back to Movie
Maker in the Photo Tray. You should now see your additional images
displayed on the Clips tab. Use the (+) and (-) buttons to insert
and remove photos. Other tips o You can remove slides from your
filmstrip by clicking the X button, located below the Play button
in the lower-left corner of the 'Movie Maker' screen. o Change the
order of the photos in your movie by dragging and dropping photos
in the filmstrip at the bottom of the screen. 4. When you are
satisfied with your creation, you have a few options: o Click the
Play full screen button in the lower-right corner of the screen to
see a full-screen preview. o Click the Create Movie button to begin
the creation process. o Click the YouTube button to create the
movie and automatically upload it to YouTube. All completed movies
in addition to drafts will be saved in the 'Movies' folder, located
under My Pictures > Picasa (Windows) or Pictures > Picasa
(Mac). In Picasa, your 'Movies' folder is located in the 'Projects'
collection (flat-folder view) or in the Picasa folder (tree
view).
If you're not finished creating a movie, click the Close button
and you'll be prompted to save a draft of your work in the 'Movies'
folder. You can re-edit a draft or a finished movie at any time. In
the 'Movies' folder, double-click your selected movie, then click
the Edit Movie button to access the movie creation tools.
Geotagging Pictures: Add geotags in Picasa Use Google Maps in
Picasa to place your photos on the map. To geotag a photo, follow
these steps: 1. Select the photos you'd like to geotag. 2. Click
the Places button in the lower right corner of Picasa. 3. Navigate
to or search for your location. 4. Click the green marker button to
add a new place for selected photos. Move the green marker to the
spot where you took the photos. 5. Click the OK button to finalize
the geotag. You can also drag-and-drop photos directly onto the
map. Picasa will write the longitude and latitude to the photo's
EXIF metadata. You can view this data (GPS Latitude and Longitude)
by right-clicking (Windows) Control-clicking (Mac) a geotagged
image in Picasa and selecting Properties. Geotagged photos are
marked with a icon when viewed in Picasa. Printing at Home:
Printing at home - the basics When printing photos at home, it's
possible to adjust layout, borders, captions, and printer settings,
among other elements. Follow these steps to print your photos: 1.
Select the photos that you'd like to print. 2. Click the Print
button in your Photo Tray.
3. On the next page, customize your printed photos: o Select a
print layout for your photos. o For photos that are too big for the
page, select whether you'd like to shrink them or automatically
crop them to fit the page. o Choose whether you'd like to add
borders and captions to your printed pictures. o Picasa uses your
Windows printer settings. Click the Printer and Printer Setup
buttons to adjust paper size, orientation, and print quality (Dots
Per Inch - DPI). o To print multiple copies of a photo on a page,
use the - and + buttons for the 'Copies per Photo' setting. o If
you change your mind about printing a selected photo, click the
Review button at the bottom of the screen. Select the photo you
want to remove from the page you're printing, then click the Remove
selected button. Click OK when you're done. 4. When you're ready to
print your photos, click the Print button. Printing at Home:
Printing text and borders with photos When printing photos, you can
choose to include borders, filenames, captions, and EXIF
information. On the 'Print' screen, click the Border and Text
Options button to access your settings. Border Adjust the border
width, color, and placement of your pictures. To activate all the
border options, adjust the slider to provide some border width.
Captions You have several options for printing captions: Choose to
display the filename, caption, or EXIF information of the photo.
Choose to display the caption on or below the image, or on the
border you've set. Set the font, size, and color of the caption
text. If your caption is too long, you can choose to 'Wrap
text.'
While you're editing the border and text settings, click Apply
to preview how the font and format changes, and click OK to accept
the changes. Printing at Home: Multiple pictures per page When
printing photos in Picasa, the size of the print you've selected
determines how many prints you can fit on each page: Size Images
per page Wallet 9 3.5 x 5 4 4x6 2 5x7 2 8 x 10 1 Full page 1
Printing at Home: Printing on smaller paper To print your photos on
specific-sized paper in Picasa, make sure your printer is set to
use to the correct sized paper. 1. In Picasa, click the Printer
Setup button on the printing preview page. 2. Depending on your
printer drivers, a version of the printer setup menu will appear.
Modify the paper size to the width and height of your printer paper
and save your changes. 3. Once you have correctly configured your
printer, select the Full Page button on the printing preview page
in Picasa.
To have your image take up the entirety of the selected paper
size, you may need to click the Crop to Fit button in the Print
Layout section. This crops the photo to the selected print
dimensions. Printing at Home: Cropping versus shrinking to fit When
printing your photos, you have two options for how your photo
appears within the selected print dimension: Crop to Fit: This
option crops your photo to match the selected print dimension. If
you've chosen 8 x 10 as your print size, your photo will be cropped
to ensure that this entire space is filled. Shrink to Fit: This
preserves the original dimension of your photos for printing. These
photos won't necessarily conform to your chosen print layout size.
Printing at Home: Compatible versus high quality printing
modes
Compatible mode Compatible with most printers Prints at half
the resolution of 'High Quality' mode Sends the entire page at once
so you'll be able to print faster. High quality mode Maximizes the
quality of your prints using a printing method known as 'tiling'
that uses less memory. Allows Picasa to output photos at a
printer's native resolution. Set your print quality options You can
access print quality options in Picasa by following these steps: 1.
Click Tools > Options (Windows). 2. Click the Printing tab. 3.
Under 'Print Quality Setting,' choose between 'Compatible' and
'High Quality.' To determine if your printer supports high quality
mode, please do a test print. If this mode doesn't work for your
printer, you'll see lines running horizontally across the image.
Printing at Home: Changing default print size options
You can customize the print size buttons in the 'Print Layout'
section that appears when you click the Print button in your Photo
Tray. To select which custom print size buttons appear by default
in Picasa, follow these steps: 1. Click Tools > Options
(Windows) or Picasa > Preferences (Mac). 2. Select the Printing
tab. 3. Under the 'Available Print Sizes' section, choose the print
size layouts that best suit your printing needs. You can select
from the options listed below: Inches Centimeters Predefined 3.5 x
5 5x8 CD cover size 4x6 9 x 13 Contact sheet 3x4 10 x 15 Passport
4x5 13 x 18 Wallet 5x7 15 x 20 8 x 10 20 x 25 4. Click the OK
button to save your settings. Your selections will be available as
the first five 'Print Layout' options. The 'Full Page' option is
default and cannot be removed. Search and Locate: Tagging photos
Tags are like keywords. By applying single or multiple-word tags in
Picasa, you can quickly search and locate your photos. To add a tag
to a photo, please follow these steps:
1. Select the photos that you'd like to tag. You can only tag
photos in one folder or album at a time. 2. Click the Tags button.
You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-T (Windows) or
Command-T (Mac). Existing tags and tag counts for selected photos
will be listed in the 'Tags' tab. 3. There are two ways to add
tags: o Type the tag manually: Use the text box to enter the tag
and click the 'Add tag' button. o Use your 'Quick Tags': By
presetting tags that you frequenlty use, you can add them with the
click of a button. Manage your 'Quick Tags' by clicking the
'Configure Quick Tags' icon in the 'Tags' tab. To remove a tag from
all selected photos, just hover over the relevant tag in the Tags
panel and click the 'x' icon that appears. Once your photos are
tagged, you can use the search box in the upper right-hand corner
of Picasa to quickly find pictures that you've tagged. Blogger:
Using 'Blog This' Using the BlogThis! button in the Photo Tray, you
can post up to four photos at a time to Blogger directly from
Picasa. Please follow these steps: 1. Select the photos in Picasa
you wish to add to your blog. 2. Click the BlogThis! button. 3.
Enter your Google Account username and password. 4. Click the Sign
In button. If you've never used Blogger before, you'll be prompted
to sign up. 5. Select the blog where you wish to publish your
pictures from the drop-down menu. 6. Select a photo layout and
image size. 7. Click the Continue button. A Blogger editor page
will open displaying your photos on an HTML page. 8. Click the
Publish button to complete the upload. Captions saved in Picasa are
not transferred to Blogger with the photo. You can add captions
using the Blogger post editor. Backing up your Pictures: Using an
alternate drive
Picasa offers several ways for you to back up your photos,
edits, and album organizations. You can back them up to CD/DVD, to
a different drive, or upload them at full resolution to Picasa Web
Albums where you have one GB of free storage. For larger
collections, an alternate drive may be the most convenient option.
Using an alternate drive with Picasa's backup feature is also a
great way to migrate your photos to a new computer. Please follow
these steps to back up your photos to an alternate drive 1. Connect
the alternative drive to your computer. 2. In Picasa, click Tools
> Backup Pictures. 3. Create a new backup set or use one you've
already created. A backup set records the type of backup (CD/DVD
vs. alternative drive) and also keeps a record of which files have
been backed up. o New Set: Click the New Set button to create a new
backup set of your folders and albums. If this is your first time
backing up through Picasa, choose this option. Make sure to specify
the following details: Enter a name for your backup set. In the
'Backup Type' section, select 'Disk-to-disk backup.' Click the
Choose button, locate your drive, and click OK. Specify the types
of files to include in the backup. Click the Create button. o
Existing Set: Select your previously made backup set from the
'Backup Set' drop-down box. This allow you to update those sets
with any changes that you've made since the last backup. Click the
Edit Set button to change the set name or the types of files to
back up. 4. Select the checkboxes in the Folder List next to the
folders and albums you'd like to back up. Only selected folders and
albums will be included in the backup. To select all folders and
albums, click the Select All button. 5. Click the Backup button to
initiate the process. To add backup photos to a new computer,
simply connect the alternate drive and run the restore function
which is saved on the drive along with your photos. You can choose
to have the photos copied back to their original locations or you
can select a new location. After running the restoration process,
download Picasa and reinstall the program. Backing up your
Pictures: Back up with Picasa Web Albums Picasa Web Albums can be
used to backup your original files under the following
conditions:
1. The original file is a JPG. 2. The image can be no larger
than 20MB and is restricted to 50 megapixels or less. 3. The image
doesn't have any unsaved edits. 4. You upload the image at
'Original Size.' In all other cases Picasa will create and upload a
new copy of your image saved in the JPG format. Examples of when
your original file would not be uploaded include: The original file
is anything other than a JPG (TIF, PSD, any RAW format, etc). You
have made edits such as I'm Feeling Lucky, Redeye, Crop, etc. You
select to upload at any resolution other than 'Original Size.' JPG
is a lossy file format, meaning each time you save an image as a
JPG some of the image information is irrevocably lost. This is
perfectly fine when you're sharing online with friends or making
normal-sized prints. If your goal is to preserve the original state
of files that don't meet the above conditions for backing up to
Picasa Web Albums, you should consider using Picasa to backup to an
alternate drive or CD/DVD. Backing up your Pictures: Backup CD or
DVD Picasa offers several ways for you to back up your photos,
edits, and album organizations. You can back them up to CD/DVD, to
an alternative drive, or upload them at full resolution to Picasa
Web Albums where you have 1 GB of free storage. Follow the steps
below to create a CD or DVD backup: 1. Insert the blank disc in
your computer and wait for Picasa to recognize it. 2. Select Tools
> Backup Pictures.
3. Create a new backup set or use one you've already created. A
backup set records the type of backup (CD/DVD vs. alternative
drive) and also keeps a record of which files have been backed up.
o New Set: Click the New Set button to create a new backup set of
your folders and albums. If this is your first time backing up
through Picasa, choose this option. Make sure to specify the
following details: Enter a name for your backup set. In the 'Backup
Type' section, select 'Disk-to-disk backup.' Click the Choose
button, locate your drive, and click OK. Specify the types of files
to include in the backup. Click the Create button. o Existing Set:
Select your previously made backup set from the 'Backup Set'
drop-down box. This allow you to update those sets with any changes
that you've made since the last backup. Click the Edit Set button
to change the set name or the types of files to back up. 4. Select
the checkboxes in the Folder List next to the folders and albums
you'd like to back up. Only selected folders and albums will be
included in the backup. To select all folders and albums, click the
Select All button. When you add more photos, a 'Calculating'
message may appear in the blue bar above the Burn button informing
you how many discs you'll need to complete the backup. If you click
the Burn button while Picasa is calculating, Picasa may
miscalculate the size of the burn. 5. Click the Burn button to
initiate the process. If necessary, Picasa will prompt you when
it's time to insert the next blank disc. This backup set will allow
you to install your photos as you've arranged them onto a new
computer. When you insert this backup into a new computer, you'll
be prompted to restore your photos. You can choose to have the
photos copied back to their original locations or you can select a
new location. After running the restore from your backup CD, you'll
need to reinstall Picasa. Please download the latest version of
Picasa at http://picasa.google.com Backing up your Pictures:
Viewing edited pictures on the backup CD Please be assured that
after restoring your photos from a backup, all your edits and
organizations will be available in Picasa.
When you back up your photos, Picasa saves both your original
photos and any edits or album organizations you may have created.
These items are saved separately; your photos, when viewed on your
backup CD/DVD or external hard drive, display in their original
form without any edits or organizations. If you'd like edited
versions of your photos to be available on your backup CD/DVD or
external hard drive, you'll need to first export them from Picasa.
This creates new JPG files that include all edits performed in
Picasa. You can then back up these exported photo files, available
in the 'Exported Pictures' folder in Picasa. Sign up for Picasa Web
Albums Looking for a simple way to get photos from your camera and
computer on the web? Picasa Web Albums provides 1 GB of free
storage that makes sharing your photos quick and easy. To start
using Picasa Web Albums, just sign in with your Google Account at
http://picasaweb.google.com. (If you use Gmail, you already have an
account.) Don't have an account? Create one in seconds. Upload
photos to Picasa Web Albums No matter where your photos are located
-- Mac, PC, mobile, iPhoto, etc. -- you can easily upload them into
Picasa Web Albums. Upload photos from Picasa or directly on Picasa
Web Albums: Upload from the Picasa software Use the Upload button
to upload all selected photos to Picasa Web Albums. Don't feel like
picking through your photos? The Share button uploads an entire
folder or album, and sends email invitations to your friends and
family. Upload on Picasa Web Albums Click the Upload button at
http://picasaweb.google.com to upload photos from your hard drive
to the web. Any browser will work, but use Internet Explorer for
larger uploads (greater than five photos). View your photos When
you sign in to Picasa Web Albums at http://picasaweb.google.com,
you're taken to your Picasa Web Albums gallery. All of the albums
you've uploaded are displayed there. Click an album to see the
photos it contains. Here are a few interesting ways to view your
photos:
View full screen Try clicking the Slideshow button when viewing
an album, to see photos and captions in all their full-screen
glory. View according to the people in them By using Picasa Web
Albums' facial recognition technology to add name tags to your
photos, you can view your online photos according to the people in
them. Just enable name tags and you can start adding names. Share
your albums When viewing an album, just click the Share button to
send an email to a friend, inviting them to view your album.
Everyone you invite will be added to the 'Shared with' list,
located to the right when viewing your album. Learn more about
sharing and managing access for your albums. You can also adjust
album visibility settings to make your albums as public or as
private as you'd like. Here are the different levels: Public Public
truly means public: your album is searchable and visible to anyone
who visits your public gallery. Anybody can leave a comment on a
photo within the album. When you upload new photos to the album,
updates are sent to all of your Picasa Web Albums Fans.
Unlisted Choosing the 'Unlisted' option is a good way to
protect your album from the public at large. Unlisted albums have
an authorization key in their web addresses; the key is a
combination of letters and numbers that make the album's web
address very difficult to guess. People will need the exact web
address in order to see your unlisted album. Sign-in required to
view Select the 'Sign-in required to view' option to set the
highest level of privacy for your album -- you specify who has
permission to view it, and visitors must sign in to their Google
Account to verify their identity. Learn more about adding and
removing people from your 'Shared With' list. Add Favorites Picasa
Web Albums is as social as you want it to be. Add people to your
Favorites list to receive updates when they add new photos to their
public galleries. You could add friends and family, or perhaps a
person whose photos you really enjoy. Learn more about adding and
managing Favorites. Of course, this also means that other users can
mark you as a Favorite -- these users are your Fans. Embrace their
curiosity by uploading more public photos or feel free to block
them.
Discover more features As you become a power user, here are a
slew of other features for you to explore: Add captions: Click Edit
> Captions to add captions to all photos in an album from the
same screen. Add tags: Tags are like keywords. By labeling your
photos, you can quickly search and locate them on Picasa Web
Albums. Map your photos: When you upload photos, geographical
information in the photo's EXIF data is used to map your photos.
You can also drag-and-drop them on the map in Picasa Web Albums.
Embed photos on other sites: Include a Picasa Web Albums slideshow,
album, or image on your blog or website. Just copy a small snippet
of HTML and paste it in the source code of your site. Sync your
changes: When you enable Sync to Web in Picasa for a folder or
album, edits made to your photos in Picasa are reflected
immediately in the corresponding album in Picasa Web Albums. Try
Creative Commons: Creative Commons is a licensing feature that
allows you to specify whether others can reproduce or share your
work. Upload on the go: Browse photos and leave comments --
directly from your mobile device. See photos from Blogger, orkut,
and Latitude: Any photos uploaded to your accounts with these
Google products are automatically added to your Picasa Web Albums
account as well. Check out the Explore page: The Explore page is an
entire page devoted to interesting public photos from all over the
world. See 'Feature Photos' that have been hand-picked by our team.
Or check out 'Recent Photos' to watch a stream of newly uploaded
photos. Buy more storage: Don't let storage space hamper the number
of photos you upload to Picasa Web Albums. Captions, Comments, and
Tags: Add captions
Follow these steps to add captions to your own photos in Picasa
Web Albums: The fast way: 1. From the My Photos page, click on the
album you'd like to caption. 2. Click the Edit menu. 3. Select
Captions. 4. Scroll down, adding captions as you go. 5. Click the
Done button. The slow way: 1. Navigate to view an individual photo.
2. Click Add a Caption below your photo. 3. Write your captions and
then click Save Caption. There is a 1024-character limit for
captions displayed in Picasa Web Albums. When uploading photos from
the Picasa software, all photo captions will be uploaded with your
photos. As the Picasa software has no character limit, captions
longer than 1024 characters will be truncated appropriately for
display in Picasa Web Albums. Changes made to captions in Picasa
can automatically be reflected in your online albums by enabling
Sync to Web in Picasa. You can also manually prompt your captions
created and edited in Picasa Web Albums to be synced down to your
photos in Picasa. Learn more about copying your online changes to
Picasa. Explore Other Photos: Explore tab The Explore tab allows
you to discover new and interesting content from users around the
world. There are four different modules you can use: Featured
Photos: A sampling of high quality photos taken from Picasa Web
Albums users. Click on an individual image to view the entire
associated album. Photos that have been featured will be badged
with the Picasa Web Albums logo. Recent Photos: A running feed of
the photos most recently uploaded to Picasa Web Albums from users
around the world. Learn more.
Where in the World?: Challenge your geography knowledge by
matching geo-tagged photos with their correct location on the world
map. Popular tags: Browse photos tagged with places of interest
(Paris, New York), occasions (birthday, wedding), and much more.
Google Storage: How it works Google offers a way to purchase more
storage space when you run out of free storage space in Gmail,
Google Docs, Picasa Web Albums, Blogger (for photos), and Google
Buzz (for photos). You can check your current storage usage or
purchase additional storage at any time. Google storage is for
Google Accounts only and not compatible with Google Apps for your
domain accounts. Free storage Free storage space is specific to
each product. Picasa Web Albums offers 1 GB of storage for photos
and videos only. Gmail provides 7+ GB (and counting) which is
reserved just for Gmail messages. Docs gives you 1 GB for
everything: all of your docs, spreadsheets, presentations, and
uploaded files. Free storage from one product cannot be used by or
transferred to another product. All photos posted to both Google
Buzz and Blogger are included in the 1 GB of free storage allotted
to Picasa Web Albums. Paid Storage When you run out of free storage
for any product, you can purchase additional storage that is shared
between products. This shared storage can be used for Picasa Web
Albums uploads (Google Buzz and Blogger as well), Gmail messages,
Docs content or a mix of all three - it will be used by any product
that's over its free storage quota on a first-come, first-served
basis. Choose from the following storage plans: 20 GB - $5/yr
80 GB - $20/yr 200 GB - $50/yr 400 GB - $100/yr 1 TB - $256/yr
2 TB - $512/yr 4 TB - $1024/yr 8 TB - $2048/yr 16 TB - $4096/yr
Explore Other Photos: Tagging Use tags to label photos so that you
and your friends can easily locate specific photos when searching.
To apply tags in Picasa Web Albums, follow these steps: 1. Sign in
to your Picasa Web Album account at http://picasaweb.google.com
using your Google Account username and password. 2. Click in to the
photo you'd like to tag. 3. Click the Tag button on the right side
of your screen. 4. Enter the tag in the text box and click Add. If
you'd like to add multiple tags, just enter a space after each
individual tag. To search for a photo with a tag, type the tag in
the search box that appears in the upper-right corner of the Picasa
Web Albums screen. Photos with matching tags will be displayed in
the 'My Photos' section. Mapping Photos: How to map Below are
instructions for assigning map locations for albums and individual
photos in Picasa Web Albums. For albums: 1. Click into your album
from the My Photos page. 2. Click Edit in the top navigation
bar.
3. Choose Album properties. 4. Enter the name of a place (such
as a city name, address, or ZIP code) into the 'Place Taken' field.
Use the accompanying map to help specify the location by dragging
and dropping the marker to the appropriate spot. 5. Click Save
Changes. For a single photo: 1. When viewing an individual photo,
click the Add Location link on the right side of the page. If a
location has already been added to the photo, the link will appear
as Edit Location. 2. Enter the name of a place (such as a city
name, address, or ZIP code). Use the accompanying map to help
specify the location by dragging and dropping the marker to the
appropriate spot. 3. Click Save Location. For multiple photos in
the same album: Open the album map to add, edit and view the
locations of all your photos on the map. 1. Click in to the album
from the My Photos page. 2. Click Edit in the top navigation bar.
3. Select Album Map to view all photos in the album and the
corresponding map. 4. Click the Edit Map button to add photos to
the map or to make changes to existing placements. There are two
ways to add photos to the map: Drag and drop photos from the left
pane onto the map. Select a photo in the left pane and then click a
location on the map - no dragging required. If you make a mistake,
simply drag the photo marker to the correct location. Different
Ways to Share: Embedding albums, images, and slideshows
You can jazz up your blog or website by embedding a slideshow,
album, or image. All it takes is a small snippet of HTML that you
paste in the source code for your blog or website. Click a link
below to expand and see instructions: Slideshow Learn even more
ways Google products work together. You can embed a Flash slideshow
of any web album. It'll be automatically updated when you make
changes to your album. Follow these steps to embed a slideshow: 1.
On the My Photos page, click your album. 2. Click Link to this
album on the right-hand side. 3. Click Embed Slideshow. 4. Choose
your slideshow settings, such as image size, captions, and
autoplay. 5. Once you've chosen your settings, copy the resulting
HTML code (Ctrl-C). 6. Paste the HTML in the source code for your
site (Ctrl-V). Once the slideshow is embedded in your site, people
who click your slideshow will be taken to view your album in Picasa
Web Albums. An album When you embed an album in your site, the
album cover will display. Viewers who click the cover image will
then be taken to view the album in Picasa Web Albums. Follow these
steps to embed an album: 1. On the My Photos page, click your
album. 2. Click Link to this album on the right-hand side. 3. Copy
the HTML (Ctrl-C) in the 'Paste HTML to embed in website' field. 4.
Paste the HTML (Ctrl-V) in the source code for your site. An image
Follow these steps to embed a Picasa Web Albums image in your
site.
1. On the My Photos page, click your album. 2. Click the photo
you'd like to embed. 3. Click Link to this Photo on the right
sidebar. 4. Set the following preferences: o Select your preferred
image size. o Select 'Hide album link' to remove a link to the
containing album, which is displayed by default with the image. o
Select 'Image only (no link)' to get the image URL by itself, with
no code linking back to Picasa Web Albums. 5. Copy the HTML
(Ctrl-C) in the 'Embed image' field on the right-hand side. 6.
Paste the HTML (Ctrl-V) in the source code for your site. Sync to
Web: 'Sync to Web' basics When you enable Sync to Web for a folder
or album, edits made to your photos in Picasa will be reflected
immediately in your online album. To use the sync feature, follow
these steps: 1. Click the Sync to Web button on the right side of
the folder or album header in Picasa. 2. Sign in to your Google
Account for Picasa Web Albums. 3. You'll be prompted to upload the
photos in that folder or album to Picasa Web Albums. By clicking
the Change Settings button, you can adjust your default upload
settings like image quality and album visibility. When the upload
is complete, subsequent Picasa edits should automatically sync to
your online album. See a list of the specific edits that can be
synced. You can disable the sync feature at any time by clicking
the Sync to Web button again, or by selecting Disable Sync in the
drop- down menu to the right of the Share button in the folder or
album header. All your photos and their edits will remain online,
but new edits and changes will no longer be synchronized. Album
Privacy: Manage album access
As the album owner, you decide exactly who has access to your
album. In addition to the different levels of album visibility,
Picasa Web Albums lets you keep track of the users you've shared an
album with. Adding people to the "Shared with" list has the
following benefits: Easy access. The people on this list are the
only ones that can see albums set to the "Sign-in required to view"
access level. Plus, everyone on this list can see the album on your
public gallery regardless of changes you make to album visibility.
Email notification. Everyone you invite using the Share button is
added to the list and will receive an email invitation to view your
photos. They also get notified when new photos are uploaded to the
album in the future. Collaboration. You can choose to let people on
the list add photos to your album. Sharing - Granting album access
Use the Share button in Picasa or Picasa Web Albums to add people
to the "Shared with" list and to send them an email invitation to
view the album. Follow these steps: 1. Click the Share button in
the Picasa software or Picasa Web Albums. Picasa Picasa Web Albums
2. Add your friends and family. You can add both individual users
and entire Google contact groups to the "Shared with" list.
o Share with individual people Add the email addresses of the
people you'd like to share with in the 'To:' field of the sharing
dialog. Sending email invitations to group aliases won't add each
member of the group to the "Shared with" list. Read on for more
information on sharing with Google contact groups. o Share with
Google contact groups You can also share directly with your Google
Account contact groups -- collections of Friends, Family,
Coworkers, etc -- rather than with every individual person. This
gives access to all members of that group. Don't have any contact
groups? Create them in Gmail with a few clicks. Picasa : In the
sharing dialog, click the button to add Picasa Web Albums: In the
sharing dialog, check the box next to entire the contact group. the
contact group. 3. Click Send. The Share button is the most direct
way to share your photos, but there are several other convenient
ways to invite your contact groups to view your photos. In Picasa
Web Albums, you can share with contact groups when creating a new
album or editing an existing album. In the Picasa software, you can
share with contact groups when uploading or importing new photos.
When sharing in this way, members of the group won't get an email
invitation; however, they'll be notified if they're opted into the
Picasa Web Albums email digest. Managing album access
You can remove an individual or a Google contact group from the
"Shared with" list at any time. Just click the icon next to the
email address or contact group to remove album access. Click Edit
next to the contact group to add and remove users from the group
and therefore the 'Shared with' list. Keep in mind that changes
made to Google contact groups will affect all products that use
your Google contact groups. Different Ways to Share: Upload to
Panaramio From Picasa Web Albums, you can upload your photos of
places around the world to Panaramio. Panaramio is a Google site
dedicated to exploring the world through photos. As such, the
Upload to Panaramio link will only be present for Picasa Web Albums
photos shared publicly that have geographic information. Learn more
about Panaramio or follow these steps to upload your photos to
Panaramio: 1. Sign in to Picasa Web Albums. 2. When viewing a
single photo, click the Upload to Panaramio link on the right of
the photo below the map. 3. Sign up for or sign in to Panaramio.
Once you've signed in to Panaramio, your photo will be
automatically uploaded. Panoramio creates a duplicate copy of all
uploaded photos, so if you choose to delete a photo in the future
you'll need to delete it from both places.
Photos you upload will be shared with the Panoramio community
and with the world on Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Search, and
more. Different Ways to Share: Upload to Facebook, SmugMug, or
Flickr Not all Picasa users upload their photos to Picasa Web
Albums. The following third party tools allow you to upload photos
from the Picasa software to third party sites like Facebook,
Flickr, and Smugmug. Take a look below for more information:
Facebook The third-party Facebook Picasa uploader plugin adds an
Upload to Facebook button to Picasa. Works for both PC and Mac
versions of Picasa. This software was not created by Google or
Facebook, and is not affiliated with either of these companies.
Smugmug SmugMug offers a plugin that adds an Upload to SmugMug
button to Picasa. Works for both PC and Mac versions of Picasa.
Flickr The third-party picasa2flickr uploader plugin adds a Send to
Flickr button to Picasa. Works for the PC version of Picasa. This
software was not created by Google or Yahoo, and is not affiliated
with either of these companies. Different Ways to Share: Sending
links of albums and images
You can send links of specific photos or albums to anyone you
want, via email or IM. Link for an entire album 1. On the My Photos
page, click your album. 2. Click Link to this album on the
right-hand side. 3. Copy the URL (Ctrl-C) contained in the 'Paste
Link in email or IM' field. You can also simply copy the album URL
in your browser's address bar. 4. Paste the URL in an email or IM
(Ctrl-V). Link for an individual image 1. On the My Photos page,
click your album. 2. Click the individual photo you'd like to link
to. 3. Copy the URL (Ctrl-C) located in the 'Link' field on the
right-hand side. You can also copy the image URL in your browser's
address bar. 4. Paste the URL in an email or IM (Ctrl-V). Different
Ways to Share: Using Picasa Web Albums with Blogger Any photos
uploaded to a Blogger.com, Blogspot.com or a custom Blogger domain
will automatically be included in a Picasa Web Albums album of the
same name. Each blog that includes photos will have a corresponding
online album for those photos, designated in Picasa Web Albums with
a small Blogger icon. Blogger albums are unlisted by default and
therefore aren't searchable on the Picasa Web Albums site. Here are
some things to keep in mind when integrating photos between these
sites: All photos posted to Blogger are included in the 1 GB of
free storage allotted to Picasa Web Albums. Comments and captions
added on either product will only be visible on that site. Photos
deleted from your Blogger album in Picasa Web Albums will also be
deleted from your blog. To delete a Blogger album in Picasa Web
Albums, you must first delete all photos.
Different Ways to Share: Share photos in Google Talk If you
chat online using the Google Talk Gadget, you can easily share a
public Picasa Web Album by pasting a URL from the photo album into
your chat. The Google Talk Gadget will recognize the URL as a photo
album when you send it, and present a slide show of the photos for
you to scroll through. To get the Google Talk Gadget, please visit
http://talk.google.com. Please note that this feature is not
currently supported by the downloadable Google Talk application or
Google Mail chat. Explore Other Photos: Explore tab The Explore tab
allows you to discover new and interesting content from users
around the world. There are four different modules you can use:
Featured Photos: A sampling of high quality photos taken from
Picasa Web Albums users. Click on an individual image to view the
entire associated album. Photos that have been featured will be
badged with the Picasa Web Albums logo. Recent Photos: A running
feed of the photos most recently uploaded to Picasa Web Albums from
users around the world. Where in the World?: Challenge your
geography knowledge by matching geo-tagged photos with their
correct location on the world map. Popular tags: Browse photos
tagged with places of interest (Paris, New York), occasions
(birthday, wedding), and much more.
How to download Picasa 3.6 Log on http://picasa.google.com/ and
click on Download Picasa 3.6 Click on Picasa Web Album if you
already have an account.
Picasa 3.6 automatically downloaded into your computer.If it
doesnt ,click click here link. If you plan to sign in to Picasa Web
Album,click Get Started with Picasa Web Album
Click Save File
Double click on picasa36-setup.exe
Click ok
Click Run
Click I Agree
Click Install
Click Finish
Enter email and password to sign in Picasa 3.6 New
Features
Picasa 3.6 has improved name tags, a feature based on the same
technology that powers name tags on Picasa Web Albums. With name
tags, you can organize your photos based on what matters most: the
people in them. In this new version, you can also upload photos to
your friends' collaborative albums, more easily geotag photos using
Google Maps, and import photos from your camera and upload them to
Picasa Web Albums in one step. Get started by downloading Picasa at
http://picasa.google.com Add name tags -- Picasa scans all the
photos in your collection, identifies the ones with faces, and
groups photos with similar faces together. It's easy to add name
tags to dozens of photos at once by clicking "Add a name" below a
photo and typing the person's name. Once you've tagged some
pictures, you can make a face collage with one click, easily find
all your pictures with the same two people in them, or upload your
name tags to Picasa Web Albums. Learn more Collaborative albums --
Upload from Picasa -- In August 2009, we introduced collaborative
albums in Picasa Web Albums. Now you can upload to a friend's album
directly from the Picasa software. Learn more Geotag your photos
with Google Maps -- Quickly add geotags using the newly integrated
Google Maps. Click the Places button and drag your photos to the
location where you took them. Of course, you can still use Google
Earth to tag or view photos if you prefer. Learn more Import,
upload, and share, all at once -- We've improved the import process
so that you can star your favorites, upload to Picasa Web Albums,
and share with Google contact groups at the same time. Learn
more
Tags -- Better bulk tagging, quick tags & tag counts --
We've improved the tagging experience. Just click the new Tags
button on the right side of the Photo tray to add Quick tags , see
tag counts for groups of images, and manage tags more easily. Learn
more