Getting Started Guide

Organize | Edit | Share and Print

Picasa is free photo management software from Google that helps you find, edit and share your pictures in seconds. We recommend that you print out this brief overview of Picasa’s main features and consult it as you use the program for the first time to learn about new features quickly

Picasa helps you find and organize all your pictures.

Once you start Picasa, it scans your hard drive to find and automatically organize all your pictures. Picasa finds the following image and movie file types:

Image file types: JPG, GIF, TIF, PSD, PNG, BMP, RAW (including NEF and CRW). GIF and PNG files are not scanned by default, but you can enable them in the options dialog.
Movie file types: MPG, AVI, ASF, WMV, MOV.

When you upgrade from an older version of Picasa, you will likely want to
keep your existing database, which contains any organization and picture
edits you have made. To transfer all this information, simply install Picasa
2 without uninstalling Picasa 1. On your first launch of Picasa 2, you will
be prompted to transfer your existing database. After this process is
complete, you can uninstall Picasa 1.

Library View

Picasa automatically organizes all your image and movie files into collections of folders inside its main Library view.

Layout of Main Library screen:

Collections

Folders on Disk
This collection displays folders on your computer that contain pictures or movies, sorted by date, with the original folder names as they appear on your computer’s hard drive. Changes you make to the folders in this collection affect the matching folders on your computer’s hard drive. Renaming a folder in Picasa is the same as renaming it in Windows Explorer.

Adjust which pictures and folders appear. Only folders that Picasa is configured to scan appear in this collection. To modify where Picasa scans for pictures, select “Folder Manager” on the “Tools” menu. Use the settings there to select or de-select the folders Picasa scans, choosing from these options: “Scan Once,” “Remove From Picasa” and “Watch For Changes.”
Move pictures between folders. Select a picture. With your mouse, drag and drop the picture to its new folder. To select more than one picture, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard as you select pictures. If you move a picture into a different folder on disk, Picasa will remind you that you’re about to move the actual file on your computer’s hard drive. Click the “OK” button to move the picture to a new location. Note: Moving pictures between folders in the “Folders on Disk” collection will affect their physical location on your hard drive.
Edit a folder description. Double-click on the title of any folder to open the Folder Properties box. Enter the new description. You can also modify the folder’s date, place taken, or caption. Any descriptive information you add will be searchable in Picasa. Click the “OK” button. Changing the name of a folder in Picasa will change the name of the actual folder on your computer’s hard drive.
Delete a picture from a folder. Select a picture, then go to “File” > “Delete,” or just hit the Delete key on your keyboard. Picasa will remind you that you’re about to send that file to your computer’s recycle bin. Click the “OK” button to remove the picture.

Labels Collection
This collection contains labels that you create in Picasa. Labels are used to group and organize pictures based on your own criteria and identified by a simple word or title. For example, you can create a label called “Flowers” to group all of your pictures of flowers, or you might create a label like “Trip to The Grand Canyon” to arrange all of your latest vacation pictures. Unlike the “Folders on Disk” collection, which matches exactly the folder locationson your computer, labels do not correspond to physical folders on your hard drive. If you delete or move pictures inside the labels collection, the original files stay safe in their original locations on your hard drive. You can even add the same image to multiple labels without creating multiple copies of the same image. Edits you make to a picture will also be applied to every instance of the image, including the original.

Create a new label. First select one or more pictures (you cannot create an empty label). Select “File” > “New Label” to create a new label in Picasa containing the selected picture(s). You can do the same thing by choosing a picture, clicking the “Label” button and selecting “New Label” on the popup list.
Add an existing label to a picture. The same picture can be assigned many labels in Picasa. Select a picture, click the “Label” button, and select an existing label from the list.
Change a label description. Double-click on the title of any label to open the “Label Properties” box. Enter a new description for the label. You can also modify the label’s date, place taken, or caption. Any descriptive information you add will be searchable in Picasa. When you’re done, click the “OK” button
Delete a picture from a label. Select a picture. Right-click with your mouse and select “Remove from Label” in the context menu or press the Delete key on your keyboard. Note: Deleting a picture from a label does not delete the original file from your computer’s hard drive.
Rearrange pictures in a label or between labels. Click and drag a picture to change its order within a label or drag it into another label to add it to that label. This doesn’t affect the order in which the original files are stored on your computer.

From Hello

This collection contains pictures you’ve received from friends via the Hello instant picture sharing program, a free companion software program that was built to work with Picasa. (To download the Hello software, go to www.hello.com.) This collection sorts pictures received from Hello alphabetically by Hello username.

Library tools:

At the top of the Picasa main library screen are several buttons that help you add pictures to the library, view and find pictures in additional ways, and burn pictures to a CD.

Import
To import pictures from a digital camera, plug the hardware into your computer using its usual connection device, such as a USB cable or your camera cradle. Open Picasa. Click the “Import” button and select your device or folder from the dropdown menu (your camera should automatically be detected). Your pictures will automatically begin to appear in the “Import Tray.” After your pictures have finished loading, click the “Finish” button. Picasa will save the folders on your computer (in the My Pictures directory under a folder name you create) and display them in the “Folders on Disk” collection.

Slideshow
Select a folder or label and click the “Slideshow” button. This will open the slideshow player. Click the onscreen “Play” button to start the slideshow and make the player’s controls disappear. You can hit the spacebar key on your keyboard or simply move your mouse to make the slideshow controls reappear at any time while your slideshow is playing. You can rotate pictures in the slideshow mode, add a star rating, and change the time duration that each slide is displayed. Hit the Escape key on your keyboard to stop the slideshow and return to the Picasa main library screen.

Timeline
The timeline view in Picasa is another way to look at the pictures in your collections. Just click the “Timeline” button and sweep back and forth through your photos using your mouseto navigate. Double-clicking on any album will start a slideshow.

Gift CD
Insert a blank CD into the writeable drive on your computer, select pictures or an album and click the “Gift CD” button. On the “Create a Gift CD” screen, photos with a checkmark will be included on your gift CD. De-select any pictures you don’t want included. Under Step 1, click the “Add More” button if you’d like to add pictures to the CD. If you’d like your pictures displayed as a slideshow on the CD, check that box. Finally, choose a size for your pictures. Under Step 2, name your CD. (Note: by default, a copy of Picasa software will be included on the CD.) Click the “Burn Disc” button to create your CD

Backup CD
Insert a blank CD into the writeable drive on your computer, select pictures you want to save, and click the “Backup” button. You can choose what folders will be backed up to a recordable CD or DVD (the kind you use on your computer, not your TV). You can create multiple backup sets, which makes it easy to keep all your pictures safe.

Search
If you type any text into the search box at the top right corner of the main Picasa library screen, Picasa will search your picture files’ EXIF/camera data, keywords, labels, and any additional properties or captions you’ve entered inside the program.