Where Do Screenshots Go?

 Organizing, Picasa, Special Features  Comments Off on Where Do Screenshots Go?
Jul 062011
 

Picasa’s ability to take and instantly save screenshots is one of my favorite features.  I use it daily, and I’ve taught many other people about the uses for screen captures,  like posting a screenshot to illustrate a question you post in our forum.  Recently I’ve received quite a few questions, ‘Where did my screenshot go?  I can’t find it anywhere.’

When you press the PrtSc key and Picasa is open, Picasa instantly saves the resulting .bmp file in the Project folder called Screen Captures.  Since it is creating and saving this file for you, it doesn’t give you the opportunity to specify a location.

screencaptures

BUT … you only see that ‘Projects’ collection if you’re in Flat Folder view.  In Tree view, you need to find a folder named ‘Picasa’ and under that will be ‘Screen Captures.’  All this has been covered in previous articles (just search for ‘Projects’.)  But what if you still can’t find your screen captures folder?

Search for ‘capture’

The folder is automatically named ‘Screen Captures’ and the individual files created are named ‘Fullscreen Capture …’ So, a search for ‘capture’ should certainly turn them up.

Click to View

You have to be quick for this one, but by far the easiest way to find a screen capture file is immediately after the capture is taken.  You will see the little notification box in the lower right corner.  You see this notice any time a picture is found and indexed by Picasa.  If you look closely, you’ll see a message that reads, “click to view.’  It means exactly what it says, click there and you will be taken straight to the picture where you can then edit it, email it, upload it, rename it, move it, or anything else you may want to do.  The message box disappears after a few seconds, so be quick!

clickhere

This tip brought to you by Geeks on Tour

Geeks on Tour is a membership website with hundreds of Tutorial Videos on topics of interest to travelers, such as managing digital photos with Picasa, Route-Planning with Streets and Trips, and sharing your travels with a website using Blogger or with friends on Facebook. You can subscribe to our free e-newsletters, or become a paid member and be able to view all of the videos in the Learning Library.

Posting a Screenshot in a Forum Question

 picasa web albums, Special Features  2 Responses »
Sep 072010
 

If you’ve ever used a forum to ask a questions, you know that a picture is truly worth 1,000 words.  Let’s say for example that you want to ask, “What are the buttons at the top of each folder in Picasa?”  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a picture of those buttons, so your reader knows exactly what you mean?  That’s called a screen capture and there are several ways to do it, but one of the easiest is by using Picasa and Picasa Web Albums.  Here’s how:

  1. Capture the whole screen.  Picasa makes this so easy!  As long as Picasa is open, all you need to do is press the PrtScn key on your keyboard.  That will capture the current screen from your computer and save it as a file in Picasa’s Screen Captures folder. (My Pictures/Picasa/ScreenCaptures)
    image
  2. Crop to just the part in question.  Now there is no doubt what buttons you’re talking about.  And, to the practiced eye, the screenshot also provides other information.  The different buttons available can indicate what version of Picasa you’re using, the Blue icon indicates that you’re working with an album, etc.
    image
  3. Upload to your Web Album: Upload this image to an album called Screenshots (or Screen Captures) and make it public.  This makes the image available to link into the forum, or maybe an email.  However you are communicating.
  4. Grab the URL for the image by opening the image on your Web Album and clicking on ‘Link to this Photo’.  Make sure to check the box for ‘Image only’ – and probably change the size from 144 to something larger also – then copy the code that appears in ‘Embed image.’  That is the URL or web address for that one image.
    image
  5. Paste the URL code: Back in your forum, choose whatever tool is provided for inserting an image.  Most of them will accept the URL you copied in the previous step.

In the Picasa User forum, you put that URL below your message in the field for ‘images.’
image

In the Geeks on Tour forum you would paste that code after clicking the insert image button image  – right where it reads, “Image URL”  Then click ‘Insert’

 

My bet is that you’ll receive better answers to your questions when you include a screen capture image.

This tip brought to you by Geeks on Tour

Geeks on Tour is a membership website with hundreds of Tutorial Videos on topics of interest to travelers, such as managing digital photos with Picasa, Route-Planning with Streets and Trips, and sharing your travels with a website using Blogger or with friends on Facebook. You can subscribe to our free e-newsletters, or become a paid member and be able to view all of the videos in the Learning Library.

Members may want to view the following tutorial videos.  Not a member?  Join now.

Crop Size Options

Upload Photos to the Web

 

Picasa Tip: Screen Captures

 Organizing, Picasa  22 Responses »
Apr 012009
 

Ever wondered how people (like me) are able to show you a picture of how their computer screen looks at any given time?  Like this screenshot of Picasa:

Screenshot 2014-09-15 10.26.01

Or maybe you do already know about the ‘PrtScn’ key on your keyboard that will take a snapshot of your screen.  But then what?  Pressing the PrtScn key captures everything on your screen and puts it on your clip board, the same place any ‘Cut’ or ‘Copy’ text or objects go.  Then, you still have to open some application where you can ‘Paste’ it before you see anything.  It’s a rather involved process.

With Picasa 3, you get instant gratification!  With Picasa open, you can view any screen possible on your computer – your desktop, your email program – whatever is showing on your screen will be captured when you press the PrtScn (or Print Screen on some computers) *and* it will instantly become a picture file in the ‘Screen Captures’ project folder of Picasa!

Now you can use that picture like any other, crop it, print it, email it etc

This tip brought to you by Geeks on Tour

Geeks on Tour is a membership website with hundreds of Tutorial Videos on topics of interest to travelers, such as managing digital photos with Picasa, Route-Planning with Streets and Trips, and sharing your travels with a website using Blogger or with friends on Facebook. You can subscribe to our free e-newsletters, or become a paid member and be able to view all of the videos in the Learning Library.

 

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