Advice needed for importing photos from Picasa

Hi, tomorrow I'm helping a friend migrate all his photos from his old Windows PC to his new iMac. I'm not very familiar with Picasa and was hoping someone here would know more about it than I do.
The photos are likely scattered all over his computer so it's not a simple matter of just grabbing a photo directory and moving it to the iMac. I read that Picasa lets you export photos but it also has a backup feature. Does anyone know what the best way would be to gather up all the photos and get them placed into a directory (or rather a series of nested directories) for importing?
Also, if they have entered any photo titles or descriptions in Picasa, will those just get lost? Same with albums, those will be lost too, right?
Thanks!

Hi, I did some research and figured it out, and thought I'd post my results here in case it can help someone else someday.
There are two ways to get photos out of Picasa: Exporting and Backing Up.
If you export photos, they all show up flattened-out in one folder. While this would technically work, the downside is iPhoto will suddenly have thousands of photos added to it and I'm not really sure how it will figure out the events (I didn't try importing into iPhoto yet).
If you use Picasa's Backup feature (Tools->Back up pictures) then all the photos show up with their folder hierarchies preserved. So for example you could end up with a folder containing the following folders and photos.
Vacation Photos
Vacation Photos/Hawaii 2009/
Vacation Photos/Hawaii 2009/pic1.jpg
Vacation Photos/Hawaii 2009/pic2.jpg
Vacation Photos/New York 2008/
Vacation Photos/New York 2008/pic1.jpg
Vacation Photos/New York 2008/pic2.jpg
etc.
From what I've read, if the "Vacation Photos" folder is imported into iPhoto, the folder names will be used as events, so in this example you'll end up with a "Hawaii 2009" event and a "New York 2008" event, which is nice.
As far as Picasa's Backup tool goes, it will create one or more top-level folders with names starting with a dollar sign. These represent the top-level folders containing photos. On the computer I tested this on I ended up with $Desktop, $My Documents, and $My Pictures, because all the photos on this computer were inside of the Desktop, My Documents, and My Pictures folders (and their children).
So in a nutshell, if you want to migrate from Picasa on Windows to iPhoto, just use Picasa's "Back Up Pictures" menu item if you want to preserve the folder hierarchy of your photos. Oh, one last thing: this feature doesn't let you back up to the same hard drive as the photos, so just share a folder on either your Mac or your PC and then back up to that folder.
Hope somebody finds this information useful.

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The best way to import photos from Picasa to iPhoto

Hi,
Many of my friends share their pictures online using picasa. Sometimes, I'd like to copy these pictures to keep a backup offline. As a software, I use iPhoto; not picasa. What is the best way to import pictures from picasa to iPhoto?
I first tried to subscribe to the RSS feed using iPhoto and then copy the pictures from there to my library, but then the dates of the pictures are set wrong: instead of indicating when the picture was shot, it indicates some other date (I guess it indicates the date when the picture was uploaded to picasa).
Then I decided to install the software picasa.app. From the webalbum of my friends, I could download the pictures directly to picasa.app. Then I exported them to the desktop, and from there imported them to iPhoto. The dates where set correctly, but I lost all the titles and comments of the pictures.
Do you have any method to download the pictures while keeping both the dates and the titles correctly?
Thanx!

There is a direct option in Organizer which lets you import from iPhoto. This is under Import dropdown menu in left panel.
If you are importing from iPhoto'09, your Tags, Albums Events, captions, star rating would also get imported apart from your media. This works differently for iPhoto'011 where you can get only the media to the Organizer,
Just a couple of things to know:
1. If in iPhoto preferences, you have chosen to create copies of your photos in iPhoto library and your library hence refers to the media store inside the library package, then on importing from iPhoto, Organizer would create copies of all those media under your pictures folder. That means, it would not corrupt your iPhoto package or modify it in any way.
2. However, if in iPhoto, you are organizing by using references to original location on your Hard drive i.e. you are not creating copies of media in iPhoto library then on importing from iPhoto to Organizer, the Organizer would also use the same references and would not create copies of the media.
Hope that helps!
~V

How to set image size for importing photos from a digital camera

I'm using Iphoto 6 and am a novice user of my new digital camera. The camera is set to HQ image quality. Initially when I imported photos from the camera into IPhoto, the images were very large (over 1 meg) and produced good quality 4X6 prints. Now when I import photos from the same camera still set to HQ image quality, the photos are very small (less than 100 kb) after being imported into IPhoto. I think I must have changed some kind of setting in IPhoto that affects the size of an imported image, but I can't find where that is or how to change it back so that the size is not changed when imported. Can someone please help me with this? Thanks!
IMAC G5 Mac OS X (10.3.9) my other computer is a Dell Dimension L500CX running Windows XP Pro

Dave, thanks for clarifying Toad's response for me - I was just too ignorant to connect the dots from his responses. As you said, there were 2 versions - 1 in the original folder and 1 in data; the original folder had the photos that were 1 mb. We must have pulled from that folder previously to print photos not realizing they existed in 2 places. So when we found these thumbnail photos, we just thought they were the real thing. Where can you go to learn about the struction and hierarchy of the photos in terms of what Iphoto does to an image when you import it? Is it in Iphoto help somewhere? Thanks so much for your help with this, and you too Toad for leading me down the path.
If you're getting the size from Finder, I think Old
Toad's question makes a lot of sense. Is the file
you're looking at, somewhere in a folder called
"Data" in iPhoto Library? That 56k sounds about the
right size for a thumbnail.
If you do a search for the image name, both the
actual photo and the small thumbnail are stored with
the same image, e.g. abc.jpg
IMAC G5 Mac OS X (10.3.9) my other computer is a Dell Dimension L500CX running Windows XP Pro

Advice needed on importing photos and videos onto iPod.

Hi,
I am off travelling round the world for 6 months next year. I love taking a riducolous amount of pics and I was wondering what the best device to get them onto my ipod is. Also i want to be able to import videos as well. I have a sony T9 and the upgraded 5th gen iPod.
Thanks
Archie

Hi, I did some research and figured it out, and thought I'd post my results here in case it can help someone else someday.
There are two ways to get photos out of Picasa: Exporting and Backing Up.
If you export photos, they all show up flattened-out in one folder. While this would technically work, the downside is iPhoto will suddenly have thousands of photos added to it and I'm not really sure how it will figure out the events (I didn't try importing into iPhoto yet).
If you use Picasa's Backup feature (Tools->Back up pictures) then all the photos show up with their folder hierarchies preserved. So for example you could end up with a folder containing the following folders and photos.
Vacation Photos
Vacation Photos/Hawaii 2009/
Vacation Photos/Hawaii 2009/pic1.jpg
Vacation Photos/Hawaii 2009/pic2.jpg
Vacation Photos/New York 2008/
Vacation Photos/New York 2008/pic1.jpg
Vacation Photos/New York 2008/pic2.jpg
etc.
From what I've read, if the "Vacation Photos" folder is imported into iPhoto, the folder names will be used as events, so in this example you'll end up with a "Hawaii 2009" event and a "New York 2008" event, which is nice.
As far as Picasa's Backup tool goes, it will create one or more top-level folders with names starting with a dollar sign. These represent the top-level folders containing photos. On the computer I tested this on I ended up with $Desktop, $My Documents, and $My Pictures, because all the photos on this computer were inside of the Desktop, My Documents, and My Pictures folders (and their children).
So in a nutshell, if you want to migrate from Picasa on Windows to iPhoto, just use Picasa's "Back Up Pictures" menu item if you want to preserve the folder hierarchy of your photos. Oh, one last thing: this feature doesn't let you back up to the same hard drive as the photos, so just share a folder on either your Mac or your PC and then back up to that folder.
Hope somebody finds this information useful.

Import photos from picasa to iphoto

can I organize in albums and not have all phots labeled as what tey imported as?

Picasa the application or Picasa the Web service?
There is no direct way to move from Picasa to iPhoto. I'm not sure what the export options in Picasa, but what would work is if you can export an album into a folder drag that folder to the Album heading in the iPhoto window. iPhoto will import the photos and make an album of the same name as the folder.
There are other ways - like keywording and smart albums, for instance - but they depend on the export possibilities of whereever you are coming from.

Import Photos from IPhoto into 3rd party Photo Book Maker?

Using BookSmart from Blurb, to make a photo book, this a GREAT piece of software BTW, I need to import photos from IPhoto and can't seem to see how do it? Not sure I even can. Any help??

Assuming the program has an Import option that brings up an Open/Save/Attach file browser window, look in the left hand sidebar for Photos, under the Media heading at the bottom. It will show you your iPhoto library. Probably easiest if you first create an album in iPhoto for the photos you think you are likely to use.
Alternatively, browse the Blurb site for an FAQ and find:
http://blurb.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/blurb.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?p_faqid=74&p_sid=44cbAnHj&purl=
How do I use iPhoto pictures with BookSmart?
To view JPGs and PNGs that are stored in iPhoto, click the My iPhoto Images bar in the left content column of BookSmart. Choose which album you’d like to view via the dropdown menu, and then drag and drop the images into your book. BookSmart will only make copies of images you actually drag (or autoflow) to pages of your book.

Importing Photos from Pictures Album revisited

Quite a while ago, I posted a question about my Aperture's lack of ability to import from the "Pictures" folder.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1540299&tstart=0
I took a close look today, and I solved the problem. I noticed that when I navigated to the Pictures folder, there were only two entries, and neither of them actually existed in my Pictures. Further, when I selected them, Aperture told me it couldn't find specific folders within *the iPhoto library*. Whoa!
So, somehow, there is a rogue AlbumData.xml file in my Pictures folder. This file belongs in an iPhoto library, but it somehow ended up (accidental drag and drop? iPhoto Library Manager? Maybe I'll never know) at the top level of Pictures. Aperture then mistook my entire Pictures folder for an iPhoto library, and a broken one at that. It did not parse any other folder in the Pictures folder because, well, it was an iPhoto library.
Solution? Get rid of the AlbumData.xml file in Pictures. Now I can import from Pictures!
nathan

Terence,
I have a folder called "Panos" containing the photos I want as referenced. When I drag that folder into the "Documents" shortcut in Finder, my path (According to "Get Info" of one of the photos) is
/Users/nathananderson/Documents/Panos
In this case, I can navigate to the Panos folder from Aperture and import photos.
When I put my photos into Pictures, the path is:
/Users/nathananderson/Pictures/Panos
And using Aperture, I navigate to the Pictures folder that is in the same level as Documents. Aperture shows me nothing but "Last Import" and "Library". There is no other folder to select!
When composing this message, I also found out that I have three other folders in my Pictures folder. These other three folders are not Aperture or iPhoto library folders, and they are also unavailable for "Import Photos" from Aperture.
nathan

Import photos from macbook to mac destp

I need to import photos from my Mac Book to my Mac desktop

if you want to move your iphtoo library then Connect the two Macs together (network, firewire target mode, etc) or use an external hard drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity from the old Mac to the pictures folder of the new Mac - launch iPhoto on the new mac and it will open the library and convert it as needed and you will be ready move forward.
If that guess is not what you want then please provide details so one can do other than guess
LN

I was importing photos to picasa from iphoto and it shut down when i returned i had no photos in iphoto

i was importing photos to picasa from iphoto, and it shut down when doing so. when i restarted i photo, all of my photos were gone. where are they?? please help??

Make a temporary, duplicate copy of the library and try the three fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your Home/Library/Preferences folder.
2 - delete iPhoto's cache files that are located in your Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder.
3 - reboot, launch iPhoto and try again.
NOTE: If you're moved your library from its default location in your Home/Pictures folder you will have to point iPhoto to its new location when you next open iPhoto by holding the the Option key. You'll also have to reset the iPhoto's various preferences.
Fix #2
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys depressed and follow the instructions to rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #3
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

Cannot import photos from HP8600 plus to picasa photo editor--printer is connected wireless

I am having trouble importing photos from a SD 16gb camera disc using the SD slot on the front of the printer, to picasa on my PC. I can preview the pictures on the printer screen but can't get them onto my PC.

Hi,
You need to map it to your network first. Please use the following instructions:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c00149194
Regards.
BH
**Click the KUDOS thumb up on the left to say 'Thanks'**
Make it easier for other people to find solutions by marking a Reply 'Accept as Solution' if it solves your problem.

I'm trying to import photos from my iphoto library, but keep getting a message saying I cant import from 7.1.5, that I need to upgrade to 7.1.5 or later. But I have version 8.1.2. I don't know what to do. I've been able to import in the past.

I'm trying to import photos from my iphoto library, but keep getting a message saying I cant import from 7.1.5, that I need to upgrade to 7.1.5 or later. But I have version 8.1.2. I don't know what to do. I've been able to import in the past.

Sounds like an issue with the iPhoto Library
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one. .
Regards
TD

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you definitely do
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now go to the start menu for your PC and click on 'computer'
you should see your iphone as a device on this page, and you can right-click on it to choose 'import pictures'

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Don:
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Do you Twango?
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Advice needed for importing photos from Picasa

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