Sort Order in Picasa Folders and Albums

n Picasa3 albums and folders are two different things. Albums don't exist independently from folders. Albums are custom display lists of selected files. There are no photos in albums and all the photos you see in albums exist in a folder. If you edit a photo in a folder, it will change in all albums it is included. Many users casually say albums when they mean folders. Please don't apply a method to a folder if it is written for an album.

Part 1: Keeping Folder Sorting Order in Picasa 3

1. Batch Rename Files In Folder: (Use this option if you don't mind making existing edits irreversible for the new copies)

• • How to do it:

    • Drag files around to your desired order

    • Select all files in the folder (CTRL+A or top menu Edit > Select all)

    • press F2

    • enter name-001 where name can be any word. This would work fine if all files come from the same folder but unfortunately if files come from different folders the numbering will break when it changes from one folder to another. You can open the properties panel and select consecutive files that come from the same folder. Lets say files from 7 to 13 come from the same folder. Select only those files and press F2 and enter name-007.

Part 2: Keeping Album Sorting Order in Picasa 3

2A: Rename Files In Album (Use this option if you don't mind messing up file names in your folders)

• • Advantages:

    • You will still have a single version of the file. This is good if you want to edit those photos because you won't have to apply the same edit to two different files.

    • If you have uploaded this album to PWA, you won't have to upload again and you won't have to send new links to all the people you have shared it with

  • Disadvantages:

    • When you rename the files in the album, this will rename and mess up the files in the folder. If your folder was sorted by name, it will lose its order.

  • How to do it:

    • Drag the files around to your desired order.

    • Select all files in the album (CTRL+A or top menu Edit > Select all)

    • Press F2

    • Enter name-001 where name can be any word. This would work fine if all files come from the same folder but unfortunately if files come from different folders the numbering will break when it changes from one folder to another. You can open the properties panel and select consecutive files that come from the same folder. Lets say files from 7 to 13 come from the same folder. Select only those files and press F2 and enter name-007.

2B: Export (Use this option if you don't mind making existing edits irreversible for the new copies)

• • Advantages

    • It will not mess up the file names in folders.

    • You can select a checkbox in export windows to automatically add numbers to preserve sorting order.

  • Disadvantages:

    • It creates duplicates. Disk space is not important but you will see the same photos in Picasa twice which can be confusing or annoying.

  • If the source photo has any applied or saved edits, exporting it will write the edits to JPEG. This means you can not edit or remove the edit any more. Method C avoids this problem.

  • It creates a disconnected copy form the original meaning that when you decide to add a new edit to the photo (like changing the colour balance or cropping) you would have to do it to both copies of the photo. Method A avoids this problem.

    • If the album was already uploaded to PWA and shared with other people, you have to upload again and send new links to all the people

  • How to do it:

    • Drag the files around to your desired order.

    • Select all photos in album and click the export button in bottom middle of Picasa.

    • Check the box that says "Add numbers to file names to preserve order". Picasa picks the correct numbering format needed. If you have less than 10 files it uses 1, 2, 3, ... If you have 10 to 99 files, it uses 01, 02, 03 etc

2C: Drag & CTRL Drop (Use this option if you want to keep existing edits reversible for the new copies)

• • Advantages:

    • It will not mess up the file names in folders.

  • If the source photo has any applied or saved edits, the copies will still have applied or saved edits. This means you can edit or remove the existing edits.

  • Disadvantages:

    • It creates duplicates. Disk space is not important but you will see the same photos in Picasa twice which can be confusing or annoying.

  • It creates a disconnected copy form the original meaning that when you decide to add a new edit to the photo (like changing the colour balance or cropping) you would have to do it to both copies of the photo. Method A avoids this problem.

    • If the album was already uploaded to PWA and shared with other people, you have to upload again and send new links to all the people

    • You need to do the renaming after you created the new folder. Method B avoids this.

  • How to do it:

    • On the left select any folder that doesn't have too many images. It doesn't matter what folder that is.

    • Inside this folder select the last thumbnail. Again, it doesn't matter what image this is.

    • On top menu click "File > Save a copy". A copy will be created.

    • Right click to the copy and select "Move to New Folder". Give the folder a name.

    • Go back to the album you want to sort. Right click to empty space inside the album and "select all".

    • Drag this selection to the new folder in Picasa 3 folder list but just before you drop, hold down the CTRL key and you will see a + sign, now drop. Copies of your files will be created in this folder. If you select CTRL before you start dragging it won't work.

    • Delete the dummy photo you used to create the folder.

    • Drag them around to your desired order. To make this order stick you need to rename your files.

    • Select all files in the folder (CTRL+A or top menu Edit > Select all)

    • Press F2 key on your keyboard

    • Type name-001 where name can be any word

    • Right click to empty space inside the folder and "sort by > name"