Manage the library

Download photos from a camera after Picasa has been installed.

Option 1. Use Windows Explorer (My Computer).

1. Connect the camera to the computer.
2. Open Windows Explorer.
   1. Make a new folder in My Documents or the Desktop to put the photos into.
   2. Drag the photo files from the camera file list in Windows Explorer to the new folder.
   3. Close Windows Explorer.
3. Open Picasa. On the menubar choose Tools, Folder Manager.
4. Browse to the new folder and set it to Scan Always.
• Note: Scan Once does not work in this situation.
• After the folder has been scanned it will appear in the Folder List and in the Library thumbnails.
5. Return to the Folder Manager and set the folder to Scan Once, unless you expect to be adding files to this folder.

Option 2. Use Picasa.

When the camera is connected to the computer, the Camera Connected or New Hardware Detected dialog box opens. Choose Picasa2.

In the Picasa Import dialog box

• click the Import All button in the bottom right corner of the dialog box, or
• ctrl-click the photos you want to import, then click the Import Selected button.

In the Finish Importing dialog box type the name of the folder for the photos, then browse to the location where you want the folder to be. In the screen shot below I entered the name Joe for the folder, then browsed to Desktop. Picasa added the name of the folder to make the location Desktop\Joe. Click Finish and Picasa will make the new folder and copy the photo files into it.

1. In the Picasa Library View scroll to the new folder name in the Folder List and click on it to see its contents in the thumbnails.
2. On the menubar choose Tools, Folder Manager. The new folder should be set to Scan Once. If you expect to add photos to this folder, change the setting to Scan Always. Otherwise, leave it set to Scan Once.

Save

Before making edits to a thumbnail you can make a new image file from File on the Picasa menubar.

• Save As -- you will get a standard Save As dialog box where you can choose a folder and edit the filename.
• Save a copy -- makes a copy in the same folder with a -1 appended to the filename. There is no dialog box.
• Export picture -- the Picasa Export to Folder dialog box allows you to choose a folder, set a size for the image, and set a JPG quality level. You cannot change the filename here. However, after you click OK in the Export to Folder dialog box, Picasa will open the folder in Windows Explorer; you can change the filename there, if you want to.

After making edits to a thumbnail you will have the additional option to

• Save -- in the current folder Picasa will make a new, hidden folder named Originals and put the original, unedited image there. The edited image will take the place of the original in the current folder.
  • The Originals folder will not be visible in the Picasa Library, and it will only be visible in Windows Explorer if you have chosen to show hidden folders.
  • To show hidden folders open Windows Explorer (My Computer) and on the menubar choose Tools > Folder Options > View. In the Advanced settings list choose Show hidden files and folders.
    
    

Export

On the menubar choose File, Export Picture to Folder. In the Export to Folder dialog box you can:

• Select a destination folder.
• Resize the exported image.
• Set the Quality (JPEG compression) of the exported image.

Folder location and name

By default Picasa will export the new file inside a new folder that has the same name as the folder containing the original file, and it will put the new folder into the folder that was last exported to. Both the new folder name and the location to which it goes can be changed in the Export to Folder dialog box.

To export to a folder with a name different from the folder name containing the original photo

1. In the Export to Folder dialog box browse to the location above the desired folder location.
2. Type the name of the new folder in the Name of exported folder box.
• For example, in the screen shot below I browsed to "My Documents\website", then typed "images" in the Name of exported folder box. That automatically added "images" to the path in the Location. If the folder doesn't exist yet, Picasa will create it.

To place the exported file in the same folder as the original file

1. In the Export to Folder dialog box browse to the folder above the folder containing the original file.
   • For example, if the original file is in "My Documents\photos\Feb07", browse to "My Document\photos". The path in the Location of exported folder box will be "My Documents\photos\Feb07", and the Name of the exported folder, by default, will be the name of the folder containing the original file, in this example, "Feb07".
   • Picasa will append a -1 to the original file name.

When the dialog box opens, the "Location of exported folder" will be the location of the previously exported file. You MUST double-check this setting every time you export, and browse to the destination you want if the location shown is not correct.

File names

Picasa will use the name of the original file for the exported file, but it will append -1, if the exported file goes to the same folder as the original. If the file is exported again to the same folder, the suffix will be incremented automatically, i.e., -2, -3, etc. After the file is exported, Picasa will open the destination folder in Windows Explorer. You can change the file name there if you want to.

To export a file (edited or not edited):

1. In the Export to Folder dialog box browse to the folder above the destination folder.
2. Type the name of the destination folder in the Name of exported folder box, if it is different from the original folder name.
3. Set the size of the final image.
• The value you choose will be applied to the larger of the height and width.
• You can move the slider to preset values or you can type in the value you want.
4. Set the Image quality by moving the slider.
• Use 80% for web pages (best balance of file size and image quality) or 100% for printing or photoprocessing (larger file size, best quality).
• On a computer monitor the difference between 80% and 100% is not visible. However, the 80% file size is about 1/4 the size of the 100% file.
5. Click OK.
6. Check the results in the Windows Explorer window when it opens.

Miscellaneous actions

Move thumbnail -- in the Library view, drag from one folder to another. The original file will also be moved in My Computer from the original folder to the new folder.

Split folder -- click on a thumbnail in Library view to select it. Right-click and choose Split folder. Give the new folder a name. Picasa will put the new folder in the My Pictures folder. The original files will also be moved in My Computer from the original folder to the new folder.

Move to new folder -- select the thumbnails you want to move. Right-click on any selected thumbnail and choose Move to new folder.... Give the new folder a name. Picasa will put the new folder in the My Pictures folder. The original files will also be moved in My Computer from the original folder to the new folder.

Remove thumbnail -- individual thumbnail images cannot be removed from the Picasa Library without deleting the original file. See Delete from disk below. To remove a folder:

• right-click on a folder in the thumbnail pane in Library view and choose Remove from Picasa, or
• on the menubar choose Tools > Folder Manager
  • In the Folder Manager dialog box click on the folder in the Folder Manager list to select it
  • Click the Remove from Picasa button

Delete from disk (individual files or entire folder) -- right click on a thumbail in the Library view and choose Delete from disk. This action will move the original image from its current folder to the Recycle Bin and will delete the thumbnail from Picasa.

Hide -- right-click on a thumbnail in the Library view and choose Hide. On the menu bar choose View > Hidden Pictures to show and hide the Hidden Pictures.

Add to Album -- right-click on a thumbnail in the Library view and choose Add to Album. Choose an Album name or make a new album. This action does NOT move the original image or its Picasa thumbnail. Use Add to Album to create a list of images from one or more folders to be grouped together by some subsequent action, for example, make a Gift CD.

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