28 April 2012
Reading that PICASA is a great Photo Editing Programme I finally downloaded it today. The first hint that all was not right was that it went through my whole computer including 2 External Hard Drives and made an "Index" of every picture there is. That includes not only my photos but ANY PICTURE! I immediately tried to stop it and couldn't.

The download said that no photo would be moved from my files and that they were all safe

I looked up "Help" and found only marketing stuff that decided me to take it in the first place. No Manual. I went online to find myself floundering around up to the waist in marshmellow. Meanwhile my files were teeming into the programme until it had them all (there is a point to this!) so I decided to try PICASA out. I got stuck - back online for help - none. I tried to get into the PICASA forum but the words I had to copy were too hard to read, and the spoken words were so distorted I kept getting them wrong and kept getting rejected.
As I couldn't find a way to get my photo off the workspace (guess how every other programme I've ever used does that?) I turned the computer off.

I went back into PICASA determined to delete its index. I started by deleting advertisement photos - r/click>delete - and it worked. No way in the world to select the whole lot and delete them all in one fell swoop though so I was ready to spend hours deleting one file or folder at a time. GOOD THING I DIDN'T!

I decided to find an unimportant photo in my collection on an external hard drive, then found it via PICASA, brought it up and deleted it. GOOD THING I DID! Because the photo had GONE from my album on the external drive and I found it, later, in the Recycle Bin.

I disconnected the external drives and uninstalled Picasa. At least the uninstallation worked, which made a change from anything else it would do.

Not to be beaten I reinstalled a new copy (externals disconnected) thinking I'd be more selective in the options I downloaded and all would be ok. But no! IT DID IT AGAIN. And wouldn't stop. So I hit "uninstall" in my Control Panel while it was running and got quite unceremonious, and vocal, while I waited. The good thing about it all is that I'll never have to do that to PICASA again.

Work out the ramifications of all that for yourself. But remember the word PICASA and be warned. And don't recommend it to others unless you know something I don't.

Mike Gallagher

all picasa did was catalog them in picasa.you can still call them up the same way you did before.most of the time i call up a pic through my desktop and use open with to use picasa or any other program that will prosess them.if any ended up in the recycle ben you set it in motion.

UNDERSTANDING HOW PICASA WORKS
Picasa is a free program owned by Google

He is a friendly little fellow - once you get to know him 

All photo editing programs give you the tools you need to edit, make changes to your photos and much more besides.
When in other programs you “Browse” in your picture folder for the photos you want and then open them into that program.

Imagine how slow that would be if you were making collages! :-(

On the other hand, Picasa by-passes the “Browse” step
and shows you your pictures in their folders immediately and
so they are there ready for you without any further searching! ;-)

Your pictures are not IN Picasa, they are ON your hard drive.
Picasa shows them to you and allows you to edit them,
manage your folders, make collages and so on. 

You have complete control over the folders you allow
Picasa to scan for photos.
Go to Tools – Folder Manager
And mark with the blue circle your Picture Folder and anywhere else
there are photos
Everything else mark with a red cross.
Scan always.

Edits are kept on the Picasa data base and while you stay within “Picasa”
There is no need to save anything.
HOWEVER,
If you want to use the edited photo in another program, you must
“Save” it or “Export” whilst in Picasa so that you can see and use
the edited version of your photo on your hard drive.

I have written a tutorial and it is available in PDF.
Margaret Carrington

Here are some helpful sites
https://sites.google.com/site/picasaresources/faq


geeksontour.com/ “The Geeks” Chris & Jim Guld tour the US in
http://picasatutorials.com/ their RV holding computer and Picasa
seminars for fellow travelers.

Thank you, Margaret. You really help vindicate Picasa, that great little program I use all the time with few problems, nothing like those described.

28 April 2012
Reading that PICASA is a great Photo Editing Programme I finally downloaded it today. The first hint that all was not right was that it went through my whole computer including 2 External Hard Drives and made an "Index" of every picture there is. That includes not only my photos but ANY PICTURE! I immediately tried to stop it and couldn't.

The download said that no photo would be moved from my files and that they were all safe

I looked up "Help" and found only marketing stuff that decided me to take it in the first place. No Manual. I went online to find myself floundering around up to the waist in marshmellow. Meanwhile my files were teeming into the programme until it had them all (there is a point to this!) so I decided to try PICASA out. I got stuck - back online for help - none. I tried to get into the PICASA forum but the words I had to copy were too hard to read, and the spoken words were so distorted I kept getting them wrong and kept getting rejected.
As I couldn't find a way to get my photo off the workspace (guess how every other programme I've ever used does that?) I turned the computer off.

I went back into PICASA determined to delete its index. I started by deleting advertisement photos - r/click>delete - and it worked. No way in the world to select the whole lot and delete them all in one fell swoop though so I was ready to spend hours deleting one file or folder at a time. GOOD THING I DIDN'T!

I decided to find an unimportant photo in my collection on an external hard drive, then found it via PICASA, brought it up and deleted it. GOOD THING I DID! Because the photo had GONE from my album on the external drive and I found it, later, in the Recycle Bin.

I disconnected the external drives and uninstalled Picasa. At least the uninstallation worked, which made a change from anything else it would do.

Not to be beaten I reinstalled a new copy (externals disconnected) thinking I'd be more selective in the options I downloaded and all would be ok. But no! IT DID IT AGAIN. And wouldn't stop. So I hit "uninstall" in my Control Panel while it was running and got quite unceremonious, and vocal, while I waited. The good thing about it all is that I'll never have to do that to PICASA again.

Work out the ramifications of all that for yourself. But remember the word PICASA and be warned. And don't recommend it to others unless you know something I don't.

Mike Gallagher