Google PICASA 2 User Manual

User Guide

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, and MOV.

If you’re upgrading from a previous version of Picasa:

When you uninstall older versions of Picasa, you will be prompted whether or not you want to
delete your existing database (your previous organization and picture edits). If you opt to
save your Picasa 1.618 database, your Picasa 2 database will be upgraded automatically,
preserving your previous organization and picture edits. If you delete your Picasa 1.618
database, you can download and install the new version of Picasa and create new edits.

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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:

FOLDER LIST

The left-hand list in Picasa’s library
view shows all the folders containing
pictures on your computer and all
the labels you’ve created in Picasa.
These folders and labels are grouped
into collections that are described in
the next section. By default, the
folder list is sorted by creation date.
To change the way the list is sorted,
go to “View” > “Sort Folder List By.”

PICTURE TRAY AND
OUTPUT OPTIONS

The “Picture Tray” is used to collect
pictures and movies from one or
more folders or labels so that you
may work with them as a group.
The “Label” button and all of the
output options buttons (”Print,”
“Email,” “Collage,” “Hello,” “Blogger,”
“Order” and “Export”) perform their
respective actions using the pictures
currently in the “Picture Tray.” By
default, your current selection in
the lightbox is placed in the “Picture
Tray.” To keep these items in the
“Picture Tray” while you select more,
press the “Hold” button. You can also
drag and drop items into the “Picture
Tray” and they will automatically be
held. To remove a held item, select
it in the “Picture Tray” and press
“Clear”. Once you are satisfied with
the contents of the “Picture Tray,” you
can press any of the output options
buttons or the “Label” button to
perform the corresponding action
on all the items in the “Picture Tray”
at once.

LIGHTBOX

The right-hand side of the library
view displays visual thumbnails
of the pictures (and movies)
corresponding to the folders and
labels in the folder list. To change
the thumbnail size, use the slider
at the bottom right of the lightbox
or use the “View” menu to select
a common thumbnail size. Double­click on any folder or label header
to edit its title, date, place taken
or caption. For folders, you can
click on the large folder icon in the
header to open the corresponding
folder in Windows Explorer. Press
the up and down arrow keys on
your keyboard or use the far right
scroll bar to move through the
lightbox. NOTE: Only folders and
labels that are visible in the folder
list will appear in the lightbox.
Folders inside of a closed collection
will not be displayed.

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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:
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.

Moving pictures between

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 locations
on 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.

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• 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 mouse
to 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

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