Reorganize Photo Collection

The Picasa software provides a simple way to view, edit, and organize the photos on your computer.

In this topic we give you some tools and methods that will help in arranging your photos.

Note:

If any of the photos you are moving are synced to web albums

see the topic: Moving Photos Among Folders that have been Synced or Uploaded to Web Albums.

Some things to remember:

• • The general rule is that Picasa will only see folders that have at least one photo in them or in a subfolder.

  • Remember that you should make a new backup after the reorganization is complete.

  • It is usually best to have the View menu -> Folder View set to tree view while arranging folders.

    • This view shows the folder tree structure in the same way as Windows Explorer

    • You can see parent folders even if they only have subdirectories.

  • View menu -> Folder View -> Flat Folder View can be selected once the folders are arranged.

    • Flat Folder View shows the Picasa special collections such as Exports, Projects, and Hidden Folders.

    • Flat Folder View arranges folders by date or name without regard to where they are on the PC.

Moving and Copying Photos Between Folders in Picasa

The Move Pictures by the Drag & Drop Method:

• 1. Select the Photos to be moved in the "From" folder.

  2. In the Folders collection on the left side, move the scroll bar up or down so the "To" Folder is visible. Don't click on it!

  3. Left-Click & Drag on one of the selected photos and drag them onto the Folder name of the "To" Folder.

  4. When the Mouse Pointer is on the To folder release the mouse button.

  5. The selected Photos will move to the end of the "To" folder.

The Move Pictures by Cut & Paste Method:

• 1. Select the Photos to be moved in the "From" folder.

  2. In the Edit menu, select Cut or type the Key sequence Ctrl+X (Hold down the Ctrl key and push the X key).

  3. In the Folders collection on the left side, move the scroll bar up or down so the "To" Folder is visible, then Left-Click on the "To" Folder.

  4. ,In the Edit. menu, select Paste or type the Key sequence Ctrl+V (Hold down the Ctrl key and push the V key).

  5. The selected Photos will move to the end of the "To" folder.

Copy Pictures so there are Copies in Both the From and the To Folders:

• 1. Select the Photos to be copied in the "From" folder.

  2. In the Edit menu, select Copy or type the Key sequence Ctrl+C (Hold down the Ctrl key and push the C key).

  3. In the Folders collection on the left side, move the scroll bar up or down so the "To" Folder is visible, then Left-Click on the "To" Folder.

  4. ,In the Edit. menu, select Paste or type the Key sequence Ctrl+V (Hold down the Ctrl key and push the V key).

  5. The selected Photos will be copied to the end of the "To" folder and the Originals will still be in the "From" folder.

Creating New Folders in Picasa

The Move Pictures to new Folder Method:

• 1. The best and easiest way to create a new folder is to select one or more photos you want to move to the new folder.

  2. Right-click on the selected photo and select "Move to New Folder".

  3. Picasa will give you a folder properties box where you can name the folder.

  4. Give the folder a name (and date it if you want) and select Ok.

  5. The new folder will be created and the selected photo(s) will be moved to it.

  6. Drag and drop any other photos you want to the new folder.

The Split Folder Method:

• 1. A folder contains photos that you want to be in different new folders.

  2. Arrange the photos in the folder by date or name or dragging so they are grouped together.

  3. Go to the first photo in the last group and right-click on the photo and select "Split Folder Here".

  4. Picasa will give you a folder properties box where you can name the folder.

  5. Give the folder a name (and date it if you want) and select Ok.

  6. The new folder will be created and the selected photo and all photos below it will be moved to the new folder.

  7. You can then drag and drop any other photos you want to the folder.

The Create a new Folder from scratch Method:

• 1. Select a Photo (any Photo) and go to File Menu -> Save a Copy to create an extra photo at the end of the folder.

  2. Hit the End key to go to the bottom of the folder.

  3. Right-click on the copied photo and select "Move to New Folder", This photo is a placeholder and may be deleted later.

  4. Picasa will give you a folder properties box where you can name the folder.

  5. Give the folder a name (and date it if you want) and select Ok.

  6. The new folder will be created and will be visible in Picasa. It will contain just the placeholder photo copied earlier.

  7. Drag and drop the other photos you want there to the folder.

  8. Once the folder any other photos, then the placeholder photo can be deleted if you wish.

Arranging Folders into a tree:

A good way to arrange your photos is often to have a main folder that contains all your photos.

Inside the main folder will be subfolders that contain the photos either in further subfolders or as photos.

Example:

Main folder is My Pictures.

My Pictures contains subfolders like Our Vacations, Company Photos, and Around Home.

The Our Vacations subfolder might contain Trip to Rome 2012, Yosemite Park 2005, etc.

Some of those might be further broken down, Trip to Rome 2012 might have a subfolder Vatican Visit, Our Hotel, etc.

Create The Folder Tree for the above example:

• 1. Determine the lowest level folder name (Furthest down in the tree). In the above example it is Vatican Visit.

  2. Create A Folder called Vatican Visit, or rename an existing folder if necessary with at least one photo..

  3. Right-click on the Vatican Visit folder and select Move Folder.

  4. A Browse for Folder box will come up pointed at the last folder you moved or created.

  5. For our example, browse and find the My Pictures folder and click on it to highlight it.

  6. Click the Make New Folder button, and a subfolder of My Pictures called New Folder will appear highlighted.

  7. Rename the New Folder (for our example) to Our Vacations, and after renaming click on the folder icon in front of it to select it.

     1. This Creates the Folder Our Vacations in the My Pictures folder.

  8. With Our Vacations folder selected, click on the Make New Folder button again and rename the new folder to Trip to Rome 2012

  9. We have now created the folder tree for Vatican Visit and any other folders going inside Trip to Rome.

  10. Click the OK button in the Browse For Folder Box to complete moving the Vatican Visit folder into the My Pictures\Our Vacations\Trip To Rome 2012\ Path.

  11. Create A Yosemite Park 2005 folder and subfolders for that Vacation, Then Move it to the Our Vacations folder.

  12. Continue moving folders to whatever branch they belong or create more branches as required.

Moving Photos Among Folders that have been Synced or Uploaded to Web Albums

Note: Folders and Albums that are synced or uploaded to Web Albums:

• • • Moving Photos out of a synced folder will move them out of the Folder but they will still be in the Web Album.

    • Refreshing sync status will not remove the photos from the Web Album.

If you have a folder that you want to split or move photos out of, and it has been uploaded and synced to Web Albums, moving photos out of the folder or splitting the folder can cause the photos to show up in the web album in the new folder if it is synced but they will still also remain in the web copy of the old folder.

The Move Pictures by drag and drop method:

• 1. Select one or more photos you want to move to the new folder.

  2. Right click on a selected photo and select Block from Uploading to remove them from the Web Album.

     1. Note: The photos should have a red arrow showing they are blocked

  3. Click and Drag the photos to the new Folder, and Drop them there.

  4. Right click on a selected photo in the destination and select Block from Uploading.

• • 1. Note: Block from Uploading will not have a check mark, but click it anyway and the red arrow on the photo will go away and it will upload if the folder is being synced.

The Move Pictures by copying and pasting method:

• 1. Select one or more photos you want to move to the new folder.

  2. Type Ctrl-C (Hold down the Ctrl key and push the C key).

  3. Click on the destination folder, then type Ctrl-V. This pastes a copy of the photos into the new folder.

  4. Go back to the Source folder and select the photos again.

  5. Push the Del (Delete) key to remove the photos from the source folder.

  6. Answer Yes if asked if you want to delete them from the Web Album.