One of the simplest methods to remedy this and organize your photos effectively is to use the Move to New Folder option in Picasa.

This option allows you to create a new folder in your computer and Picasa containing the image(s) you select.

Once you follow the instructions below you will see how easy it is to break up a folder containing photos from multiple events into individual events in an organized manner.

Software/Hardware used: Picasa 3.8 on Mac OS 10.6.

1. Select the image(s) you wish to move to the new folder and right-click on one of the selected images.

When the menu appears click Move to New Folder.

2. The Folder Properties window will appear. Fill out the folder’s information including Name and Date. Location and description is optional.

Note: The date field will automatically populate with the dates from the image(s) you selected.

Click OK to create the new folder.

The new folder will appear in Picasa’s folder list. Repeat for other images you wish to add to their individual folders.

If you have any comments or questions please use the comments form below.

Software/Hardware used: Picasa 3.8 running on Mac OS 10.6.

1. Click Picasa in the Menu bar and then Preferences.

2. Click on Name Tags and then uncheck Enable face detection. You can also uncheck Enable suggestions, but the process intensive operating is the face detection itself.

3. Click OK to save the changes.

Once disabled, Picasa will no longer process the images to detect faces. If you wish to enable this feature in the future repeat the steps above and check Enable face detection.

Software/Hardware used: Picasa 3 running on Mac OS 10.6

1. Select the images you wish to email.

2. Click the Email button on the bottom pane.

3. If this is the first time emailing images with Picasa you will asked to select how you want to email your photos. You will have two options:

• Mail: Use your default mail application.
• Google Mail: Use Gmail to send the selected images.

A. If you wish to skip this prompt in the future, check Remember this setting, don’t display this dialog again.

Depending on the option you chose you will see your default application or a Gmail window within the Picasa application.

Default email application.

Gmail window within Picasa.

If you have any comments or questions please use the comments section below.

Well a new update to Picasa Web Albums makes the uploading process that much easier to use. The new update includes a smoother upload, unlimited simultaneous uploads, and the addition of uploading HD video.

For most browsers, just simply use the upload button and select the media you’d like to upload; remember holding down the control key or shift key will help you select more than one item at a time.

Holding down the control key will allow you to select individual files or even remove pictures when you hold down the shift key to select a group of photos in a row.

[Control] + [A] will also select all of the files in the current folder.

Once the files have been added you can watch them simultaneously upload with the progress bar. After they’ve been uploaded you will see thumbnails and can easily make any alterations while your other files are still uploading.

Internet Explorer users can also use a drag-and-drop plugin for even easier uploading.

You can also upload your pictures through your Android device with the Gallery app, which can directly upload your media to your Picasa Web Albums.

If you think copying your pictures folder from one computer to another will solve this issue, you are mistaken. In order for all of Picasa’s information to be transferred correctly you will need to transfer not only the pictures, but also Picasa’s database to the new computer.

In this guide I will show you where that database is located and how to transfer it to a new computer in Windows, this guide assumes you have already transferred the pictures.

Software/Hardware used: Picasa 3.8 running Windows 7 Ultimate.

1. Open Windows Explorer and go to the following directory:

C:> Users > [Your User Name] >AppData > Local > Google

Note: Make sure that you use the user name that is used to store images in Picasa.

2. Right-click the Picasa2 or Picasa3 folder and click Copy from the menu that appears.

Note: If you’ve been using Picasa since version 2, the Picasa3 folder may appear as Picasa2.

3. Once you have copied the file, open the location (preferably an external or secondary drive) and paste the folder into that location. Once the files have transferred you have successfully backed up Picasa’s database.

When you are ready to restore the database, run Picasa for the first time on the new computer and close the application. Head over to the directory in Step 1 above and overwrite the Picasa2/Picasa3 folder with the backed up copy. Once the files are overwritten, open Picasa and all of your tags and information should appear.

Note: It is important that when you copy the database over that the original images be in the same location otherwise Picasa will not find the pictures.

If you have any comments or questions please use the comments section below.

When I backup my pictures, am I not also backing up the database? No, when you backup your photos using Picasa, you are just backing up the actual images themselves, not Picasa’s database which contains all of the information (Geotags, name tags, and other information).

Software/Hardware used: Picasa 3.8 running on Mac OS.

1. On your Mac, open Finder and browse to the following location.

Your User Name > Library > Application Support > Google > Picasa3

In the Picasa3 folder you will find several files, the one we are interested in is the db3 directory which contains Picasa’s database.

2. Right-click the db3 folder and click Copy “db3″ from the menu.

Note: Before copying the db3 directory you may want to click Get Info when you right click on the folder to see how large the folder is. In my case the database directory is over 1GB, so make sure that the device you copy the folder to can handle the space required.

3. Open an external or secondary hard drive and paste the db3 folder in a location you can access at a later time. You have successfully create a backup copy of your Picasa database.

If you ever need to recover the backup, first install Picasa and run it for the first time. When it’s done loading, close the application and open the directory referenced in Step 1 above. Copy and overwrite the db3 folder on your Mac with the backup copy you made. When the files are done copying over, run Picasa and all of your pictures, tags, geotags, and other information will be there.

Note: It is important that the directory where the pictures were originally stored remain the same for this to work.

I will be covering these same steps for Picasa users on Windows, so stay tuned. If you have any comments or questions please use the comments form below.

To learn how to correct the wrong date and timestamp on your pictures, follow the instructions below.

Software/Hardware used: Picasa 3.8 running on Mac OS 10.6. The same instructions apply to the Windows version of Picasa.

1. The first thing you need to is select the photo(s) whose date and time you wish to adjust.

2. Click Tools then Adjust Date and Time from the menu.

When the Adjust Photo Date window opens, use the up/down arrows to adjust the A. Date and B. Time of the selected photo(s). You can also enter the date manually by clicking the date and time text box and adjusting the date.

If you have any comments or questions please use the comments form below.

3. Click OK to save the changes.

The photos with the incorrect date and time will reflect the date and time you selected.

The really neat thing about using Picasa Web Albums to back up your pictures is that you can download the pictures using Picasa to another computer and keep those files synchronized across several computers. The same applies to a scenario where your computer crashes, Picasa will automatically download all of your pictures back to your computer.

The guide below will show you how-to enable folder Sync in Picasa so that photos are available in Picasa Web Albums as backup.

Prepare Picasa for Photo Backups

Before you begin, the first thing we need to do is tell Picasa to upload pictures to Web Albums in their original form. We can also use this opportunity to make these albums private by default so that your pictures aren’t shared with the world.

1. Open Picasa Preferences and click on Web Albums.

2. From the Default upload size drop-down select Original size (slowest upload).

3. You can also set the album’s visibility by selecting one of the options from the New album visibility drop-down.

In Syncing options check all that apply. I recommend enabling the following:

• Don’t confirm every sync (use the above settings)
• Sync photo order
• Name tags: Include with photo uploads

Click Save to save the changes.

How to Backup Your Photos to Picasa Web Albums

1. Find the folder you wish to upload to Picasa Web Albums (unfortunately this must be done one folder at a time). Click on the arrow next to Share to open the menu.

2. Click Enable Sync.

3. If this is your first time uploading to Picasa you will be prompted to enter your Google credentials (Gmail account). Enter the information and sign in.

Your pictures will automatically upload to Picasa Web Albums. Repeat these steps for all of the pictures you wish to backup to Picasa Web Albums. Upload speeds can vary significantly based on the size of the files uploaded and the connection speed.

If you have any comments or questions please use the comments form below.

Here are some of the features they have added:

• Halloween Effects — Tools are broken up by monster; zombie, vampire or other creature of the dark.
• Halloween Stickers — Stickers that allow you to add everything from witch hats, ghosts, and jack-o-lanterns to tombstones, fangs, lesions and bats.
• Halloween Fonts — Spooky fonts that allow you to write words in skeletons, ghosts or other scary looking text.

Software used: Picasa 3.8.

Use Picnik’s Halloween Effects in Picasa

1. Open Picasa and double-click on a picture you wish to spookify. Click on the Basic Fixes tab.

2. Click on the Edit in Picnik button.

3. You will be asked if you would like to edit a copy of this photo. I always choose Yes, but it’s up to you.

Picnik will load in the Picasa application window…

4. Click on the Create tab to open the effects menu.

5. Edit your photograph by using the effects listed on the left pane. Tools are divided by monster type, but you can combine vampire fangs with zombie eyes, it’s all up to you.

6. When you are ready to save your experiment, click on Save to Picasa to save the picture to your computer.

7. Share if you dare!

What other sites or applications do you use to modify your pictures? Please use the comments form below.

If you’re a Picnik fan you are going to love this integration, however if you are new to Picnik you definately need to check it out. The guide below will show how to use the new Picnik editing tool in Picasa 3.8.

Note: I used Picasa 3.8 for this guide.

1. When you open a single image in Picasa (to edit the image) you will notice that in the Basic Fixes tab a new button is available. To edit your picture with Picnik, click on the Picnik button.

2. When the Edit in Picnik confirmation window opens, click on Yes to proceed with editing the image.

Picnik will load within the Picasa window so there will be no need to use the browser.

3. Use the tools in Picnik to touch-up your photos, add effects, and do what you would like.

4. When you are done editing the photo you can Save to Picasa so that the edited image is saved to your computer.

5. You will have the option to Replace the photo you edited or to Save a new copy to Picasa.

When you return to Picasa you will find the image you edited using Picnik’s photo editing tools online within your Picasa application window. Pretty cool, huh?