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Picasa web is now redirecting to Google+

Lauren Crabbe | Published: Mar 7, 2013 at 18:50:18 UTC

Picasa Web Albums are being integrated into Google+.

Is this the beginning of the end for Picasa? Users looking for their Picasa Web Albums at the URL http://picasaweb.google.com are now redirected to Google+ Photos.

While the Picasa Web Albums may be no more, Google’s commitment to Picasa’s desktop application seems to remain strong. Google last updated the software in December of last year. Meanwhile, third-party developers are still updating popular Picasa-hosting Android applications like Perfect Tool for Picasa.

When Google updated Picasa’s desktop app on December 10th of last year, it also released a statement confirming that “Google+ is the new home for your photos.” Of the updates to the desktop app last year, two of them promoted Google+ integration with Picasa, encouraging users to tag photos with Google+ contacts and share to Google+ circles.

Diehards who want to keep using Picasa Web Albums can access the old site by using the URL https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos?noredirect=1. The site will add a cookie to your browser so future attempts to access Picasa Web Albums will be redirected.

Comments

Total comments: 38

I switched back from Google+ to Picas Web Albums which works as usual. But as an added bonus, my You Tube channel is locked until I re-up with Google+. Won't do that because it screws up all the folks that I have sent links for access to Picasa Web Albums.
Nice folks, these Google folks.

0 upvotes

I detest Google+! I have used PICASA since it came into existence and forward a lot of links to clients and friends AND get way too many return e-mails wondering why it looks so different on their computers!

Really, really annoying!!

I also DO NOT like the Google+ layout. The format takes up far too much space on the page. Content is key! Not a bunch of blank space.

1 upvote

Not a fan. Feels like I'm being railroaded into using G+ to share. Privacy options are lacking and/or are not immediately obvious. Copy and pasting an album link into e-mail for sharing private pictures is for peasants. It's 2013, Google! Where are my sharing and privacy features? Oh, and the whole reason I loaded my pics into Picasa in the first place was because I was hoping to invite others to contribute photos to my album. I guess that's no longer an option without Picasaweb. :-(

0 upvotes

Not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but one frustration I've been having since the redirect is that the google+ web uploader is resizing photos to 2048px if they exceed this size to begin with. I can upload bigger images using the picasa application, but not via the google+ website. I'm a subscriber to extra google drive space, but it seems indifferent to this. No matter what i do, uploading from the google+ website results in smaller images.

0 upvotes

even if you want to use G+, there are features missing such as being able to email a photo to picasa and thus to G+

you can set up the email address using picasa settings

0 upvotes

Fortunately, I don't have G+, so no redirection for me. But this looks to be the end of Picasa. What is the best alternative to Picasa with export plugin to Lightroom and not being a social network?

0 upvotes

I just don't join Google+. Problem solved. The link still works for me.

1 upvote

There is major change that nobody seems to notice:
The unlisted gallery URL does not exist anymore.
Bottom line: you can send links for individual albums, but not an unlisted gallery. It was my favorite feature of Picasaweb ! Very unique.
I totally hate Google +.
Picasaweb was great, clean, simple and fast !
G+ is BS, slow, uselessly complicated, and lacks that sharing option that was so great.
Now my pictures are in iPhoto with PhotoStream galleries. It's not great, but I'm very disappointed with Google.

4 upvotes

Also sort feature have been raped or hidden some where. I can't sort the albums by upload date anymore. Also I can not list only the private albums. Instead old sort features I have Instant share and 'photos of you' button. *********** Well my private apache server usage statistics just keep growing because of these kind of moranic usability rapes.

0 upvotes

I prefer G+ over Picasa 1.000.000 times. You can upload your pictures in full size automatically from your phone and they are backed up and ready to be shared, your Picasa or uploaded albums are always in sync with your phone or tablet and you can show them to friends using the gallery (talking about android, obviously), pictures and albums are can be shared easily with your G+ contacts or you can share the link, pics can be modifed directly online in the G+ retouch application in your browser, great to modify them before sharing... IMO an improvement over the old Picasa.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

0 upvotes

I deleted all my photos on picasaweb. Now I've got smugmug. Much better anyway, I pay for the service, and I don't feel like Big Brother is rolling me up into "Big Data" (though they probably still are) Really, can't stand Google.

4 upvotes

I bookmarked the link to my picasa web space (https://picasaweb.google.com) which i uses to access picasa. It may get redirected to google+ page if you have opt-in to google+, but look out for a yellow dialogue box at the top of the browser which allows you to go back to the picasa web page. Once you've moved back it will (for now) always go back to the picasa page.

Personally I have nothing against the switch, though I understand the frustration of being forced to adapt to such changes without first being asked or informed about it.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

1 upvote

The new Google+ interface for Picasa web would not allow me to create direct URL link to my individual pictures.

Buried in its menu buttons there is an option to unlink google+ and picasaweb. I forgot the steps though. Once activated, you still keep your Google+ account but your albums will not show in your androids which is no big deal for me.

0 upvotes

Ridiculous!
I just cancel all my Google+ stuff because of this!
Lots of features was lost just for a better presentation an/or sharing.

2 upvotes

Since the Google+ switch I have gone back to Pbase. It has improved a lot since I foresake it for Pisasa (pre Google). I have to pay for Pbase but it IS a photo site pure and simple.

1 upvote

i'm not signed up for Google Plus and I still get to Picasa Web Albums when I click on Photos on the Google toolbar thing. So not change for me.

0 upvotes

/me too
Although I do wonder how long that will last.
Luckily I haven't shared any photos through picasa, so moving is easy ;)

0 upvotes

I'm still partial to Google, yet after trying multiple times i strongly reject social notworking, starting w/ FB.

For fairness, i've also tried G+ twice, perhaps it'd be less intrusive, more discreet etc. Failed, ditto for the Picasa over G+: My 50+ albums became a slow, complex exercise in futile social sharing (not sure why FB/G+ think this privacy intrusion time waste is actually so great?).

Net on Picasa albums: I already had them shared, quick and easy before G+, which made it worse and slower. Went back and removed all my G+ stuff. At least i tried. Twice. I failed to perceive the value of sharing against my will (must opt-out) and adding complexity to what was simple and fast. Mitch

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

If you absolutely can’t standing seeing your photos under anything but a Picasa logo, Google Operating System writes that there’s still a way to use the traditional Picasa interface. Simply copy and paste the following URL into your browser:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos?noredirect=1

5 upvotes

Yeah.. change. Who wants it or needs it? It was better in the old days!

1 upvote

Lots of complaining here.

This changes nothing. Same upload tools, same viewer, same everything for the most part.

If you don't like it, don't use it. There are approximately 3 billion photo sharing sites online. Pick one you like better.

(Also, the Picasa API still works, which is all I really care about.)

0 upvotes

What are you talking about?

For my part, I found G+ Photos to be so different as to be nearly unusable.

5 upvotes

Bait and switch...

Works every time...

(not really...)

1 upvote

I prefer old style and rent my own independant spot on a server to post my pictures or website. I don't want to mix up google in what belongs to me. It has been proven already numerous times that all those social media permanently violate privacy rules .

4 upvotes

Google+ need that people begin to share things: You must entertain others.

0 upvotes

It looks to me like you continue to get the old, original Picasa site if you do not have a Google+ account... at least that seems to be the situation in my case. Hopefully it will stay that way, as I have no interest in signing up for Google+

0 upvotes

If they insist we join G+, I'll drop Picasa and post my photos elsewhere. In fact can anyone recommend somewhere good? I'll start now.

9 upvotes

I was using picasaweb until last week. I switched to Adobe Revel. The interface is very simple but the photo quality is excellent.

0 upvotes

Downloaded all my photos and put them in flickr - didn't like the way google + was sharing my photos - not the way I set it up in picasa
Have removed all my picasa photos - can control the way I want to share my photos in in pro flickr account

0 upvotes

I went back to Pbase, see post dated March 8th.

0 upvotes

There is one thing that is very consistent with Google products: They are all over-engineered. If you just want a simple photo album Google is not the place to use.

They have even over-engineered a simple search. If you think that every word you enter should be on the returned pages you are wrong. Google has decided that it is smarter than you. Some of the words you entered Google decides are optional. You can put double quotes around each word. That generally makes it a required word, but not necessarily. You can see this as you add words. You think that you are going to get fewer results? Nope. You add more words and the number of results increases. Instead of putting the expected ANDs in between your words, Google is putting ORs.

1 upvote

http://www.google.com/advanced_search

0 upvotes

I've been putting in the "?noredirect=0" at the end of my Picasa albums for a year now, it's annoying that they make you do it, but for now I'm happy they've kept Picasa's site up and running in parallel as I still much prefer it over G+ Photos.

1 upvote

I just wanted photo albums not a social network.

10 upvotes

I have used Picasa for years and it is my understanding that this change applies to "WEB" albums only. I don't use their Web albums, only the desktop Picasa for sorting into files and folders, by year. Also the editing functions. The Basic Picasa is unchanged, at least for now.

0 upvotes

Not sure I understand. I've changed nothing and I'm still accessing my Picasa albums from the same link that I always have

1 upvote

as far as i can tell, it's only if you're a person; if you're an entity, they don't take you there... i actually tried to migrate an organization's gallery i maintain over to google+ because of unlimited storage, but could not do it (although storage has increased from 1 to 5 gb). when given the option to migrate my personal gallery, i jumped at the prospect (although that was shortly before the increase, otherwise i would've stayed put).

0 upvotes

Thanks for including the link at the end.

I ran into this little surprise a few days ago, and after firing off a little hate mail to Google (both to show displeasure with the switch, as well as frustration at the lack of a "Use Old Version" option), I found the old version URL on another site.

I really hope that the old interface doesn't get phased out completely, but looking at Google's track record, that's likely to happen as they try to force users of other services to G+, which it seems they're trying to turn into a hub of sorts.

As a current subscriber for an extended storage plan, this switch has me in the early stages of planning a switch of my own: from a Picasa Web Albums storage plan to a Zenfolio account.

3 upvotes

Total comments: 38

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