Upload Picasa People Photos to Google Contacts

Picasa 3.8 makes it easier to upload pictures for your Google contacts. After scanning all the photos from your library and adding name tags to your photos, you can go to the Tools menu, select Upload and click on Upload People Thumbnails.


Picasa asks if "you want to upload and replace all the thumbnail photos from your People Albums to your Google Contacts". If you click on "Upload", Picasa saves the photos to Google Contacts and you can see them in Gmail or in any other application that synchronizes with Google Contacts (for example, Android's Contacts app or iPhone's Contacts app, if you use Google Sync).

If you don't want to upload photos for all your contacts, you can click on one of the people from Picasa's sidebar, right on a photo and select "Set as Google Contacts Thumbnail". You can also enable "Upload people album thumbnails to Google Contacts" from Tools/Options/Name Tags (or Picasa/Preferences/Name Tags on a Mac) to upload the new thumbnails you select in Picasa.

It's strange to see that Google didn't add this option to Picasa Web Albums and that the photos tagged in Picasa Web Albums aren't displayed in Google Contacts. Google could at least offer the option to pick one of the photos tagged in Picasa Web Albums when you add a picture to one of your contacts. Right now, you can only select a photo from your public albums.

Picasa 3.8 Released

Picasa 3.8 doesn't add too many features, but there are at least two reasons for updating to the latest version: Face Movie and batch upload to Picasa Web Albums.

Face Movie is a movie presentation centered around one person. "As the photos transition from one to another the subject's face stays aligned in one focus area, creating a unique viewing experience," explains Picasa's blog. Just select one of your contacts from Picasa's sidebar and click on the create Face Movie.

Picasa 3.8 makes it easy to upload multiple albums to Picasa Web and change the settings for the existing albums. You can delete multiple albums, change their visibility, save space by changing photo size or disable syncing. Go to the Tools menu and click on Batch Upload to access this feature.

Google's photo manager also added a surprising feature: integration with Picnik, the online photo editor acquired by Google this year. Why would you use a slow and limited online service to edit photos stored on your computer, when you can use Picasa's image editing options? Picasa's help center explains: "Use Picnik's exclusive editing features to apply effects, stickers, and frames to your photo. You can also crop, and adjust the colors of your photos right in your browser. When you click on Edit in Picnik, your photo will be transferred online. Apply the desired effects then click Save to Picasa. You'll have to option to replace your original photo or create a new copy on your computer."

In Windows, Picasa uses an Internet Explorer object to display Picnik's Flash site. I had to click on two Internet Explorer script error messages before uploading a photo to Picnik.


Unfortunately, most Picnik stickers and touch-ups require upgrading to Picnik Premium. Why would Google charge users $25 a year for this service? I remember that Google made Blogger Pro, Picasa, Keyhole's Earth Viewer (now Google Earth), Urchin, Sketchup, FeedBurner Pro/MyBrand free after acquiring the products.