Welcome to Picasa and Picasa Web Albums!

In this guide, you'll learn how to organize and edit your photos with the Picasa software, and how to upload and share them using Picasa Web Albums.

1.0 The Picasa Software

The Picasa software lets you organize, edit, and upload your photos in quick, easy steps. Download Picasa at http://picasa.google.com

Two things to know Add your photos Organize your photos Edit your photos Share your photos Discover more features

Picasa Web Albums

Looking for a simple way to get photos from your camera and computer on the web? Picasa Web Album provides one GB of free storage that makes sharing your photos a snap. Visit http://picasaweb.google.com

Sign up Upload photos to Picasa Web Albums View your albums Share your albums Add Favorites Discover more features

Two things to know

The Picasa software provides a simple way to view, edit, and organize the photos on your computer. As you get started, there are two things you should always remember:

Picasa does not store the photos on your computer.When you open Picasa, it simply looks at the folders on your computer and displays the photos it finds. It displays the file types that you tell it to find, in the folders that you tell it to search.

Your original photos are always preserved.When using editing tools in Picasa, your original files are never touched. The photo edits you make are only viewable in Picasa until you decide to save your changes. Even then, Picasa creates a new version of the photo with your edits applied, leaving the original file totally preserved.

Add photos to Picasa

Use Picasa to view photos already on your computer, or to import photos from your camera.

Add photos already on your computer

Once you've downloaded and installed Picasa, you have total control over the photos that Picasa displays. Picasa shows you the photo and video file types that you tell it to find, in the folders that you tell it to search.

Control the folders that display Control the file types that display

Click Tools > Folder Manager to control which folders are displayed:

Click Tools > Options (PC) or Picasa > Preferences (Mac) to control which file types are displayed

Import new photos

Of course, not all your photos reside on your computer. You can import photos into Picasa from many sources, including cameras, CDs, memory cards, scanners, webcams, and more. Photos you import are saved on your computer and displayed automatically in Picasa.

Organize your photos

The folder list on the left is the hub for Picasa organization. By scrolling through this list, you can access all photos displayed by Picasa. To understand Picasa organization, you need to understand the following three collections:

FoldersFolders in Picasa represent the folders on your computer. You control the folders that are scanned and displayed by Picasa. Changes you make to folders in Picasa affect the corresponding folders on your computer's hard drive. For example, if you delete a photo in a Picasa folder, that photo is also deleted from the computer.

AlbumsUnlike folders, albums exist only in Picasa. Albums allow you to create virtual groups of photos taken from multiple folders on your computer. Albums display those photos without actually moving the photo -- it's like a playlist for photos. When you delete or move photos from an album, the original files remain in their original folders on your computer.

PeopleIn this collection, you can organize your photos by what frequently matters most -- the people in them. Picasa uses facial recognition technology to find and group similar faces together across your entire collection of photos. By adding name tags to these groups of faces, new people albums are created. These people albums are just like the albums above: when you move or delete faces, the original files stay put.

Edit your photos

Picasa provides a range of one-click fixes to help you improve almost any photo, adjust its color and lighting, and add effects like black and white or sepia toning. Double-click a photo and use the three editing tabs on the left.

Basic Fixes Tuning Effects

Make simple edits -- such as cropping, straightening, removing redeye, retouching blemishes, or adding text -- to your photos. Or click I'm Feeling Lucky to try Picasa's all-in-one lighting and contrast fix. Learn more about Basic Fixes

Use the sliders to adjust the color and lighting aspects of your photo to produce a more visually enhanced image. Learn more about Tuning

Choose from 12 effects to make your photos more interesting: Sharpen, convert to sepia or black and white, warm the photo, apply tint, saturate the colors, and more. Learn more about Effects

Share your photos

Your photos take on more meaning when you share them with friends and family. Here are two ways to quick share your photos:

Upload photos to the webUse the Upload button in Picasa to upload all selected photos to Picasa Web Albums. Don't feel like picking through your

photos? The Share button uploads an entire folder or album, and sends email invitations to your friends and family.

Email photos

Click the Email button in Picasa to quickly send all selected photos to friends and family, using the email provider of your choice. Keep in mind that email doesn't accomodate a large number of photos, so if you want to share a lot of photos, consider uploading them to Picasa Web Albums, where you can take advantage of the free one GB of storage that's available.

Discover more features

If you've read this far, you're familiar with the basics of Picasa. As you become a power user, here are some of the features for you to explore:

Resize photos: One of the most popular -- and most hidden -- features of Picasa is the ability to resize photos. Use the Export button to quickly resize your photos.

Sync to Web: When you enable Sync to Web in Picasa for a folder or album, edits made to your photos in Picasa are reflected immediately in the corresponding album in Picasa Web Albums.

Make a collage: Make a collage and share it with your friends and family. Experiment with six different types of collage, and maintain total control over your collage content and layout.

Add captions: Adding captions can help tell the rest of the story. While editing a photo, click the text below that says 'Make a caption!'. Captions are displayed in Picasa, Picasa Web Albums, and other IPTC compatible programs.

Use Movie Maker: Combine your photos, videos, and music into a movie and upload it directly to YouTube. You can also trim existing video files.

Map photos: Use the Maps tab in Picasa to embed latitude and longitude information into the EXIF data of your photo file. This geographic data accompanies your photo when you upload it to Picasa Web Albums.

Print photos: Use the Shop button to order prints from our online print partners or use the Print button to print your photos at home.

Add tags: Tags are like keywords. By applying single or multiple-word tags in Picasa, you can quickly search and locate photos. The Tags tab offers quick tags, tag counts and the ability to manage your tags.

Upload to Blogger: Use the BlogThis! button to post photos directly from Picasa to Blogger.

Back up your collection: Protect those precious memories. Use Picasa to back up your photo collection to either an alternate drive or to CD/DVD.

Editing Overview: Resize photos

When you resize a photo in Picasa, you're creating a new copy with an adjusted image resolution (pixel count) and with all photo edits applied. The original photo on your hard drive is never altered.

You can resize your photos by exporting, emailing, or uploading your photos to Picasa Web Albums.

Resize by exporting

Exporting lets you resize your photos while controlling the JPEG compression (image quality) introduced by your applied photo edits. The result is newly resized copies of your photos, saved to your hard drive. During the export process, you can adjust both the "Image Size Options" and the "Image Quality" settings in the "Export to Folder" screen.

When selecting image size, choose the "Resize to" option and adjust the size slider. The number of pixels you select with this slider determines the length or height of your photo (whichever is longer). The other dimension is determined automatically to maintain the aspect ratio of the photo.

Select the image quality for your photo using the "Image Quality" drop-down menu: o Automatic: Preserves the original image qualityo Normal: Balances quality and sizeo Maximum: Preserves fine detail for large file sizeso Minimum: Yields some quality loss for small file sizeso Custom: Lets you to select your own value

Resize by emailing

If you're sending photos by email, you may want to resize them in order to get under the attachment size limitation. To change the size of the photos you email from Picasa, follow these steps:

1. In Picasa, click Tools > Options (Windows) or Picasa > Preferences (Mac).2. Select the Email tab.3. Use the slider to set your desired pixel size when emailing multiple photos. Use the radio buttons to set the pixel size for

emailing single photos.4. Click OK.

Resize by uploading to Picasa Web Albums

If you're sharing a large number of photos, you may not want to upload all of the photos at their original size. When you upload images from Picasa, you can choose the upload size using the "Size to upload" drop-down menu or else you can set your preferred default size for photo uploads.

Sync to Web: 'Sync to Web' basics

When you enable Sync to Web for a folder or album, edits made to your photos in Picasa will be reflected immediately in your online album. To use the sync feature, follow these steps:

1. Click the Sync to Web button on the right side of the folder or album header in Picasa.2. Sign in to your Google Account for Picasa Web Albums. 3. You'll be prompted to upload the photos in that folder or album to Picasa Web Albums. By clicking the Change Settings

button, you can adjust your default upload settings like image quality and album visibility. When the upload is complete, subsequent Picasa edits should automatically sync to your online album. See a list of the specific edits that can be synced.

You can disable the sync feature at any time by clicking the Sync to Web button again, or by selecting Disable Sync in the drop-

down menu to the right of the Share button in the folder or album header. All your photos and their edits will remain online, but new edits and changes will no longer be synchronized.

This feature only syncs changes from Picasa to Picasa Web Albums. You can manually copy captions, tags, and geo-tags from your Picasa Web Albums to Picasa.

Collages: Creating a collage

You have total artistic control over your collage content and layout. Experiment with six different collage types in the hands-on collage creation screen. To create a collage, follow the instructions below:

1. Select the photos you'd like to include in your collage.2. Click the Collage button in the Photo Tray. You can also create a collage for all photos contained in a folder or album by

clicking the Create Photo Collage button located in the folder or album header. 3. On the collage creation page, use the Settings and Clips tabs to control the appearance and content of your collage:

Collage Style

You can choose from six different styles of collage using the top drop-down menu on the Settings tab:

1. Picture pile: This collage looks like a pile of scattered pictures. You can drag photos around the collage, bring a photo to the top or bottom of the pile, and adjust the scale and angle of each photo.

Click an image in the collage and the wheel will appear on top of your selected image. Adjust the scale and angle of the photo by clicking and dragging the wheel button.

2. Grid: All of your selected photos are arranged into regular rows and columns.3. Mosaic: Picasa automatically fits your photos into the page. Unlike the 'Grid' collage, the pictures are not aligned into

neat rows and columns.4. Contact sheet: Your photos are arranged neatly as thumbnails. 5. Multiple exposure: Your selected photos are superimposed over one another. You'll see the best results for this collage

if you use fewer images.6. Frame mosaic: You can create a mosaic of your selected images, all surrounding one prominent center image. You can

change the center image by clicking your desired center image, and then clicking the Set as Frame Center button.

Settings

You can use various options on the Settings tab to alter the appearance of your collage. These options vary depending on the type of collage you choose.

o Grid spacing - Available for 'Mosaic', 'Grid', and 'Frame mosaic' collages. Use this slider to adjust the amount of border space between photos.

o Picture borders - Available for 'Picture pile' and 'contact sheet' collages. Add a white edge or polaroid edge to each photo.

o Background options - Choose a color or a photo as the background theme for your collage.o Page format - Pick a size for your collage. Picasa will automatically adjust the appearance of your collage. To fit your

collage for your computer desktop, select Current Display from the 'Page Format' drop-down menu.o Orientation - Orient your design vertically or horizontally.o Draw shadows - You can provide some depth to your collage by selecting the 'Draw Shadows' checkbox.o Show captions - Available for the 'Picture pile' collage. Select the 'Show Captions' checktbox to add your photo

captions on the collage.

Add more photos

During the collage creation process, you can add more photos at any time on the Clips tab.

1. Click the Clips tab on the left side of the collage creation page. The folder of photos you've been working with will be available under the Clips tab.

2. Select the photos you'd like to add, and click the (+) button to insert them in the collage.3. If you want to add photos from a different folder, click the Get More button to find additional photos in your Library.4. Select the photos from your Library.5. After you've finished, click Back to Collage in the Photo Tray. You should now see your additional images displayed

on the Clips tab.

6. Select the images you'd like to add, and use the (+) button to add them to the collage. You can use the (-) button to remove images from the Clips tab.

4. Use the buttons above and below the collage to help select and arrange the photos included in the collage. To remove a photo from the collage, select the photo in question and click the Remove button above the collage.

5. When you're satisfied with your work, click Create Collage. Alternatively, click the Desktop Background button to create the collage and set it automatically as your computer desktop image. Once you've created your collage, you can share it with friends by uploading to Picasa Web Albums, emailing, or printing it in high-resolution.

Picture Data: Creating and editing captions

When you create captions for your photos, they're saved along with the photos and stay with them, even when you upload them, export them, or send them by email. However, your captions will only be displayed in Picasa, Picasa Web Albums, and other IPTC compatible programs. To create a caption for a photo in Picasa, please follow these steps:

1. Double-click the photo.2. On the Edit Photo screen, click the gray Make a caption! strip below the photo.3. Type your caption in the space provided.

To edit a caption, click the caption text and use your keyboard's arrow keys (rather than your mouse) to change the cursor's position. If you'd like to delete a caption, simply click the trash can icon to the right of the caption text on the 'Edit Photos' screen. Learn how you can control the display of captions when viewing your Picasa Library.

When uploading photos from Picasa, all photo captions will be uploaded with your photos. As Picasa Web Albums has a caption limit of 1024 characters, captions longer than 1024 characters will be truncated appropriately for display in Picasa Web Albums.

Changes made to captions in Picasa can automatically be reflected in your online albums by enabling Sync to Web in Picasa. You can also manually prompt your captions created and edited in Picasa Web Albums to be synced down to your photos in Picasa. Learn more about copying your online changes to Picasa.

Movies: Creating a movie

Combine your photos, videos, and music into a movie, and convert it to a .wmv (Windows) or .mov (Mac) file. Share it with friends by uploading it directly to YouTube. To create a movie, you can follow these steps:

1. Select the photos and videos you'd like to include in your movie.

2. Click the Movie button in the Photo Tray to go to the 'Movie Maker' screen. You can also create a movie for all

photos in any folder or album by clicking the Create Movie Presentation button in the folder or album header.3. Use the Movie, Slide, and Clips tabs to alter movie settings, add text to slides, or insert new photos respectively. Click a link

below to get additional movie-making tips and details about each tab:

Movie tab

Use this tab to adjust the audio, appearance, and flow of your movie:

o Audio track: You can load one supported audio file for use with each movie. Choose from three different options to sync your photos to music.

o Transition style: Determine how to go from one picture to the next during the movie, e.g. wipe from left, dissolve, pan and zoom.

o Slide Duration: Use the slider to adjust the amount of time spent on each slide.o Overlap: Adjust the amount of overlap during the transition from slide to slide.o Dimensions: Control the resolution of your movie. When choosing a dimension for your movie, it's useful to consider

the format in which your movie will be viewed.o Show captions: Choose whether or not your photo captions should appear in your movie.o Full frame photo crop: Crop all movie images so that they completely fill the space on the slide.

Slide tab

Use this tab to add text to the slides in your movie. You can add text on top of any image or create a text-only slide to serve as a cover slide or a divider in your movie.

1. Click the Slide tab on the 'Movie Maker' screen.2. Add text in the text box. The preview of your slide or photo will automatically update. 3. Adjust the font, size, style, and color of your text and background. Change the style and location of your text using the

'Template' drop-down menu.

By default, each movie has a cover slide that displays the title and date of your album. To create a new text-only slide, click the Add a new text slide button located below the Play button on the 'Movie Maker' screen.

Clips tab

Use this tab to add or remove photos, and to retrieve additional photos from your Library for use in your movie.

4. Click the Clips tab on the left side of the 'Movie Maker' screen.5. Click the Get More button to find additional photos in your Library.6. Select your desired photos from your Library.7. After you've finished, click Back to Movie Maker in the Photo Tray.

You should now see your additional images displayed on the Clips tab. Use the (+) and (-) buttons to insert and remove photos.

Other tipso You can remove slides from your filmstrip by clicking the X button, located below the Play button in the lower-left

corner of the 'Movie Maker' screen.o Change the order of the photos in your movie by dragging and dropping photos in the filmstrip at the bottom of the

screen.

4. When you are satisfied with your creation, you have a few options:

o Click the Play full screen button in the lower-right corner of the screen to see a full-screen preview.o Click the Create Movie button to begin the creation process.o Click the YouTube button to create the movie and automatically upload it to YouTube.

All completed movies in addition to drafts will be saved in the 'Movies' folder, located under My Pictures > Picasa (Windows) or Pictures > Picasa (Mac). In Picasa, your 'Movies' folder is located in the 'Projects' collection (flat-folder view) or in the Picasa folder (tree view).

If you're not finished creating a movie, click the Close button and you'll be prompted to save a draft of your work in the 'Movies' folder. You can re-edit a draft or a finished movie at any time. In the 'Movies' folder, double-click your selected movie, then click the Edit Movie button to access the movie creation tools.

Geotagging Pictures: Add geotags in Picasa

Use Google Maps in Picasa to place your photos on the map. To geotag a photo, follow these steps:

1. Select the photos you'd like to geotag.2. Click the Places button in the lower right corner of Picasa.3. Navigate to or search for your location.4. Click the green marker button to add a new place for selected photos. Move the green marker

to the spot where you took the photos. 5. Click the OK button to finalize the geotag.

You can also drag-and-drop photos directly onto the map.

Picasa will write the longitude and latitude to the photo's EXIF metadata. You can view this data (GPS Latitude and Longitude) by right-clicking (Windows) Control-clicking (Mac) a geotagged image in Picasa and selecting Properties. Geotagged photos are marked

with a icon when viewed in Picasa.

Printing at Home: Printing at home - the basics

When printing photos at home, it's possible to adjust layout, borders, captions, and printer settings, among other elements. Follow these steps to print your photos:

1. Select the photos that you'd like to print.2. Click the Print button in your Photo Tray. 3. On the next page, customize your printed photos:

o Select a print layout for your photos. o For photos that are too big for the page, select whether you'd like to shrink them or automatically crop them to fit the

page.o Choose whether you'd like to add borders and captions to your printed pictures.o Picasa uses your Windows printer settings. Click the Printer and Printer Setup buttons to adjust paper size,

orientation, and print quality (Dots Per Inch - DPI).o To print multiple copies of a photo on a page, use the - and + buttons for the 'Copies per Photo' setting.o If you change your mind about printing a selected photo, click the Review button at the bottom of the screen. Select the

photo you want to remove from the page you're printing, then click the Remove selected button. Click OK when you're done.

4. When you're ready to print your photos, click the Print button.

Printing at Home: Printing text and borders with photos

When printing photos, you can choose to include borders, filenames, captions, and EXIF information. On the 'Print' screen, click the Border and Text Options button to access your settings.

Border

Adjust the border width, color, and placement of your pictures. To activate all the border options, adjust the slider to provide some border width.

Captions

You have several options for printing captions:

Choose to display the filename, caption, or EXIF information of the photo. Choose to display the caption on or below the image, or on the border you've set. Set the font, size, and color of the caption text. If your caption is too long, you can choose to 'Wrap text.'

While you're editing the border and text settings, click Apply to preview how the font and format changes, and click OK to accept the changes.

Printing at Home: Multiple pictures per page

When printing photos in Picasa, the size of the print you've selected determines how many prints you can fit on each page:

Size Images per page

Wallet 9

3.5 x 5 4

4 x 6 2

5 x 7 2

8 x 10 1

Full page 1

Printing at Home: Printing on smaller paper

To print your photos on specific-sized paper in Picasa, make sure your printer is set to use to the correct sized paper.

1. In Picasa, click the Printer Setup button on the printing preview page.2. Depending on your printer drivers, a version of the printer setup menu will appear. Modify the paper size to the width and

height of your printer paper and save your changes.3. Once you have correctly configured your printer, select the Full Page button on the printing preview page in Picasa.

To have your image take up the entirety of the selected paper size, you may need to click the Crop to Fit button in the Print Layout section. This crops the photo to the selected print dimensions.

Printing at Home: Cropping versus shrinking to fit

When printing your photos, you have two options for how your photo appears within the selected print dimension:

Crop to Fit: This option crops your photo to match the selected print dimension. If you've chosen 8 x 10 as your print size, your photo will be cropped to ensure that this entire space is filled.

Shrink to Fit: This preserves the original dimension of your photos for printing. These photos won't necessarily conform to your chosen print layout size.

Printing at Home: Compatible versus high quality printing modes

Compatible mode Compatible with most printers Prints at half the resolution of 'High Quality' mode Sends the entire page at once so you'll be able to print faster.

High quality mode Maximizes the quality of your prints using a printing method known as 'tiling' that uses less memory. Allows Picasa to output photos at a printer's native resolution.

Set your print quality options

You can access print quality options in Picasa by following these steps:

1. Click Tools > Options (Windows).2. Click the Printing tab.3. Under 'Print Quality Setting,' choose between 'Compatible' and 'High Quality.'

To determine if your printer supports high quality mode, please do a test print. If this mode doesn't work for your printer, you'll see lines running horizontally across the image.

Printing at Home: Changing default print size options

You can customize the print size buttons in the 'Print Layout' section that appears when you click the Print button in your Photo Tray. To select which custom print size buttons appear by default in Picasa, follow these steps:

1. Click Tools > Options (Windows) or Picasa > Preferences (Mac).2. Select the Printing tab.3. Under the 'Available Print Sizes' section, choose the print size layouts that best suit your printing needs. You can select from

the options listed below:

Inches Centimeters Predefined

3.5 x 5 5 x 8 CD cover size

4 x 6 9 x 13 Contact sheet

3 x 4 10 x 15 Passport

4 x 5 13 x 18 Wallet

5 x 7 15 x 20

8 x 10 20 x 25

4. Click the OK button to save your settings.

Your selections will be available as the first five 'Print Layout' options. The 'Full Page' option is default and cannot be removed.

Search and Locate: Tagging photos

Tags are like keywords. By applying single or multiple-word tags in Picasa, you can quickly search and locate your photos. To add a tag to a photo, please follow these steps:

1. Select the photos that you'd like to tag. You can only tag photos in one folder or album at a time.2. Click the Tags button. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-T (Windows) or Command-T (Mac). Existing tags and

tag counts for selected photos will be listed in the 'Tags' tab.3. There are two ways to add tags:

o Type the tag manually: Use the text box to enter the tag and click the 'Add tag' button.o Use your 'Quick Tags': By presetting tags that you frequenlty use, you can add them with the click of a button.

Manage your 'Quick Tags' by clicking the 'Configure Quick Tags' icon in the 'Tags' tab.

To remove a tag from all selected photos, just hover over the relevant tag in the Tags panel and click the 'x' icon that appears.

Once your photos are tagged, you can use the search box in the upper right-hand corner of Picasa to quickly find pictures that you've tagged.

Blogger: Using 'Blog This'

Using the BlogThis! button in the Photo Tray, you can post up to four photos at a time to Blogger directly from Picasa. Please follow these steps:

1. Select the photos in Picasa you wish to add to your blog.2. Click the BlogThis! button.3. Enter your Google Account username and password.4. Click the Sign In button. If you've never used Blogger before, you'll be prompted to sign up.5. Select the blog where you wish to publish your pictures from the drop-down menu.6. Select a photo layout and image size.7. Click the Continue button. A Blogger editor page will open displaying your photos on an HTML page.8. Click the Publish button to complete the upload.

Captions saved in Picasa are not transferred to Blogger with the photo. You can add captions using the Blogger post editor.

Backing up your Pictures: Using an alternate drive

Picasa offers several ways for you to back up your photos, edits, and album organizations. You can back them up to CD/DVD, to a different drive, or upload them at full resolution to Picasa Web Albums where you have one GB of free storage.

For larger collections, an alternate drive may be the most convenient option. Using an alternate drive with Picasa's backup feature is also a great way to migrate your photos to a new computer. Please follow these steps to back up your photos to an alternate drive

1. Connect the alternative drive to your computer.2. In Picasa, click Tools > Backup Pictures.3. Create a new backup set or use one you've already created. A backup set records the type of backup (CD/DVD vs. alternative

drive) and also keeps a record of which files have been backed up. o New Set: Click the New Set button to create a new backup set of your folders and albums. If this is your first time

backing up through Picasa, choose this option. Make sure to specify the following details: Enter a name for your backup set. In the 'Backup Type' section, select 'Disk-to-disk backup.' Click the Choose button, locate your drive, and click

OK. Specify the types of files to include in the backup. Click the Create button.

o Existing Set: Select your previously made backup set from the 'Backup Set' drop-down box. This allow you to update those sets with any changes that you've made since the last backup. Click the Edit Set button to change the set name or the types of files to back up.

4. Select the checkboxes in the Folder List next to the folders and albums you'd like to back up. Only selected folders and albums will be included in the backup. To select all folders and albums, click the Select All button.

5. Click the Backup button to initiate the process.

To add backup photos to a new computer, simply connect the alternate drive and run the restore function which is saved on the drive along with your photos. You can choose to have the photos copied back to their original locations or you can select a new location. After running the restoration process, download Picasa and reinstall the program.

Backing up your Pictures: Back up with Picasa Web Albums

Picasa Web Albums can be used to backup your original files under the following conditions:

1. The original file is a JPG.2. The image can be no larger than 20MB and is restricted to 50 megapixels or less.3. The image doesn't have any unsaved edits.4. You upload the image at 'Original Size.'

In all other cases Picasa will create and upload a new copy of your image saved in the JPG format. Examples of when your original file would not be uploaded include:

The original file is anything other than a JPG (TIF, PSD, any RAW format, etc). You have made edits such as I'm Feeling Lucky, Redeye, Crop, etc. You select to upload at any resolution other than 'Original Size.'

JPG is a lossy file format, meaning each time you save an image as a JPG some of the image information is irrevocably lost. This is perfectly fine when you're sharing online with friends or making normal-sized prints. If your goal is to preserve the original state of files that don't meet the above conditions for backing up to Picasa Web Albums, you should consider using Picasa to backup to an alternate drive or CD/DVD.

Backing up your Pictures: Backup CD or DVD

Picasa offers several ways for you to back up your photos, edits, and album organizations. You can back them up to CD/DVD, to an alternative drive, or upload them at full resolution to Picasa Web Albums where you have 1 GB of free storage.

Follow the steps below to create a CD or DVD backup:

1. Insert the blank disc in your computer and wait for Picasa to recognize it.2. Select Tools > Backup Pictures.3. Create a new backup set or use one you've already created. A backup set records the type of backup (CD/DVD vs. alternative

drive) and also keeps a record of which files have been backed up.o New Set: Click the New Set button to create a new backup set of your folders and albums. If this is your first time

backing up through Picasa, choose this option. Make sure to specify the following details: Enter a name for your backup set. In the 'Backup Type' section, select 'Disk-to-disk backup.' Click the Choose button, locate your drive, and click

OK. Specify the types of files to include in the backup. Click the Create button.

o Existing Set: Select your previously made backup set from the 'Backup Set' drop-down box. This allow you to update those sets with any changes that you've made since the last backup. Click the Edit Set button to change the set name or the types of files to back up.

4. Select the checkboxes in the Folder List next to the folders and albums you'd like to back up. Only selected folders and albums will be included in the backup. To select all folders and albums, click the Select All button.

When you add more photos, a 'Calculating' message may appear in the blue bar above the Burn button informing you how many discs you'll need to complete the backup. If you click the Burn button while Picasa is calculating, Picasa may miscalculate the size of the burn.

5. Click the Burn button to initiate the process. If necessary, Picasa will prompt you when it's time to insert the next blank disc.

This backup set will allow you to install your photos as you've arranged them onto a new computer. When you insert this backup into a new computer, you'll be prompted to restore your photos. You can choose to have the photos copied back to their original locations or you can select a new location. After running the restore from your backup CD, you'll need to reinstall Picasa. Please download the latest version of Picasa at http://picasa.google.com

Backing up your Pictures: Viewing edited pictures on the backup CD

Please be assured that after restoring your photos from a backup, all your edits and organizations will be available in Picasa.

When you back up your photos, Picasa saves both your original photos and any edits or album organizations you may have created. These items are saved separately; your photos, when viewed on your backup CD/DVD or external hard drive, display in their original form without any edits or organizations.

If you'd like edited versions of your photos to be available on your backup CD/DVD or external hard drive, you'll need to first export them from Picasa. This creates new JPG files that include all edits performed in Picasa. You can then back up these exported photo files, available in the 'Exported Pictures' folder in Picasa.

Sign up for Picasa Web Albums

Looking for a simple way to get photos from your camera and computer on the web? Picasa Web Albums provides 1 GB of free storage that makes sharing your photos quick and easy. To start using Picasa Web Albums, just sign in with your Google Account at http://picasaweb.google.com. (If you use Gmail, you already have an account.)

Don't have an account? Create one in seconds.

Upload photos to Picasa Web Albums

No matter where your photos are located -- Mac, PC, mobile, iPhoto, etc. -- you can easily upload them into Picasa Web Albums. Upload photos from Picasa or directly on Picasa Web Albums:

Upload from the Picasa softwareUse the Upload button to upload all selected photos to Picasa Web Albums. Don't feel like picking through your photos? The Share button uploads an entire folder or album, and sends email invitations to your friends and family.

Upload on Picasa Web AlbumsClick the Upload button at http://picasaweb.google.com to upload photos from your hard drive to the web. Any browser will work, but use Internet Explorer for larger uploads (greater than five photos).

View your photos

When you sign in to Picasa Web Albums at http://picasaweb.google.com, you're taken to your Picasa Web Albums gallery. All of the albums you've uploaded are displayed there. Click an album to see the photos it contains. Here are a few interesting ways to view your photos:

View full screen

Try clicking the Slideshow button when viewing an album, to see photos and captions in all their full-screen glory.

View according to the people in themBy using Picasa Web Albums' facial recognition technology to add name tags to your photos, you can view your online photos according to the people in them. Just enable name tags and you can start adding names.

Share your albums

When viewing an album, just click the Share button to send an email to a friend, inviting them to view your album. Everyone you invite will be added to the 'Shared with' list, located to the right when viewing your album. Learn more about sharing and managing access for your albums.

You can also adjust album visibility settings to make your albums as public or as private as you'd like. Here are the different levels:

PublicPublic truly means public: your album is searchable and visible to anyone who visits your public gallery. Anybody can leave a comment on a photo within the album. When you upload new photos to the album, updates are sent to all of your Picasa Web Albums Fans.

UnlistedChoosing the 'Unlisted' option is a good way to protect your album from the public at large. Unlisted albums have an authorization key in their web addresses; the key is a combination of letters and numbers that make the album's web address very difficult to guess. People will need the exact web address in order to see your unlisted album.

Sign-in required to viewSelect the 'Sign-in required to view' option to set the highest level of privacy for your album -- you specify who has permission to view it, and visitors must sign in to their Google Account to verify their identity. Learn more about adding and removing people from your 'Shared With' list.

Add Favorites

Picasa Web Albums is as social as you want it to be. Add people to your Favorites list to receive updates when they add new photos to their public galleries. You could add friends and family, or perhaps a person whose photos you really enjoy. Learn more about adding and managing Favorites.

Of course, this also means that other users can mark you as a Favorite -- these users are your Fans. Embrace their curiosity by uploading more public photos or feel free to block them.

Discover more features

As you become a power user, here are a slew of other features for you to explore:

Add captions : Click Edit > Captions to add captions to all photos in an album from the same screen.

Add tags : Tags are like keywords. By labeling your photos, you can quickly search and locate them on Picasa Web Albums. Map your photos : When you upload photos, geographical information in the photo's EXIF data is used to map your photos.

You can also drag-and-drop them on the map in Picasa Web Albums. Embed photos on other sites : Include a Picasa Web Albums slideshow, album, or image on your blog or website. Just copy a

small snippet of HTML and paste it in the source code of your site. Sync your changes : When you enable Sync to Web in Picasa for a folder or album, edits made to your photos in Picasa are

reflected immediately in the corresponding album in Picasa Web Albums. Try Creative Commons : Creative Commons is a licensing feature that allows you to specify whether others can reproduce or

share your work. Upload on the go : Browse photos and leave comments -- directly from your mobile device. See photos from Blogger, orkut, and Latitude : Any photos uploaded to your accounts with these Google products are

automatically added to your Picasa Web Albums account as well. Check out the Explore page : The Explore page is an entire page devoted to interesting public photos from all over the world.

See 'Feature Photos' that have been hand-picked by our team. Or check out 'Recent Photos' to watch a stream of newly uploaded photos.

Buy more storage : Don't let storage space hamper the number of photos you upload to Picasa Web Albums.

Captions, Comments, and Tags: Add captions

Follow these steps to add captions to your own photos in Picasa Web Albums:

The fast way:

1. From the My Photos page, click on the album you'd like to caption.2. Click the Edit menu.3. Select Captions. 4. Scroll down, adding captions as you go.5. Click the Done button.

The slow way:

1. Navigate to view an individual photo.2. Click Add a Caption below your photo.3. Write your captions and then click Save Caption.

There is a 1024-character limit for captions displayed in Picasa Web Albums. When uploading photos from the Picasa software, all photo captions will be uploaded with your photos. As the Picasa software has no character limit, captions longer than 1024 characters will be truncated appropriately for display in Picasa Web Albums.

Changes made to captions in Picasa can automatically be reflected in your online albums by enabling Sync to Web in Picasa. You can also manually prompt your captions created and edited in Picasa Web Albums to be synced down to your photos in Picasa. Learn more about copying your online changes to Picasa.

Explore Other Photos: Explore tab

The Explore tab allows you to discover new and interesting content from users around the world. There are four different modules you can use:

Featured Photos: A sampling of high quality photos taken from Picasa Web Albums users. Click on an individual image to view the entire associated album. Photos that have been featured will be badged with the Picasa Web Albums logo.

Recent Photos: A running feed of the photos most recently uploaded to Picasa Web Albums from users around the world. Learn more.

Where in the World?: Challenge your geography knowledge by matching geo-tagged photos with their correct location on the world map.

Popular tags: Browse photos tagged with places of interest (Paris, New York), occasions (birthday, wedding), and much more.

Google Storage: How it works

Google offers a way to purchase more storage space when you run out of free storage space in Gmail, Google Docs, Picasa Web Albums, Blogger (for photos), and Google Buzz (for photos). You can check your current storage usage or purchase additional storage at any time. Google storage is for Google Accounts only and not compatible with Google Apps for your domain accounts.

Free storage

Free storage space is specific to each product. Picasa Web Albums offers 1 GB of storage for photos and videos only. Gmail provides 7+ GB (and counting) which is reserved just for Gmail messages. Docs gives you 1 GB for everything: all of your docs, spreadsheets, presentations, and uploaded files. Free storage from one product cannot be used by or transferred to another product.

All photos posted to both Google Buzz and Blogger are included in the 1 GB of free storage allotted to Picasa Web Albums.

Paid Storage

When you run out of free storage for any product, you can purchase additional storage that is shared between products. This shared storage can be used for Picasa Web Albums uploads (Google Buzz and Blogger as well), Gmail messages, Docs content or a mix of all three - it will be used by any product that's over its free storage quota on a first-come, first-served basis. Choose from the following storage plans:

20 GB - $5/yr 80 GB - $20/yr 200 GB - $50/yr 400 GB - $100/yr 1 TB - $256/yr 2 TB - $512/yr 4 TB - $1024/yr 8 TB - $2048/yr 16 TB - $4096/yr

Explore Other Photos: Tagging

Use tags to label photos so that you and your friends can easily locate specific photos when searching. To apply tags in Picasa Web Albums, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your Picasa Web Album account at http://picasaweb.google.com using your Google Account username and password.

2. Click in to the photo you'd like to tag.

3. Click the Tag button on the right side of your screen.4. Enter the tag in the text box and click Add. If you'd like to add multiple tags, just enter a space after each individual tag.

To search for a photo with a tag, type the tag in the search box that appears in the upper-right corner of the Picasa Web Albums screen. Photos with matching tags will be displayed in the 'My Photos' section.

Mapping Photos: How to map

Below are instructions for assigning map locations for albums and individual photos in Picasa Web Albums.

For albums: 1. Click into your album from the My Photos page.2. Click Edit in the top navigation bar.3. Choose Album properties.4. Enter the name of a place (such as a city name, address, or ZIP code) into the 'Place Taken' field. Use the

accompanying map to help specify the location by dragging and dropping the marker to the appropriate spot.5. Click Save Changes.

For a single photo: 1. When viewing an individual photo, click the Add Location link on the right side of the page. If a location has already

been added to the photo, the link will appear as Edit Location.2. Enter the name of a place (such as a city name, address, or ZIP code). Use the accompanying map to help specify the

location by dragging and dropping the marker to the appropriate spot.3. Click Save Location.

For multiple photos in the same album:

Open the album map to add, edit and view the locations of all your photos on the map.

1. Click in to the album from the My Photos page.2. Click Edit in the top navigation bar.3. Select Album Map to view all photos in the album and the corresponding map.

4. Click the Edit Map button to add photos to the map or to make changes to existing placements. There are two ways to add photos to the map:

Drag and drop photos from the left pane onto the map. Select a photo in the left pane and then click a location on the map - no dragging required.

If you make a mistake, simply drag the photo marker to the correct location.

Different Ways to Share: Embedding albums, images, and slideshows

You can jazz up your blog or website by embedding a slideshow, album, or image. All it takes is a small snippet of HTML that you paste in the source code for your blog or website. Click a link below to expand and see instructions:

Slideshow

Learn even more ways Google products work together.

You can embed a Flash slideshow of any web album. It'll be automatically updated when you make changes to your album. Follow these steps to embed a slideshow:

1. On the My Photos page, click your album.2. Click Link to this album on the right-hand side.3. Click Embed Slideshow.4. Choose your slideshow settings, such as image size, captions, and autoplay.5. Once you've chosen your settings, copy the resulting HTML code (Ctrl-C).6. Paste the HTML in the source code for your site (Ctrl-V).

Once the slideshow is embedded in your site, people who click your slideshow will be taken to view your album in Picasa Web Albums.

An album

When you embed an album in your site, the album cover will display. Viewers who click the cover image will then be taken to view the album in Picasa Web Albums. Follow these steps to embed an album:

1. On the My Photos page, click your album.2. Click Link to this album on the right-hand side.3. Copy the HTML (Ctrl-C) in the 'Paste HTML to embed in website' field.4. Paste the HTML (Ctrl-V) in the source code for your site.

An image

Follow these steps to embed a Picasa Web Albums image in your site.

1. On the My Photos page, click your album.2. Click the photo you'd like to embed.3. Click Link to this Photo on the right sidebar.4. Set the following preferences:

o Select your preferred image size.o Select 'Hide album link' to remove a link to the containing album, which is displayed by default with the image. o Select 'Image only (no link)' to get the image URL by itself, with no code linking back to Picasa Web Albums.

5. Copy the HTML (Ctrl-C) in the 'Embed image' field on the right-hand side.6. Paste the HTML (Ctrl-V) in the source code for your site.

Sync to Web: 'Sync to Web' basics

When you enable Sync to Web for a folder or album, edits made to your photos in Picasa will be reflected immediately in your online album. To use the sync feature, follow these steps:

1. Click the Sync to Web button on the right side of the folder or album header in Picasa.2. Sign in to your Google Account for Picasa Web Albums. 3. You'll be prompted to upload the photos in that folder or album to Picasa Web Albums. By clicking the Change Settings

button, you can adjust your default upload settings like image quality and album visibility. When the upload is complete, subsequent Picasa edits should automatically sync to your online album. See a list of the specific edits that can be synced.

You can disable the sync feature at any time by clicking the Sync to Web button again, or by selecting Disable Sync in the drop-

down menu to the right of the Share button in the folder or album header. All your photos and their edits will remain online, but new edits and changes will no longer be synchronized.

Album Privacy: Manage album access

As the album owner, you decide exactly who has access to your album. In addition to the different levels of album visibility, Picasa Web Albums lets you keep track of the users you've shared an album with. Adding people to the "Shared with" list has the following benefits:

Easy access. The people on this list are the only ones that can see albums set to the "Sign-in required to view" access level. Plus, everyone on this list can see the album on your public gallery regardless of changes you make to album visibility.

Email notification. Everyone you invite using the Share button is added to the list and will receive an email invitation to view your photos. They also get notified when new photos are uploaded to the album in the future.

Collaboration. You can choose to let people on the list add photos to your album.

Sharing - Granting album access

Use the Share button in Picasa or Picasa Web Albums to add people to the "Shared with" list and to send them an email invitation to view the album. Follow these steps:

1. Click the Share button in the Picasa software or Picasa Web Albums.

Picasa Picasa Web Albums

2. Add your friends and family. You can add both individual users and entire Google contact groups to the "Shared with" list. o Share with individual people

Add the email addresses of the people you'd like to share with in the 'To:' field of the sharing dialog. Sending email invitations to group aliases won't add each member of the group to the "Shared with" list. Read on for more information on sharing with Google contact groups.

o Share with Google contact groupsYou can also share directly with your Google Account contact groups -- collections of Friends, Family, Coworkers, etc

-- rather than with every individual person. This gives access to all members of that group. Don't have any contact groups? Create them in Gmail with a few clicks.

Picasa : In the sharing dialog, click the button to add entire the contact group.

Picasa Web Albums: In the sharing dialog, check the box next to the contact group.

3. Click Send.

The Share button is the most direct way to share your photos, but there are several other convenient ways to invite your contact groups to view your photos. In Picasa Web Albums, you can share with contact groups when creating a new album or editing an existing album. In the Picasa software, you can share with contact groups when uploading or importing new photos. When sharing in this way, members of the group won't get an email invitation; however, they'll be notified if they're opted into the Picasa Web Albums email digest.

Managing album access

You can remove an individual or a Google contact group from the "Shared with" list at any time. Just click the icon next to the email address or contact group to remove album access. Click Edit next to the contact group to add and remove users from the group and therefore the 'Shared with' list. Keep in mind that changes made to Google contact groups will affect all products that use your Google contact groups.

Different Ways to Share: Upload to Panaramio

From Picasa Web Albums, you can upload your photos of places around the world to Panaramio. Panaramio is a Google site dedicated to exploring the world through photos. As such, the Upload to Panaramio link will only be present for Picasa Web Albums photos shared publicly that have geographic information. Learn more about Panaramio or follow these steps to upload your photos to Panaramio:

1. Sign in to Picasa Web Albums .2. When viewing a single photo, click the Upload to Panaramio link on the right of the photo below the map.

3. Sign up for or sign in to Panaramio.

Once you've signed in to Panaramio, your photo will be automatically uploaded. Panoramio creates a duplicate copy of all uploaded photos, so if you choose to delete a photo in the future you'll need to delete it from both places.

Photos you upload will be shared with the Panoramio community and with the world on Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Search, and more.

Different Ways to Share: Upload to Facebook, SmugMug, or Flickr

Not all Picasa users upload their photos to Picasa Web Albums. The following third party tools allow you to upload photos from the Picasa software to third party sites like Facebook, Flickr, and Smugmug. Take a look below for more information:

Facebook

The third-party Facebook Picasa uploader plugin adds an Upload to Facebook button to Picasa. Works for both PC and Mac versions of Picasa. This software was not created by Google or Facebook, and is not affiliated with either of these companies.

Smugmug

SmugMug offers a plugin that adds an Upload to SmugMug button to Picasa. Works for both PC and Mac versions of Picasa.

Flickr

The third-party picasa2flickr uploader plugin adds a Send to Flickr button to Picasa. Works for the PC version of Picasa. This software was not created by Google or Yahoo, and is not affiliated with either of these companies.

Different Ways to Share: Sending links of albums and images

You can send links of specific photos or albums to anyone you want, via email or IM.

Link for an entire album

1. On the My Photos page, click your album.2. Click Link to this album on the right-hand side.3. Copy the URL (Ctrl-C) contained in the 'Paste Link in email or IM' field. You can also simply copy the album URL in your

browser's address bar.4. Paste the URL in an email or IM (Ctrl-V).

Link for an individual image

1. On the My Photos page, click your album.2. Click the individual photo you'd like to link to.3. Copy the URL (Ctrl-C) located in the 'Link' field on the right-hand side. You can also copy the image URL in your browser's

address bar.4. Paste the URL in an email or IM (Ctrl-V).

Different Ways to Share: Using Picasa Web Albums with Blogger

Any photos uploaded to a Blogger.com, Blogspot.com or a custom Blogger domain will automatically be included in a Picasa Web Albums album of the same name. Each blog that includes photos will have a corresponding online album for those photos, designated in Picasa Web Albums with a small Blogger icon. Blogger albums are unlisted by default and therefore aren't searchable on the Picasa Web Albums site. Here are some things to keep in mind when integrating photos between these sites:

All photos posted to Blogger are included in the 1 GB of free storage allotted to Picasa Web Albums. Comments and captions added on either product will only be visible on that site. Photos deleted from your Blogger album in Picasa Web Albums will also be deleted from your blog.

To delete a Blogger album in Picasa Web Albums, you must first delete all photos.

Different Ways to Share: Share photos in Google Talk

If you chat online using the Google Talk Gadget, you can easily share a public Picasa Web Album by pasting a URL from the photo album into your chat. The Google Talk Gadget will recognize the URL as a photo album when you send it, and present a slide show of the photos for you to scroll through. To get the Google Talk Gadget, please visit http://talk.google.com. Please note that this feature is not currently supported by the downloadable Google Talk application or Google Mail chat.

Explore Other Photos: Explore tab

The Explore tab allows you to discover new and interesting content from users around the world. There are four different modules you can use:

Featured Photos: A sampling of high quality photos taken from Picasa Web Albums users. Click on an individual image to view the entire associated album. Photos that have been featured will be badged with the Picasa Web Albums logo.

Recent Photos: A running feed of the photos most recently uploaded to Picasa Web Albums from users around the world. Where in the World?: Challenge your geography knowledge by matching geo-tagged photos with their correct location on

the world map. Popular tags: Browse photos tagged with places of interest (Paris, New York), occasions (birthday, wedding), and much

more.

How to download Picasa 3.6

Log on http://picasa.google.com/ and click on Download Picasa 3.6 Click on Picasa Web Album if you already have an account.

Picasa 3.6 automatically downloaded into your computer.If it does’nt ,click “click here” link.If you plan to sign in to Picasa Web Album,click Get Started with Picasa Web Album

Click Save File

Double click on picasa36-setup.exe

Click ok

Click Run

Click I Agree

Click Install

Click Finish

Enter email and password to sign in

Picasa 3.6 New Features

Picasa 3.6 has improved name tags, a feature based on the same technology that powers name tags on Picasa Web Albums. With name tags, you can organize your photos based on what matters most: the people in them. In this new version, you can also upload photos to your friends' collaborative albums, more easily geotag photos using Google Maps, and import photos from your camera and upload them to Picasa Web Albums in one step. Get started by downloading Picasa at http://picasa.google.com

Add name tags -- Picasa scans all the photos in your collection, identifies the ones with faces, and groups photos with similar faces together. It's easy to add name tags to dozens of photos at once by clicking "Add a name" below a photo and typing the person's name. Once you've tagged some pictures, you can make a face collage with one click, easily find all your pictures with the same two people in them, or upload your name tags to Picasa Web Albums. Learn more

Collaborative albums -- Upload from Picasa -- In August 2009, we introduced collaborative albums in Picasa Web Albums. Now you can upload to a friend's album directly from the Picasa software. Learn more

Geotag your photos with Google Maps -- Quickly add geotags using the newly integrated Google Maps. Click the Places button and drag your photos to the location where you took them. Of course, you can still use Google Earth to tag or view photos if you prefer. Learn more

Import, upload, and share, all at once -- We've improved the import process so that you can star your favorites, upload to Picasa Web Albums, and share with Google contact groups at the same time. Learn more

Tags -- Better bulk tagging, quick tags & tag counts -- We've improved the tagging experience. Just click the new Tags button on the right side of the Photo

tray to add Quick tags , see tag counts for groups of images, and manage tags more easily. Learn more