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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

  1. “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.
  2. “Name of exported folder” – by default, Picasa automatically names the folder for you. You can edit the name, or leave it.
  3. “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.
  4. “Image Quality” – Choose automatic to preserve the original quality.

Click the OK button to complete the export process.

Hope this tutorial was useful!

There are 12 comments

  1. 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

  2. Thanks Lori! I am glad it helped!

    Comment by debbieT on May 1st, 2007

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. Oops, forgot the link

    Corel.com tutorial

    Comment by debbieT on May 25th, 2007

  6. 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

  7. Hello!
    I had a question, and I was hoping you might be able to answer it! I am trying to make my photo’s 8×10 for printing, but when I put 1600 in for pixel size (or width)the height never comes out to 1200, resulting in pictures that aren’t 8×10. I realize it’s trying to “save” me from having pictures that are too degraded, but is there anyway to override this?!

    Comment by noel on September 16th, 2009

  8. Why are you resizing at all. Just use the original size and print an 8×10.

    Good luck!

    Comment by debbie T on September 16th, 2009

  9. resizing because Im sending them to white house custom colour. They have to be 8×10 with 300ppi.

    Comment by noel on September 16th, 2009

  10. Is there an option to change Picasa to inches instead of pixels?

    I originally wrote the tutorial for my dad but I am on a Mac, and don’t use Picasa at all. So, I am really not going to be much help! Sorry.

    Good luck!

    Comment by debbie T on September 16th, 2009

  11. No, not completely helpful. I hit export, but can never find it to insert into Wordperfect.

    Comment by Charles Read on October 3rd, 2010

  12. No, Charles, the tutorial doesn’t cover basic Windows instruction. That would be something you would need to learn if you don’t know how to find files on your hard drive.

    I am sure google will help if you searched for “finding files on windows”

    Comment by debbie T on October 4th, 2010