Need Picasa help - I deleted photos!

[american_mama]

What on earth did I just do in Picasa? I meant to delete one photo and choose ... oops, now I see. I choose Folder menu, Delete, thinking it would delete just the one highlighted photo. Can I get all my folder and photos back to how it was? If so, how???

That one simple selection has deleted random photos in random folders, created a duplicate folder, and merged folders. I don't get it. How could all that happen with one keystroke? The only thing highlighted was one photo.

I can't tell you how many problems I have with digital photos. I want to cry.

[citymama]

Oh no! OK, here's what I would recommend. Go into your Windows Explorer, to the folder where the photos are actually *stored* on your hard drive, and see if you can find the "deleted" folder there. I think with Picasa, the files aren't stored in Picasa but just imported there for viewing and editing. So you should be OK. If you still can't find the folder, go to your recycling bin and see if it's there!

Good luck - hope this helps!

[MONICA MARTIN]

Check your recycle folder. Picasa has a helpful forum with FAQ, if you question is not there, you can always post your question.

good luck!

[american_mama]

Thanks, citymama! I used Windows Explorer and found my photos there in their original state. So it appears that I only lost all the organizing I did using Picasa, which is still annoying, but certainly not irreplaceable like losing the photos would have been.

I probably shouldn't complain, given what just happened to me, but does anyone know WHY when you work in Picasa, you are never working with original files? It seems to me that the photos are first saved in My Pictures on my hard drive, then a thumbnail is saved in Picasa in the master Library, then I oragnize them in thumbnails in Albums. I find it disconcerting to have gotten everything organized in folders, ordered, captioned, etc in an album, and then see the whole disorganized mess still there in the Library. Not to mention the disorganized originals in My Pictures. It's hard for me to keep track of my files - something I'm usually pretty good at - because I have three sets of the same images to deal with. I don't get it.

[khm]

I probably shouldn't complain, given what just happened to me, but does anyone know WHY when you work in Picasa, you are never working with original files?

It is a safety thing. So, what happened to you wasn't as devestating as it could have been.

You have your originals that you can mess with through your regular Windows Explorer. You have your organization and editing that you only see IN picasa.

If you want to save your edits - for example, you crop and change to sepia your pic named "image_001" - you can EXPORT it back out into Windows and have it saved in both places. It'll ask you where to save it.

I generally save them back to the same folder, or to a project folder (ie, for Christmas card creation).

I have my images arranged in my computer by date yyyy-mm (every couple months, depending on quantity), like this

2007-01 to 2007-03
2007-04 to 2007-05

that way they are easy to look at the folders and get the folder dates sorted correctly.

Then, I mess around 10 ways from Sunday in picasa and I feel secure knowing that I ALWAYS ALWAYS have my originals to fall back on.

ETA - I know it is too late now, but if you ever have another "oh no!" moment in picasa, go directly to the EDIT menu and see if you can "undo" whatever you've done. Good tip for most progams. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - but, always worth a shot.