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10:01 pm
November 12, 2018
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I have been a Picasa user for many years, most recently on a Mac through a series of their upgrades over the years. Following a prompt from Apple I just installed the latest upgrade to Catalina from Mohave. After doing so I found to my dismay that I can no longer access Picasa. The icon on my desktop has a “no entry” icon superimposed on it. Clicking on it leads one to a window suggesting that one contact the developer . That being Google I assume it will lead nowhere. A further explanation is given that as Catalina is “64 bit” and Picasa is “32 bit” they are not compatible. What suggestions do you have that might allow me to continue to use Picasa or even access it? I could go through the process or restoring the Mohave but am hesitant to do so. Failing that I assume I could take the various folders and albums that show under Pictures and put them into some other photo editing and filing system.
Peter
2:11 pm
July 2, 2010
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Hello Milton,
ooohh so sorry to hear that. We knew this day was coming sometime as Picasa has been “retired” software for many years now. I can’t think of any way to get it to open now other than rolling back your update to Catalina. You’re exactly right that all your photos are located in folders on your Mac, so you can access them directly, or drag them into the native apple Photos app.
OR – upload your photos to Google Photos and work with them there! That’s the route I’ve taken. See chapter 12 in Mrs. Geek’s Guide to Google Photos. As a member, you have access to the .pdf version of the book here.
7:25 pm
November 12, 2018
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Thanks for getting back to me. It seems that my options are to go through what looks like a tedious process of moving the various files in Pictures to Google Photos or some other photo editing and storage app or to have a restore done from Catalina back to Mohave. The latter would then allow me to access Picasa and possibly transfer the various folders and albums in their Picasa format, chronology etc to some other application. Having done that I could then go back and re-implement the upgrade to Catalina. What are your thoughts?
Thanks,
Peter
11:06 pm
July 2, 2010
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I don’t think it will be that tedious. Assuming your pictures are all within a folder like My Pictures, you should be able to just drag that into the Apple Photos app, and still have the folder groups. I’m not an Apple person though, so you’d need to check on that – test by dragging a few folders into Photos (what used to be called iPhoto) and see if you like what you see. Maybe visit an Apple store and have them help.
As for Google Photos, if you install the Backup and sync software, it will automatically upload all your photos. What you won’t have is the folder groupings, but all your photos will be in one place – Google Photos.
If you have albums that exist only in Picasa – and those albums are very important to you, then yes, your only choice is to roll back and then use Picasa to export those albums to folders.
Those are my thoughts.
8:51 pm
November 12, 2018
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I want to pick up this thread after having looked into the idea of uninstalling Catalina and reinstalling Mohave as a way of getting back into Picasa from which I have been closed out as a result of Apple’s move to 64 bit vs. 32 bit. I don’t feel qualified to do this myself and have been told by the “experts” that there is a chance it might not work. As a result I have decided to reorganize all of the image files that reside in folders and/or albums in Pictures. I am not sure to what extent those that I edited in Picasa were Saved but I believe everything i had in Picasa is also in Pictures in one form or another. What is your suggestion for the best way to create a more organized structure using the Pictures files and uploading to Google Photos or some other editing and storage app.?
Peter
10:43 am
July 2, 2010
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That’s the beauty – in my opinion – of Google Photos: no structure needed. All photos uploaded to Google Photos are stored in one giant stream (library) by date … period. I then use the Albums feature (very similar to Picasa Albums in that they are a virtual grouping) to make named groups of my best photos. I make albums for each month, I also make albums for special occasions or trips. Any given photo can show up in more than one albums – but it’s only in the library once. Remove a photo from an album, it’s still in the library. Remove from the library and it’s gone – it won’t show up in any album. Here’s a video on how I do albums: 527.GP-Making Albums with Google Photos
To upload your photos from Mac to Google Photos, you have a choice to do it manually or automatically with Backup and Sync.
474.GP-Manual Upload from Mac Photos
500.GP-Install Backup and Sync for Windows sorry – I don’t have a video specifically for mac, but it is nearly the same as Windows.
3:16 pm
November 12, 2018
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Thank you! FYI, on the Mac the picture files are in PICTURES. From there my options are to upload them to either Photos, Apple’s edit and storage app. or Google Photos both of which seem to have similar edit and album capabilities. Photos does allow you to add text. I read in a forum some time ago that Backup and Sync. was “buggy”. It is also my perception that Apple also has a better track record of maintaining their photo app.s than Google .
Peter
8:59 am
July 2, 2010
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If you ever used Picasa to upload photos to the web – they are already in Google Photos. So, I think that is a good reason to stick with Google Photos. But, you can also use Apple’s iCloud if you wish. Then you’ll have 2 cloud copies.
As for Backup and Sync being “buggy” on Mac, yes there were several reports during the first year – I haven’t head of any lately. But, I would still prefer the manual method
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