October 2011 - Organize Photos with Picasa

The invention of the digital camera has made the statement “a picture is worth a thousand words” a reality. Small high quality cameras that make instant pictures and movies at no cost have led to billions of photos being taken and viewed daily. Facebook and YouTube have more photo and movies online today then were taken in the previous 50 years.

Once upon a time you loaded a 36-picture roll of film that cost $2.00 into a $200 camera and took the film to a store to develop the pictures for $10. Or bought a movie camera and a 50-foot roll of film and made a 5 minute movie that had to be developed and played on a special projector. Today a camera that fits in your pocket or a cell phone can take photos or movies that can be seen instantly or shared with friends on the internet at no cost. Suddenly that shoe box in the closet isn't able to store these memories. Photo album programs that allow you to store, edit and catalog all these images on your computer or create CD storage disks are the answer. Many are either expensive or don't work well. A free program, Picasa from Google is today’s best answer. Learning to use it requires some training, but it is worth the trouble.

Downloading Picasa

First you must go to the Google website at www.google.com. Near the top of the page about 3 lines from the top find the word “More”, click on it and then click on “Even more”. In the right hand column you will see Picasa. Click on it and follow the instructions for downloading it to your computer.

When you install Picasa, you have the option to allow it to scan your computer for folders containing photos and images, which will then be shown as folders in Picasa. Folders in Picasa represent actual folders on your computer, so changes you make to folders in Picasa also affect the folders on your computer. For example, deleting a photo from a folder in Picasa deletes the photo from your computer. At the same time, deleting a photo from a folder on your computer removes the photo from Picasa.

Albums are different from folders because albums only exist in Picasa. They don't represent real folders on your computer. Albums may also contain photos saved across multiple folders. For example, you might create an album called 'Pictures with Grandma,' and include photos of grandma saved in different folders. It's important to note when you delete or move photos from an album, the original files remain in their original locations on your computer.

SCANNING AND MONITORING YOUR PHOTOS

You can use the Folder Manager to control how Picasa scans and monitors the folders on your hard drive:

1. Click the Tools menu in Picasa.
2. Select Folder Manager.
3. Select a folder from the folder list on the left that you want to add or remove from Picasa's watch list.
4. Select one of the following monitoring options on the right

• 'Scan Always': Picasa views all compatible image types in these folders, and it automatically adds new photos. Picasa actively scans this folder for changes.
• 'Scan Once': Picasa accesses all compatible image types in these folders only once. It doesn't detect new photos added to folders with this setting.
• 'Remove from Picasa': Picasa doesn't look in folders that are marked with this status.

Click the OK button to save your changes.

The folders that you've set Picasa to continuously scan are listed in the 'Watched Folders' section.

FOLDER LIST ORGANIZATION

The Picasa folder list allows you to neatly display and sort the folders on your hard drive. You can change the way you view these folders without changing their actual location on your hard drive.

• Click the View menu.
• Select Folder View.
• Select your folder view or your sort type. You can also change the Picasa folder view by using the buttons above the Folder List.
• Flat folder view - this is the default view. This view displays all the folders that you've directed the Folder Manager to scan, regardless of the folder hierarchy on your computer's hard drive. Apart from your normal 'Folders' collection, you may notice other collections like 'Projects' and 'Downloaded Albums' which are designed to organize specific types of photos.
• Tree view - with this view, all of your scanned folders and sub-folders are presented in a hierarchical view, reflecting the folder structure of your hard drive. You'll see your folders grouped under headings like 'My Pictures' and 'My Documents' (Windows) or 'Pictures' and 'iPhoto Library' (Mac). Other collections like 'Projects,' 'Exported Pictures,' and 'Hidden Folders' won't be visible in the Tree view.
• Simplified tree view - all of your scanned folders and sub-folders are presented on the same level underneath the top-level directory. This is a good way to sort all of your folders within the same list. Within each view, you can sort the folders by creation date, size, name, or recent changes.

SORTING PHOTOS AND ALBUMS

You can sort both the order of folders and albums in your Picasa folder list, as well as the way your photos are sorted within a folder or album.

Sort photos: To adjust the way your photos are sorted within a folder or album, please take the following steps:

• From the folder list, click on the folder or album that you'd like to re-order.
• Click the Folder menu or the Album menu.
• Select Sort by.
• Choose to sort your photos by the following options: Name, Date, or Size. To reverse the sort order of name (Z to A), date (oldest to newest) or size (largest to smallest), just hold down the Shift key when you make your selection.

To change the order of your photos manually, you can also drag and drop photos to your desired location.

Sort folders and albums: To change the order of your folders and albums in the folder list, follow these steps:

• Click the View menu.
• Select Folder View.
• Choose from the following sorting options:
• Creation date: Newest to oldest.
• Recent changes: Most recently updated first.
• Size: Largest to smallest, by the amount of hard drive space taken up. Name: Alphabetically, A to Z.

You can also access the sorting options by clicking the pull-down arrow menu in the button bar above your folder list, next to the folder structure buttons.

MOVING FOLDERS You can move entire folders around on your hard drive from within Picasa. Follow these steps:

• Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) the folder you'd like to move in the Folder List.
• Select Move folder.
• Choose your desired destination.
• Click OK.

Note: These moves are permanent on your hard drive!

CREATING AN ALBUM

You can combine photos from multiple folders into a single album in Picasa. Photos that you include in an album remain in their original folder locations on your computer, even if you reorganize or delete photos from the album. To create an album, you can follow these instructions:

• Select the photos you wish to include in the album and put them in the Photo Tray in the lower-left corner of the window.
• Once all your selections are in the Photo Tray, click the Add Selected Items to an Album button on the Photo Tray.
• Select New album. You can also choose to add the photos to an existing album in the menu.
• In the 'Album Properties' window, name the album.
• Click the OK button.

EDITING FOLDER OR ALBUM PROPERTIES

You can edit the following properties of a folder or album:

• Folder/Album name
• Date
• Place taken
• Detailed description
• Background music for slideshow and movie presentation modes

To edit an album or folder's properties, please use the following steps:

• Select the folder or album you'd like to edit.
• Click the Folder menu or the Album menu in Picasa.
• Select Edit Description.
• Make your edits. Please note the following:
• Date: You can manually choose a date that should be associated with the folder. Alternatively, Picasa can analyze the timestamp of your photos in the folder or album and determine a date for you if you select the 'Automatic Date' checkbox.
• Background music: Select the 'Use Music for Slideshow and Movie presentation' option if you want music to accompany the display of the photos in that particular folder or album, while in slideshow or movie mode. Click the Browse button and select the MP3 music file you'd like to use.

Click the OK button.

All above information from the Google Picasa Help site