Question: I’m scanning my family photos by putting 4 of them on the scanner at one time. I then scan it 4 times, so I can crop each one and end up with the 4 individual pictures. Is there a better way?
Don’t Scan!
First of all, I prefer not to use a scanner at all. I just open up the old photo albums and use my digital camera to snap pictures of the pictures. Much faster. The quality is better than you may expect. Also, there are some scanners/software that can identify the edges of pictures and automatically create separate files for them – google for ‘scanners that separate multiple pictures.’
If you do Scan, Use Export to Separate them
If you do indeed scan multiple pictures into one file, here is the best way to separate them in Picasa. In the example below, I have 4 pictures of my first RV trip in 1962 from Alaska to Guatemala.
Step 1: Crop to the first picture.
Step 2: Export the cropped picture to a new file.
Step 3: Undo the crop, so you’re back to seeing all 4 pictures
Rinse and Repeat for the other 3 pictures. You now have 4 individual pictures as a result of the Exports, and you still have the original scan of all 4.
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