How to delete photos from Picasa auto backup?

Picasa's auto backup feature allows users to automatically back up photos and videos from folders on their computer or external drives. This can be useful for creating backups of your media, but sometimes auto backup grabs photos you don't want or need anymore. Fortunately, it's easy to delete these auto-backed up photos from Picasa.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll cover everything you need to know to delete photos from Picasa's auto backup, including:

• How auto backup works in Picasa
• Finding your auto backup folder
• Permanently deleting photos from the backup
• Removing photos from the Picasa interface
• Preventing deleted photos from re-uploading
• Alternative options like excluding folders
• Recovering deleted photos
• And more!

If you need to clean up your Picasa auto backup, this guide has you covered. Let's get started!

Overview of Picasa Auto Backup

Picasa's auto backup feature regularly scans designated folders on your computer and external drives. It uploads any new photos or videos it finds to your Picasa account online.

This allows Picasa to back up your media automatically in the background as you add files to your computer. You don't have to manually select files to upload each time.

By default, Picasa auto-backs up the following folders:

• My Pictures - contains your Windows photo library
• Desktop - for any media saved on your desktop
• Screenshots folder - for screenshot images

You can add additional monitored folders in Picasa's settings.

Auto backup runs periodically whenever Picasa is open. It will also run in the background when Picasa is closed if you enable that option.

Now that you understand how auto backup works, let's look at how to find and delete photos from your Picasa backup folders.

Locating Your Picasa Auto Backup Folder

To delete photos from Picasa's auto backup, you first need to find where those backup files are stored on your computer.

Here's how to locate your Picasa auto backup folder:

On Windows

1. Open File Explorer and paste this into the address bar: %LOCALAPPDATA%GooglePicasa2db3

2. Press Enter. This will open your Picasa database folder.

3. Look for a folder called "Originals". This contains your full-resolution auto backup photos.

On Mac

1. In Finder, hit Shift+Command+G to open the "Go to Folder" dialog.

2. Paste in this path: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Picasa2/db3

3. Hit Go. Open the "Originals" folder inside.

The Originals folder contains all photos imported into Picasa from your auto backup folders. Delete photos directly from here to remove them fully from Picasa's backups.

Permanently Deleting Auto Backup Photos

To permanently delete auto backup photos from Picasa:

1. Open your Picasa "Originals" folder from the steps above.

2. Select the photos and videos you want to delete.

3. Press Delete on your keyboard. This will move the files to the trash.

4. Empty your trash to delete the files completely.

The files are now permanently removed from your Picasa auto backup on your computer and won't be re-uploaded online.

Deleting from the Originals folder is the only way to fully remove photos from Picasa's backups. Just deleting them within the Picasa interface won't work - they can be re-uploaded if Picasa detects them again in your monitored folders.

Removing Deleted Photos from the Picasa Interface

When you delete photos through your operating system like we did above, the files are removed from Picasa's backups but still show up in the Picasa interface.

To remove the thumbnail images in the Picasa app, you need to do a rescan. Here's how:

1. In Picasa, click the "Sync with Picasa Web Albums" button.

2. In the dialog box, select the "Scan Always" option.

3. Click "Start Sync".

This will rescan your library and remove any photos from the Picasa interface that no longer exist in your backup folders.

The sync can take a while for large libraries. But afterwards, the photos should be gone from the Picasa desktop app too.

Preventing Deleted Photos From Re-Uploading

One issue when deleting photos from Picasa is that they can reappear if the files still exist in your auto backup source folders.

For instance, if you have a photo on your Desktop that Picasa backs up, then deleting it from the Originals folder won't stop Picasa from grabbing that desktop photo again on the next scan.

To prevent deleted photos from re-uploading, you need to either:

• Delete the file from your computer fully - Remove it from all monitored folders like Desktop, My Pictures, etc. Send it to the recycling bin and empty the bin.

• Exclude the folder from auto backup - In Picasa's settings, remove the parent folder from the auto backup list. This prevents Picasa from scanning it further.

• Disconnect the drive - If the photos are on an external drive, disconnect that drive to exclude it from Picasa's scans.

Taking these steps stops Picasa from re-detecting deleted photos and uploading them again as it continues to back up your other folders automatically.

Alternative Option: Excluding Folders from Auto Backup

If you have an entire folder full of photos you want to exclude from Picasa backup, you can remove it from the auto backup list instead of deleting its contents.

Here's how to exclude folders in Picasa:

1. Click the "Tools" menu and select "Folders and Scanning Preferences".

2. Click the "Add" button.

3. Select the folder you want to exclude.

4. Click "Choose" to add it to the exclusion list.

5. Click OK to save the changes.

Now Picasa will skip that entire folder when running auto backup scans.

This prevents photos in that folder from ever being uploaded to Picasa in the first place.

Quick Tip to ensure your videos never go missing

Videos are precious memories and all of us never want to ever lose them to hard disk crashes or missing drives. PicBackMan is the easiest and simplest way to keep your videos safely backed up in one or more online accounts. 

Simply Download PicBackMan (it's free!), register your account, connect to your online store and tell PicBackMan where your videos are - PicBackMan does the rest, automatically. It bulk uploads all videos and keeps looking for new ones and uploads those too. You don't have to ever touch it.

Recovering Deleted Photos

If you accidentally deleted photos from your Picasa backups that you want back, there are a couple options for recovery:

• Restore from the trash - If the files are still in your computer's trash bin, you can restore them to recover the photos in Picasa.

• Re-upload the files - If the photos exist elsewhere like a camera memory card, copy them back into your auto backup folders so Picasa uploads them again.

• Retrieve from Picasa web - If the images were already backed up to Picasa's online web albums before deletion, you may be able to restore the web versions.

• Use data recovery software - Programs like Recuva can scan your hard drive and recover deleted files if the space wasn't overwritten.

So those are some ways to retrieve photos you mistakenly removed from the Picasa auto backup. Just act quickly before the files are gone for good!

FAQs About Removing Picasa Auto Backups

Here are some frequently asked questions about deleting photos from Picasa's auto backup system:

How can I delete multiple photos from Picasa backup at once?

You can multi-select files in your Originals folder before hitting delete to remove multiple photos at the same time. This is faster than deleting one by one.

Does deleting from the Originals folder remove photos from Picasa Web Albums?

No, deleting from Originals only removes photos from your computer backup. Files already synced to Picasa's cloud storage will remain in your online albums.

How do I stop Picasa from backing up screenshots?

Open Picasa's settings and remove the Screenshots folder from the list of monitored folders for auto backup. This will exclude any screenshots from uploading.

What's the easiest way to find my Originals folder?

The fastest way is to search for it. Just hit the Windows key or Command key and type in "Picasa2 Originals". This should show the folder path on your computer.

Will auto backup delete my files if I remove them from the source folders?

No, deleting the original files does not cause Picasa to also delete them from the backups. Auto backup only transfers files one-way into Picasa. The originals remain untouched.

I deleted my Originals folder, can I get it back?

Unfortunately deleting the Originals folder itself can't be undone, since it contains your actual backup files. You would have to run a full rescan in Picasa to rebuild the folder structure. But any deleted files would be gone.

Conclusion

That covers everything you need to know about removing photos from Picasa's auto backup system. To summarize:

• Find your Originals folder to access the actual backup files.

• Delete photos here to permanently remove them from Picasa.

• Do a manual sync to also delete the thumbnails from the Picasa interface.

• Watch out for deleted photos re-uploading if they still exist in monitored source folders.

• Consider excluding folders entirely instead of deleting their contents.

• Act fast to recover any accidentally deleted photos.

Following this guide, you should be able to cleanly remove any unwanted photos from Picasa backups, both on your computer and the cloud. Just be careful not to delete anything you still need!