New! Picasa Web Albums
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What is Picasa Web Albums?

Picasa Web Albums is Picasa's newest feature, designed to help users post and share their photos quickly and easily on the web.

It's available by invitation, along with the latest downloadable version of Picasa, and offers:

  • One-click web upload using Picasa's new “Web Album” button
  • Free storage space to post and share approximately 1000 photos, with the option to upgrade to more space
  • High-quality photos, automatically resized and optimized to fill available screen space
  • Pre-loaded images enable quick scrolling using arrow keys, and mimic a desktop experience of “flipping” through photos, even on the web
  • End-to-end photo management that makes it easy to download uploaded photos back to your computer

Take a look at this public gallery to see what it's like to share photos using Picasa Web Albums.

Quick facts

  • Cost: The latest version of Picasa with the Web Albums feature is free. It's also free to use Picasa Web Albums for posting, sharing and viewing photos.
  • Access: You need an invitation to post and share photos on Picasa Web Albums. You can sign up for an invitation using your Gmail username. No invitation or sign-in is required to view a friend's photos online.
  • Storage: Each Picasa Web Albums account comes with 250MB of free storage space, or room to post and share approximately 1,000 wallpaper-sized photos (at 1600 pixels each). For $25.00 per year, users can get a subscription to an additional 6GB of storage – room to post and share approximately 25,000 photos.
  • There are no ads in Picasa or on Picasa Web Albums
  • Language: Picasa Web Albums and the latest version of Picasa with web uploading are supported in English only
  • System requirements:
    • Picasa: Windows 2000/XP, Internet Explorer 6.0+
    • Picasa Web Albums Internet Explorer 6.0 (also works with IE 7 Beta 2), Firefox 1.0+ or Safari 2.0

Using Picasa Web Albums

Uploading Photos

Just select the photos you want to share online and upload them into web albums instantly using the latest version of Picasa.

Viewing Photos

Viewing is optimized so photos look as good on the web as they did on your computer: big enough to fill the largest screen sizes and fast to scroll through. You can write captions, zoom in for a closer look, even view your photos in a web-based slideshow.

Sharing Photos

Once your photos are online, it's easy to share them – click the “Share” button from anywhere on the site to email a link to your photos, albums, or gallery. Or, just let people know your public gallery's URL.

You can also easily keep track of your favorite people's photos using “My Favorites.” If a friend has shared photos with you, you can add a link to his or her web album in your list of My Favorites. Now you can access your friends' albums in a few clicks and even receive notifications whenever they add new photos.

Other things you can do with Picasa Web Albums

You can add captions, post and view comments, and organize photos online.

Using the latest version of Picasa with web uploading, you can even download photos back to your computer. Now, you can truly use Picasa for every aspect of your photo management needs, both online and off.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. How do I view my friend's web albums? Do I need to sign in or sign up for anything?
  2. What's the difference between public albums and those that are unlisted?
  3. How do I get an invitation to try Picasa Web Albums?
  4. Do I need a new version of the Picasa software to upload photos to Picasa Web Albums?
  5. When will the latest version Picasa and Picasa Web Albums be more broadly available?

1. How do I view my friend's web albums? Do I need to sign in or sign up for anything?

If you've received an email with link to a friend's gallery, album or photos, just click that link to view your friend's web albums. You can also go directly to the URL if you know it. You do not need to be signed in to or signed up for Picasa Web Albums to view others' photos.

2. What's the difference between public albums and those that are unlisted?

When you upload photos to Picasa Web Albums, you can mark your albums as public or unlisted.

  • Public albums appear on your "My Photos" and "My Public Gallery" pages. These albums can be viewed by anyone who knows the URL for your public gallery. This URL is easy to share – it's short and based on your Gmail username: http://picasaweb.google.com/GmailUsername
  • Unlisted albums do not appear in your public gallery; only you can see them on your My Photos page. Since they don't appear publicly, they're accessible much like an unlisted phone number – anyone who knows the exact name of an album can view its contents, but there's no directory for finding them. For this reason, you may want to consider giving your unlisted albums more obscure album titles.

You can change this setting at any time by selecting an album, then clicking "Edit Album Properties" under the album photo on the left. Please remember, however, that this is a photo-sharing service; in general, we recommend that you don't post any photos on Picasa Web Albums that you prefer not to share with anyone.

3. How do I get an invitation to try Picasa Web Albums?

We'll be offering invitations on a first come, first served basis. Visit http://picasaweb.google.com and enter your Gmail username into the “Sign up to try Picasa Web Albums” box to be added to our list.

4. Do I need a new version of the Picasa software to upload photos to Picasa Web Albums?

Yes. The latest version of Picasa with web uploading is required for posting photos to the Picasa Web Albums site. Those invited to try Picasa Web Albums are able to download the latest version of Picasa after signing in to picasaweb.google.com.

5. When will the latest version Picasa and Picasa Web Albums be more broadly available?

We're testing Picasa Web Albums by invitation, but we're continually listening to user feedback and working to improve both the latest version of Picasa and Picasa Web Albums. We hope to make them both more broadly available soon. You can always find the latest information about Picasa Web Albums at http://picasaweb.google.com.

If your question is not answered here or you would like to send an email to the Picasa Support Team, please contact us.

Picasa Web Albums