Startup

Picasa is a free download from picasa.google.com. It is a basic photo editor and thumbnail library for image files on your computer. The interface is simple and user-friendly, and the editing results are very good. Version 2.6 (2006) adds a Web Album feature.

Picasa does not have a good user manual, but there is a short getting started guide.

There is a Peachpit Press Visual QuickProject Guide (160 pages) with a publication date of May 2005. You can get details at http://www.peachpit.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=0321369017&rl=1

The Peachpit Press book is two years out of date. Hopefully, there will be a new edition soon that includes the new features. Meanwhile, my notes here should get you started using Picasa.

Picasa features:

• Make a thumbnail library of all of the photos and other image files on your computer. You can specify which folders to include. You can scroll through the library to quickly browse all the image files.
• Edit images.
  • Crop, adjust lighting and color, remove red-eye, and several other basic options.
• Resize images.
  • Change the dimensions and the Quality level (amount of JPEG compression).
• Create a Picasa Web Album to share your photos over the Internet. Your albums can be public or private.
• Burn a CD with pictures or a slideshow.
• Order prints from online retailers.

Go here to see an overview of Picasa by Picasa.

First step: Create the Picasa library

1. Open Picasa. On the menubar choose Tools, Folder Manager....
2. In the Folder Manager dialog box click on a folder name or drive to select it.
3. Choose a scan setting. You can choose to scan once, scan always, or remove from Picasa.
• Click on Desktop in the Folder list to apply the setting to all folders on the Desktop. Do the same for My Pictures and My Documents, or
• Click the + icon beside the Desktop to expand the list of folders on the Desktop. Then click on individual sub-folders to select them one at a time and apply settings. Do the same for My pictures and My Documents and their sub-folders.
4. Click OK. Picasa will scan the folder(s) you have chosen and will make a library of thumbnail images derived from the original files in Windows Explorer folders.
   • Images with both dimensions 200 pixels or less will not be added to the Library unless you go to the menubar and choose View, Small Pictures.
   • If you choose Scan Always, Picasa will scan the folder(s) every time it is launched. You can make the initial scan using Scan Once, then set Scan Always only to those folders where you expect to add images.
   • See more notes below about adding folders after Picasa has been installed.

Library view

Picasa opens in Library mode. There are 3 panes -- folders, thumbnails, and picture tray. Refer to the screen shot at the top of this page.

• Use the scroll bar on the right side of the thumbnail pane to scroll through the thumbnail images.
• Use the scroll bar on the right side of the folder pane to scroll through the folders.
• Click on a folder in the left pane and its contents will display in the thumbnail pane.
• Click on a thumbnail and its folder will be selected in the folder pane.
• Click on a folder icon in the thumbnail pane and Windows Explorer will open a window showing the contents of that folder.
• Click on a thumbnail image to select it. It will display in the picture tray at the bottom of the window and its properties will display at the top of the picture tray.

Folder list options

There are three view options for the folder list: flat folder structure, tree folder structure, and tree folder simplified. The three buttons circled are for Flat Structure, Tree Structure, and View Options. This view shows the tree view, not simplified.

• If you click the Simplified Tree View in the drop-down menu, Picasa will delete some of the top level folders, making it harder to find your folder. You will find it easier to find your folders if you do NOT use the Simplified Tree View.

The button on the images line above will collapse all folders above it and hide everything below it. To restore the full tree view click on one of the collapsed folder names to expand that folder. Click the My Computer line to expand and show everything

Flat folder view shows a single column sorted in the order specified in the View Options drop-down menu.

Apparently, Picasa does not include folders in the Simplified Tree view if they are nested inside two or more folders that don't contain images. In the screen shots below, the folder named Test_Folder_List does not show in the Simplified Tree View on the left. Further, the Simplified Tree View merges folder names from My Documents and Desktop. In the examples below "Test_Folder_List" is on the Desktop and "student upload" is in My Documents. In the simplified view on the left they are contiguous, but in the not-simplified view on the right they are separated to Desktop and My Documents sections of the list.

• If you are unable to find your folder in Tree View, check to make sure Simplified Tree View is not checked in the View Options drop-down menu.
• If you still can't find your folder in Tree View, go to the menubar, choose Tools, Folder Manager, and set the folder to Scan Always.

Other Stuff folder

Picasa puts folders containing files that have a non-standard aspect ratio, e.g., cropped photos and graphics that are wide and short or tall and narrow, into the Other Stuff collection in the Flat view. The Other Stuff collection does not display in the Tree view.

In the screen shot below the images folders are in the Other Stuff collection. The red arrow on the Folders bar means it is closed. There is no other clue that the Other Stuff collection is the one being displayed until you scroll up to the top of the file list, as on the screen shot above.

The functioning of the folder list is erratic, so watch carefully as you use it.

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© 2006 Raymond D. Bland
Created: 4/12/06
Revised: 9/29/07