Photo Library Setup

What We'll Learn

1. How to organize our Photo Library
2. Initial setup of folders in our Library

The Photo Handling Process

Moving your photos into your Library of good pictures and then organizing them properly are the last two steps of the Photo Handling Process. In order to do this, we need to spend a bit of time setting up our Library properly so that we can stay organized.

Although Picasa has the ability to find your photos no matter how you store them on your computer, we recommend creating a Library folder and using that area to store and organize your valuable photo collection.

Library Setup Concepts

Exercise - Initial Library Folder Setup

You should have already created a Library folder in the Setup Photo Handling tutorial. We could setup sub-folders in the Library using File Explorer, but in this tutorial we will show you how to setup a Library folder while practicing moving a reviewed folder into the Library:

1. Locate the folder you wish to move.
2. <Right-Click> the folder to access the Folder Menu

In our last tutorial on Describing New Photos, we discussed the three types of folders that you would store in your Library. To review:

1. Event Folders. The majority of photos taken are related to an event and are calendar or date based.
2. General Date Related Folders. Occasionally, you take shots of family, pets or pictures of your home that are not related to a specific event. However, the date is still relevant and these photos can be grouped inside the event structure.
3. Topical Folders. Sometimes, you may wish to build a collection of specific photos that are not related to time at all. These can be stored in a topical area outside of the event folder structure.

See the diagram to the right for an example of how these folders are organized in your Library.

1. Select Move Folder....
2. Locate your Library Folder

1. If needed, click the small arrow to the left of the folder to expand it and list the sub-directories.
2. You should see a folder for the year related to the photos you are trying to move. If it does not exist, use the following steps to create it:
  1. Click the Make New Folder button.
  2. Name the folder by typing the year. If you make a mistake, you can <Right-Click> the folder and use the Rename command.
3. Click the folder you want to Move Your Folder to and click OK.

Your pictures have now been moved from your Review area into your Good Picture Library area!

Photo Library Setup