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Resizing Photos Using Picasa 2

April 17, 2007 by debbie T | Digital Photography • Picasa 2

I have written this tutorial specifically for my Dad, but other newbies might find it helpful.

This is a beginner’s tutorial with basic step-by step instructions. It covers resizing using the Export feature in Picasa 2. Screen shots were created using Windows XP.

Picasa is an easy to use photo editing program from Google. It can be downloaded from Google’s web site. Google offers additional tutorials if you care to learn more advanced features, such as editing, emailing, and blogging photos.

This tutorial does not cover the many wonderful editing features of Picasa, but there is one feature that will come in handy.

Resizing Photos With Picasa’s Export

Note: Export vs Save in Picasa 2 - To view the different options for saving and exporting photos in Picasa, view the tutorial at Picasa Help.

This is an easy way to resize your photo while keeping your original file intact. Picasa 2 will resize the photo file and save it to a new location. By default all exported files are saved to a sub-folder named “Picasa Exports” located in the My Pictures folder. The folder location can be changed.

Choose an image thumbnail in the Picasa workspace. Click the Export button located toward the bottom right of the screen.

screen shot - click the export button

A pop-up window will appear with export choices. See the screen shot below, with corresponding numbered instructions.

screen shot - Picasa 2 export options

“Location of exported folder” - Keep the default location, or browse to a new location to save the exported file. Note: by default, Picasa saves all exported in a sub-folder named “Picasa Exports” located in the My Pictures folder.
“Name of exported folder” - by default, Picasa automatically names the folder for you. You can edit the name, or leave it.
“Image size Options” - You can export keeping the original size, or resize smaller. A good size is 480 pixels wide. Adjust the slider to increase or decrease the width of your photo.
“Image Quality” - Choose automatic to preserve the original quality.

Click the OK button to complete the export process.

Hope this tutorial was useful!

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There are 6 comments

Thanks so much for that little tidbit of info. I really appreciate it! It saved me and my little Girl Scout troop a ton of time.
Comment by Lori on May 1st, 2007
Thanks Lori! I am glad it helped!
Comment by debbieT on May 1st, 2007
Debbie, I have photo(s) in my PICASA Library. I have a manuscript in Corel Word Perfect in the same computer. How do I copy photos from the Picasa Library to Word Perfect? For me it’s not an intuitive process. Thanks so much. William Moon
Comment by William Moon on May 24th, 2007
hello William

I did a quick google search and found this tutorial. I don’t use WordPerfect, so I don’t know if it will help, but I can’t imagine it would be too difficult to import a graphic or photo into a document.

Good luck, William, and let me know if you figure out how to do it!
Comment by debbieT on May 25th, 2007
Oops, forgot the link

Corel.com tutorial
Comment by debbieT on May 25th, 2007
William, I realized that one of our computers here at work has WordPerfect installed.

To insert an image, click Insert>Graphic>From File

Then navigate to the location of the image file on your hard drive.

WordPerfect ‘converts’ the file and then inserts it into the document, and at that point, you can move it around the page.

Hope that helps!
Comment by debbieT on May 29th, 2007