FAQ
0) I am Using PicasaStarter Version1.5, how do I upgrade to PicasaStarter Version 2.0?
First Install PicasaStarter 2.0:
Make sure you have installed Picasa 3.9.
In your PicasaStarter directory, rename PicasaStarter.exe to PicasaStarterOld.exe.
Copy the PicasaStarter.exe file and the 2 .DLL files to the PicasaStarter directory.
PicasaStarter version 1.5 settings are slightly different than 2.0 because the database path is simpler in 2.0.
You can try PicasaStarter 2.0 without upgrading if you wish.
To try 2.0 without upgrading:
Run PicasaStarter by double-clicking on the exe file.
Select a database and click Run Picasa. You should get a warning allowing you to use a 3.8 style database
Answer Yes to the 3.8 database warning and Picasa should start normally with that database.
If you decide not to upgrade to 2.0, exit PicasaStarter, erase PicasaStarter.exe and rename PicasaStarterOld.exe back to PicasaStarter.exe.
NOTE: The Backup functions will not work until the Database is upgraded.
To upgrade to 2.0:
Run PicasaStarter by double-clicking on the exe file.
Select a database and click EDIT to edit that database's settings..
Look at the Database Name, Description, and Base Path to make sure you have selected the intended database.
Push the Convert 3.8 Database button, and you should get a message that the database has converted successfully.
If you want to configure Backups, go to the Backup tab and set up your backup directory, How often, database only , etc.
The Virtual Drive tab can be ignored for now as there is no equivalent function in 1.5
Click OK to exit the Edit screen, then clicking Run Picasa should result in Picasa running with the converted database.
You can repeat the above steps for each database to convert all of them to PicasaStarter 2.0.
If you Really never want to convert a Database to 2.0 format:
Run PicasaStarter by double-clicking on the exe file.
Select a database and click EDIT to edit that database's settings..
Look at the Database Name, Description, and Base Path to make sure you have selected the intended database.
Modify the Base Path by selecting Browse to the right of the Base Path.
Browse in the base path down to the <Base Path>\Local Settings\Application Data\ folder, select the Applcation Data folder, and click OK.
Verify that the Base Path is now <Base Path>\Local Settings\Application Data. If not, Browse again more carefully.
If you want to configure Backups, go to the Backup tab and set up your backup directory, How often, database only , etc.
The Virtual Drive tab can be ignored for now as there is no equivalent function in 1.5
Click OK to exit the Edit screen, then clicking Run Picasa should result in Picasa running.
The only disadvantage to this approach is that the path to the database is more complicated and not very intuitive, but if you must maintain compatibility with PicasaStarter version1.5, the mess may be worth it.
1) Picasa doesn't find my pictures on my external hard disk when I attach it to another computer. What to do?
Probably the drive letter assigned to the external hard disk is different on both computers.
You can change the drive letter using this procedure: http://www.wikihow.com/Change-a-Drive-Letter-in-Windows-XP or http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-add-or-remove-a-drive-letter
Remark: If you change the drive letter assignment according to the links above, if you disconnect and reconnect the external hard disk Windows will normally reuse the last used letter for this hard disk. It is a good idea to choose a higher drive letter than A ,B, C, D, E, F, or G. This way chances are little that you would need to change the drive letter to an already occupied letter... which would be a problem! One suggestion would be to use the P (for Photos) drive.
You can use the Map Virtual Drive function in PicasaStarter 2.0: Click Edit to go to the Database Configuration dialog. Go to the Virtual Drive section and set the drive letter the pictures should be on, and check the box to allow mapping, If the drive is available. Click OK to exit the Edit screen, the Run Picasa should start Picasa correctly on that drive.
Note: Map Virtual Drive function will only work if the directory structure of the drive to be mapped is correct. The Virtual Drive mapping requires that the directory to be mapped have the following structure:
<Dir to Map>\ <---- The directory containing everything that will be mapped to the Virtual Drive Letter.
<Dir to Map>\ <PicasaStarter>\ <---- The folder containing PicasaStarter.exe and it's Settings file.
<Dir to Map>\ <Pictures> <---- The folder containing the Pictures and other picture folders (there can be more than one of these).
<Dir to Map>\ <Database Base Dir> <---- The database base directory (preferred to be here).
NOTES:
The Parent Directory of the PicasaStarter directory is the one that will be mapped to the Virtual Drive letter, so this parent directory must contain at least the Picture directories, and the PicasaStarter directory with it's settings file.
The <PicasaStarter>, <Pictures>, and <Database Base Dir> folders can be named anything but it is usually best to name them something descriptive of the drive they must be mapped to.
The <Dir to Map> is the present network location of the folders. This location will be mapped to the selected Virtual Drive Letter.
Examples:
- A folder on the NAS named \\NAS\\Picture_Folders_for_P might be assigned the Drive letter P: in the Virtual Drive function. When PicasaStarter was run from the NAS that directory would be Mapped to the P: Drive.
- A portable drive that was assigned to the P: drive when it was originally written might be the H: drive when it is plugged into a different PC. If the virtual drive letter is set to P:, when Run Picasa in PicasaStarter was clicked, the database, pictures etc. would be mapped to the P: drive while that database was selected.
The Pictures and Database in the <Dir to Map> must have been built for the drive letter they will be mapped to. For instance, they could have been built and synced in a physical P: drive then copied to that folder on the NAS, or that folder on the NAS could have been mapped to the P: drive letter on the composing PC.
2) Can I reuse my existing Picasa database when I want to move it to another place?
Yes, you can. Follow these steps to reuse your default database:
In the PicasaStarter main screen, click Add to define a new database, or Edit if you have already defined the database that will be the new moved database.
Name the database and define it's new location in the Database Path box, then click Copy an Existing Database.
Select the predefined database "Personal Database of..." that is always present in Picasa Starter, and click the button "Explore..." at the right-hand side of the Selected Source box. A windows explorer window will open at the place the database is located. Select the folders "Picasa2" and Picasa2Albums" located there and do "right-click Copy", then close the explorer window.
The destination box should have the database you want to copy the original one to. Click "Explore..." for this database as well. Do "right-click Paste" in this directory to put a copy of the original database there. If the destination already has the folders you should erase then or rename them to, for instance Picasa2old and Picasa2Albumsold. Renaming will allow you to get back the original database if you made a mistake.
Click Done, and Ok to get back to the main screen.
When you do "Run Picasa" with the new database selected... you should have reused all information. If there is a problem, or Picasa starts extensive reindexing, erase the 2 folders Picasa2 and Picasa2Albums from the new database folder, and recopy them using the procedure above.
3) Can I start Picasa with a custom database without actually seeing PicasaStarter
Yes! You can create a shortcut to PicasaStarter with the desired database defined as detailed below, and it will immediately start Picasa with the desired database.
Select the database you wish to run from a shortcut and click the Edit button to show the Database Configuration dialog. Click the Create Shortcut button and define the name and location of the shortcut, and create the shortcut.
This adds a shortcut in the desktop and optionally in the Apps directory. This shortcut starts Picasa with the selected database without showing PicasaStarter.
A feature has been added that allows you to create a shortcut that shows a menu of defined databases so you can select the desired one from a menu also without showing the PicasaStarter screen.
There are Command Variables in this and Previous Versions:
After you defined one or more custom Picasa Databases by starting Picasastarter normally, you can:
a) Navigate (using windows explorer or My computer) to the place where you saved PicasaStarter.exe on you computer.
b) Create a shortcut to Picasastarter by rightclicking PicasaStarter.exe and choose "Create shortcut".
c) Do right-click on the shortcut and choose "Properties".
d) On the tab "Shortcut" add the following text at the end of the "Target" field: /autorun "DatabaseName", with DatabaseName the name you gave to the database you want to run Picasa with automatically. The double quotes around DatabaseName are only necessary if you have spaces in the database name. Eg.: "C:\Programs\PicasaStarter\PicasaStarter.exe" /autorun "Test database 1"
There are two reserved words for autorun database names: If the database name is "Personal" the default Picasa database will be selected. If the database name is "AskUser", Picasastarter will show a menu for you to select from the available databases.
This shortcut can be renamed and placed wherever you want of course... par example on your desktop.
4) Can I create a "portable" solution for Picasa using PicasaStarter?
Yes! Picasa itself will still need to be installed on all computers you want to use it on, but all data and settings will be portable.
a) Move all your images to an external harddisk. If you want to reuse your Picasa database, you need to move the images in Picasa itself using the Move Folder command, see d) below and FAQ #2..
NOTES:
It is suggested that a folder such as \Pictures be created on the external drive. Then all the pictures and folders to be moved would be moved into this folder.
For the external drive to be portable, All pictures and picture folders must be moved to the external drive, since pictures on other drives will not be available on other computers!
If you want to keep your pictures in the original locations too, you should back up your original pictures and picasa database, so you can restore them after the end of this procedure.
b) Put PicasaStarter on the external harddisk, for instance in a folder called Picasastarter.
c) Start PicasaStarter from this folder and create a new database by clicking Add. In Database Configuration, create the "Database path" on the external harddisk, for instance make a folder called Picasadatabase.
d) Optional: if you want to reuse an existing database, check out frequently asked question # 2. It details the procedure for moving picture folders with Picasa. Doing this preserves all face tags, albums, etc by updating the database to point to the new drive or location. This is often much easier than starting over from scratch.
e) Start Picasa from Picasastarter with the new database selected, and immediately go to Tools-Folder Manager. In Folder Manager, ensure that only the external drive pictures folder and folders with pictures there are selected for "Scan Always". All other folders (Including "My Pictures") should be "Remove From Picasa". Fix them if they aren't.
f) Optional: create a shortcut to PicasaStarter somewhere on the external harddisk as explained in frequently asked question nb. 3.
Now you can attach your external harddisk to any computer having Picasa installed and run PicasaStarter to manage your image collection... Just remember that the external harddisk must have the same drive letter on all computers, see question 1) above for ways to assign the correct drive letter.
5) Is there a Network NAS solution for Picasa using PicasaStarter?
Yes! Picasa itself will still need to be installed on all computers you want to use it on, but all data and settings can be on the network drive.
The first step is to map the network drive or folder to contain the pictures and data to the same drive letter on all networked computers. The network drive can be either a shared drive (or folder) from another user, or it can be a NAS drive.
It is suggested that unless the drive is to be used only for Picasa, it would be better to make a folder on the drive called something like "Picasa Picture P Drive", and only share that folder and map it to a drive letter such as P: (for pictures). This will improve security since the whole drive will not be shared.
After the Pictures drive is mapped to a drive letter, Just do the procedure for putting the pictures on a portable drive as shown in question 4) above.
There is a slight inconvenience with running Picasastarter from a network drive. Windows is trying to protect you from running programs from the network, so if PicasaStarter is on a network drive as suggested above, windows will show you a message asking you to confirm that you want to run a program from a network drive. In Picasastarter 1.5.0 and above you can avoid the message by putting a copy of Picasastarter on each local PC and setting it up to get it's settings from the P:\Picasastarter directory (or wherever the network copy of Picasastarter is located). This way Picasastarter will be running from the local PC while sharing the settings on the network.
NOTE: any shortcuts on the local PC should point to the local copy of Picasastarter in this case, since a shortcut that runs the network copy would still get the UAC.
Remark: making a backup of all images + metadata like face tags,... becomes quite easy on portable or network drives as well: just make a copy of the entire drive.
6) Can I make collages and movies in Picasa when using PicasaStarter?
Yes, with some extra hassle:
PicasaStarter can only work externally to Picasa, so we can re-map directories and drives and trick Picasa into running with another database, but we can't get inside it where collages and movies are made. Because of this, Picasa still creates Collages and Movies in the user's My Pictures folder in the user's account. It creates them in My Pictures\Picasa\Collages and My Pictures\Picasa\Movies folders.
The Best Way we have found to work with Collages and Movies is to create them in Picasa, and then move them to a folder inside the Pictures folder for the database:
In the Pictures folder for the database, create a folder called Collages, and one called Movies. (They can have any name but these names correspond to Picasa's names.
Copy a small picture into each of these folders. This is necessary so the folders will be visible in the Picasa Folder bar before they contain any collages or Movies. The 2 folders will show up as their names in the Folders Bar.
Create a sample Collage in Picasa, and save it. The collage will show up in the folders bar under Projects in the folder Collages.
Click and drag this Collage from the Projects-Collages folder to the Folders-Collages folder. The collage will now be accessible to all users.
You can edit these collages in the Folders-Collages location, but if you save a new copy or change the name, the collages may save in the Projects folder again.
If the Collages are in the Projects folder, just be sure to drag them to the Folders-Collages folder before exiting Picasa so they can be seen and edited by other users.
You will need to do the same steps with movies you create or edit.
NOTE: Collages and Movies can be edited in Picasa over multiple sessions from the same user and don't need to be moved to the common folders until you are done editing and are ready to share them with other users.