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User Reviews

Picasa
Picasa

Picasa is a powerful, yet easy to use and attractive tools suite to manage and organize your digital images and photos. It offers one simple place to organize, enjoy, and share your pictures. After ...

Average of 25 user ratings: 4
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  • Sep 23, 2009
  • For version:
  • 3.5

quote  Amazing that its free  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

I've been using this program for a couple of years now, and have to admit, I even have a second copy as backup in case I lose it. Its become that important to me. Its an easy program to use, it has many features to make adjustments as well as some artistic creativity. As a photographer, I use Photoshop, but for quick and easy adjustments, which consists of most of my work, I prefer Picasa. I highly recommend it to novices and pros alike.


  • May 23, 2009
  • For version:
  • 3.1.71.43

quote  Beautiful piece of work  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

Google rocks! Web 2.0 look and feel. Easy use, create albums, pretty interface and it's free. Organizing photos couldn't be easier. Smooth scrolling, smooth transition, integration with windows explorer. Nice...

user Review by: joebloke
First post


  • Aug 20, 2007
  • For version:
  • 2.7

quote  Perfection  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

This is the all-in-one photo organizer/editor/importer/exporter/emailer, etc, etc, etc... Doesn't have all the editing features of Photoshop, but is an excellent organizing and searching system for your many photos. It also has a simple interface and is great at all kinds of odd jobs, like fitting multiple pictures one one page to print, or making wallet sizes, etc, etc


  • Jun 11, 2007
  • For version:
  • 2.7

quote  Does not work on win 98 !  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

Its stated that it works on 98, and it installs... but when it runs there are numerous errors msgs.. the good new.. it at least UN-installs just fine On My XP machine... Its excellent!

user Review by: HandyCamper
First post


  • Nov 11, 2006
  • For version:
  • 2.5.0

quote  I think it does a great job at red-eye!  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

It is a little different and does not offer a lot of editing features, but I think this product does a phenomenal job at removing red-eye from the photos I take with my digital camera. I've recommended it to several friends for that alone and they all agree. Great little free utility/tool!


  • Sep 28, 2006
  • For version:
  • 2.5.0

quote  One fatal flaw  quote

  • Interface: 2
  • Features: 2
  • Ease of use: 1
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 2

My wife wanted Picasa based on a friend's recommendation and so I downloaded it and installed it on her computer. The one fatal flaw, for me anyway, was the lack of choices of directories which it scans initially. You have two choices only, the entire hard drive or your "My Documents" folder, and then it's off setting up EVERY image file, whether you want it or not. I dont want a scan of the entire hard drive OR all of the folders under "My Documents". I want to scan folders OF MY CHOICE, not the application's choice. Sure you can let it scan the whole directory and then go back and delete anything you don't want but that ridiculous. Give the user control to select all scanned directories and I'd say it's a winner. Not in it's present configuration however.

user Review by: Photodan
First post


  • Aug 16, 2006
  • For version:
  • 2.2.0

quote  Nice interface  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 4

Very good image viewer! I wish it had batch file conversion.


  • Jul 21, 2006
  • For version:
  • 2.2.0

quote  Top marks!  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

I've been using Picasa for a while now and had to come back here to rate it. I've read some negative reviews on this site but really can't understand why. This photo viewer is brilliant AND IT'S FREE! Don't be put off by the negative reviews - download it and try it. I think there are more people out there using Picasa who love it than there are who found problems with it. I'm one of them! In fairness, I would probably opt for Adobe Elements over Picasa just for it's more extensive feature set, but Picasa is free and Adobe isn't. I can't wait for Picasa v3 to see what goodies are included next! Thank you google!


  • May 30, 2006
  • For version:
  • 2.2.0

quote  Excellent!!!  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

Excellent! and easy! Wonderful to use. Makes tedious jobs so simple, especially red-eye removal. Have never written a review before but had to after using Picasa and yes I have downloaded hundreds of progs over several years. I love the way that all my pictures are laid out and everything glides so easily. Try it, you'll love it.

user Review by: LordNorman
First post


  • Jan 28, 2006
  • For version:
  • 2.2.0

quote  ...and oscar goes to...  quote

  • Interface: 4
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

Amazing, fantastic program! Best solution to organize, view or backup your home collection of photos from digicam. When you have a Picasa, there's NO other programs for PC :) Picasa is MUCH better, and faster even then Apple's iPhoto. 70 GB (!) of photos - it's a piece of cake for Picasa, it's still work fast, and easy. Could any other program do this? :)

user Review by: igorsz
First post


  • Jan 07, 2006
  • For version:
  • 2.1

quote  Yikes!  quote

  • Interface: 1
  • Features: 1
  • Ease of use: 1
  • Value: 1
  • Overall: 1

Is this some kind of alien software? After 5 minutes and a large headache I uninstalled it-at least I did not have it scan my whole PC for images , would have left an ini file in each folder (hidden) that it does not remove upon uninstall- does one need to go to school to figure out this program??


  • Dec 13, 2005
  • For version:
  • 2.1

quote  Another winner from google  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 4
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

Picasa follows the Google philosophy of making things fast and simple. No frills, no loading times, no settings. Picasa works quietly, quickly and with minimal human intervention. The timeline, auto scan of image folders, labeling of images (tags), inline movie viewer (MOV files) and a slick interface make it a very easy to use product. One of the best image viewers around.


  • Nov 08, 2005
  • For version:
  • 2.1

quote  Greate viewer  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 4

I've installed and tried Picasa2 first time only recently.My first intention was uninstall it straight away as I hate Progs which try to push me to do something that I don't need (I don't use Hello,Blogs and etc.),but then I discover couple of very important things that I couldn't find anywhere else: 1)Last year I spoiled my holiday photos by setting wrong quality settings and get pictures with 640x480 pixels.Other Viewers show them as a small square surrounded by black background and only Picasa managed to open them as a full screen slideshow with a reasonably good quality. 2)Very handy function is "Straighten Image",others just rotate canvas. 3)Stars,Labels system is a really great idea. Pity that editing features aren't great at all.Look at this Prog as a Picturer Organiser/Viewer only,but believe me it's definitely worth to try. I know exactly that if I run out of space I'll uninstall something else, but leave Picasa.


  • Oct 12, 2005
  • For version:
  • NA

quote  Rave reviews  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

This is one of those software programs that started out as something different than it became. The features are fun to experiment with, and the email feature for sending and sharing photographs and albums is something only found in expensive software. For sure not in something offered for free. It works seamlessly with your email program (Gmail included). You can hold photos in the tray to create collages and print to pages in your choice of sizes. All photos can be edited first with the feature rich photo editor before exporting to another album. Don't let this one pass you by! It's easy to use with full onboard help. It has received Rave Reviews from this user!


  • Oct 05, 2005
  • For version:
  • NA

quote  Impressive - and free!  quote

  • Interface: 4
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 4
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

I almost didn't try this one due to some negative feedback from others, but I'm glad I did. It's very slick, very professional and easy to use and comes with some great features. I found the interface easy enough to use and much preferred Picasa to [..]. Only thing I would have liked to have included is the ability to add sound to CD photo albums. Other than that, it's excellent. I find it hard to believe it's free!

user Review by: thefinalfrontier
First post


  • Aug 17, 2005
  • For version:
  • NA

quote  Very strange program  quote

  • Interface: 1
  • Features: 1
  • Ease of use: 1
  • Value: 1
  • Overall: 1

This is a weird program. Picasa "organizes" your image files for some purpose which I can not figure out. After organizing your images you are confronted with the one of the strangest interfaces you are likely to see in your lifetime. Due to similar layouts, options, functions, etc. most image viewer/editors are relatively easy to figure out. Not the case with Picasa. What is this thing? Its like a trip through the twilight zone.


  • Jul 22, 2005
  • For version:
  • NA

quote  Easy but bloated and unconfigurable  quote

  • Interface: 1
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 3
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 3

The first time you run Picasa, you will be impressed with its speed and range of features. The rotate and enhance features are very good, and the slideshow is very slick. Then you will want - and fail - to add a new folder, or change the date or order of a folder. Then you will wonder why nearly every folder on your hard drive has 'Picasa.ini' in it. Then you will uninstall it and go back to Irfanview or jpegger or whatever.


  • Mar 13, 2005
  • For version:
  • NA

quote  Superb!  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

I just recently switched to Picasa 2 after months of frustration with the nightmarish "software" that shipped with my Kodak camera. Boy am I blown away! The fact that this program is free is just incredible. How or why they do it is beyond me. This is the most impressive freeware application I have ever had the pleasure of using. The interface is beautiful, I love the editing capabilities and everything works like it is supposed to- what a refreshing change! I must admit, I was hesitant about how well a freeware application would fulfill my needs but my worries were definitely unfounded, this is a first rate software application and would not be overpriced if it cost $100 or more. Five stars for sure! Thank you Google!


  • Feb 27, 2005
  • For version:
  • NA

quote  Functionality suffers.  quote

  • Interface: 2
  • Features: 2
  • Ease of use: 1
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 3

(1)Irfanview is better....but Cam2pc is better than both of those. (2)Weaknesses in Cam2PC???....it cant read my USB Videoman pencam...Cam2pc does good but not great image format conversion....that's why I am search for a Cam2pc replacement on snapfiles.com.....jpg and pdf are my favorite image formats.


  • Jan 21, 2005
  • For version:
  • NA

quote  Google actually broke something *weep*  quote

  • Interface: 2
  • Features: 2
  • Ease of use: 1
  • Value: 3
  • Overall: 2

I did like Picasa in it's previous incarnation (v1.618) because of it's rather interesting interface. The groovy timeline feature was since stolen by Adobe Album (which I find confounding and just flat out unuseable) and Picasa's album organization was a bit odd. But now Google has transformed it into a "send your pix to online pay services" app. All the bottom buttons are links to photo sites, and after importing 100 pix, ZERO showed up in my album area. Also the file's Date has become secondary to the date of import into the program (bleh). Maybe I ask too much from an interface (10 minutes and I better be able to do something with it) but I'm back to Picasa 1. My #1 photo app is still ThumbsPlus.


  • Jan 21, 2005
  • For version:
  • NA

quote  There's no alternative!  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 4
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

The new version 2 that was released this week has it all: find pictures while you type (like in iPhoto), organise your images with captions, keywords, folders, collections and "stars". Print, create slideshows, create web-albums, e-mail, export, send to blog. Basic but powerful editing commands and even a bunch of special effects. Picasa 1 was a good piece of software, but the new functionality in Picasa 2 makes it an awesome piece of software. If you are looking for an excellent foto/image organizer look no further. It's better than many commercial packages I've tried so far. Get it while it's hot, you will not be disappointed.

user Review by: Vikingdread
First post


  • Jan 04, 2005
  • For version:
  • 1.618 build 536

quote  Great program  quote

  • Interface: 4
  • Features: 3
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

I use Picasa to keep my photos organized. For that, it is perfect. I never go to My Pictures folder anymore. Considering that this program is now free, it really is a must for the average person who wants to keep their pictures and videos organized and in a very easy-to-view manner. The photo-editing features are absolutely worthless, but that's not what the program was made for. All in all, this has become my #1 picture-organizing program.


  • Aug 23, 2004
  • For version:
  • 1.6

quote  Should have waited...  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

I paid for Picasa a few weeks prior to it going free from Google. I loved it when I paid $30 and I still love it (even MORE!) now that it is free! Good program to organize photos, I like it better than Adobe Album which I also bought.

user Review by: JElijah
First post


  • Aug 02, 2004
  • For version:
  • 1.6

quote  Very impressive!  quote

  • Interface: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Ease of use: 5
  • Value: 5
  • Overall: 5

This one really tripped my trigger. Just an excellent program with lots of cool options. Although the editing features are limited there's a "locate on hard drive" option that gives you quick access to the image with your primary editor outside PICASA. This is a quality work with many unique features for a freeware program. WOW!


  • Jul 18, 2004
  • For version:
  • 1.6

quote  Good program  quote

  • Interface: 4
  • Features: 4
  • Ease of use: 4
  • Value: 4
  • Overall: 4

I've used a few different programs to handle my digital pics, the last being Photosuite. Picasa beats out others in a couple of categories. The email feature is excellent. You can use your own client or Picasa itself. You can set the resize option to a number of choices. Printing is easy with great results. Exporting an album to webpage is pretty cool. Picasa will also monitor folders or drives for changes and will watch for duplicates. All in all, Pic is better than most for organizing, deleting, renaming, and VIEWING photos. Editing abilities are limited to red eye and cropping. The enhance feature is useless. I'm keeping Photosuite for editing purposes but using Picasa for the hard work. A lot of thought has went into this program with all the right options. I guarantee you will like this one.