Tip #37 - Picasa Photo Organizer

100 Computer Tips in 100 Days

Tip #37 - Picasa Photo Organizer

Picasa is a free program from our friends at Google (www.picasa.google.com). It is a terrific program to help you organize, edit and share all of those pictures you have downloaded from your camera. It is easy to download the program and the download page has lots of pictures to guide you through the process.

People are often concerned about where Picasa moves their pictures. Unlike other programs, Picasa does NOT move your pictures. It merely displays the pictures that already exist somewhere on your computer. When you use Picasa, the folder that the pictures are stored in is listed on the left side of the screen and thumbnails of the pictures are on the right side of the screen. When you single click a folder the thumbnails of the photos in that folder will appear at the top of the preview area. You can also use the scroll bar on the right side of the screen to scroll through your pictures.

If you see any pictures that are misfiled, you can drag the pictures from the thumbnail area on the right to the folder listed on the left. When you release the mouse button a window will appear confirming your movement. If you see any pictures you would like to delete, click the picture and press the delete key on your keyboard.

One of the best features is the ability to edit pictures. When you double click on a picture you are in the editing screen. Play with the editing tools until you are happy with the revised picture. Then choose Save from the File menu. You will see a box that alerts you to the fact that Picasa saved the unchanged original of the picture as well as the revised copy. It is important that you save your changes because unsaved changes are displayed on the screen but will not be implemented if you upload this picture for use in sharing or project creating. 

Apple users may point out that they have iPhoto and don’t need Picasa. I believe Picasa is considerably better than iPhoto. Give it a try and see if you don’t agree.

Happy computing!