Working with Digital Photographs

When you save pictures from your digital camera or scanner to your computer, Windows stores them in the My Pictures folder. This folder contains links to specialized picture tasks so you can manage your photos and image files.

To learn about using your digital camera with Windows XP, see the Hardware section in Help.


To make a photo album

  1. Click Start, and then click My Pictures.
  2. Under File and Folder Tasks in the Picture Tasks pane, click Make a new folder.
  3. Type the name of the folder, and then press ENTER.
  4. Right-click the new folder, and then click Properties.
  5. On the Customize tab, under Use this folder type as a template, select Photo Album.

To rename your photos or folders

  1. Click Start, and then click My Pictures.
  2. Click the photo or folder you want to rename, and do one of the following:

  • To rename a photo, under File and Folder Tasks, click Rename this file.
  • To rename a folder, under File and Folder Tasks, click Rename this folder.
  1. Type a new name for the photo or folder, and then press ENTER.

To copy your photos onto a CD

After copying your photos to a CD, you can delete them from your computer.

  1. Click Start, and then click My Pictures.
  2. Locate the photographs or folder containing the photos that you want to transfer to a CD.
  3. Right-click the desired folders or photos, point to Send To, and then click Writable CD. To select more than one photo, click the first one, and then hold down CTRL and click the other photos.
  4. Follow the instructions on your screen.

To view files and folders

  1. Click Start, and then click My Pictures.
  2. Double-click the folder that contains the content you want to view.
  3. On the View menu, click Filmstrip, Thumbnails, Tiles, Icon, or List. Or, click Details to view all information about your file.

To view your pictures as a slide show

  1. Click Start, and then click My Pictures.
  2. Under Picture Tasks, click View as a slide show.
  3. Use the slide show toolbar buttons to play, pause, move to the previous or next slide, or end the slide show. If the toolbar is not displayed, move the pointer across the screen, and it will appear in the upper corner of the screen.

To print a picture

  1. Click Start, and then click My Pictures.
  2. Under Picture Tasks, click Print pictures.
  3. Follow the instructions in the Photo Printing Wizard. You do not have to select the pictures you want to print before clicking Print pictures. The Photo Printing Wizard displays all the image files from the open or selected folder so you can select the files you want to print.

To use personal pictures as a screen saver

Ensure that you have two or more pictures in a folder on your computer. You can upload pictures from a digital camera or scanner, or copy them from the Internet or an e-mail attachment.

  1. Right-click on your desktop, and then select Properties from the menu that appears.
  2. On the Screen Saver tab, under Screen saver, click My Pictures Slideshow in the list.
  3. Click Settings to specify the folder containing your pictures, define picture size, and set other options.

To use a picture as a desktop background

  1. Click Start, and then click My Pictures.
  2. Click the picture you want to use as a desktop background.
  3. Under Picture Tasks, click Set as desktop background.

To use a graphic from a Web site as your background

  1. Open your Web browser and find a graphic on a Web site that you want to use as your background.
  2. Right-click the graphic, and then click Set as Background.
  3. View your desktop to see the graphic displayed.

To send a photo in e-mail

  1. Click Start, click My Pictures, and then open the folder containing the photo you want to send in e-mail.
  2. Click the photo you want to send in e-mail.
  3. Under File and Folder Tasks, click E-mail this file.
  4. In the Send Pictures via E-mail dialog box, click Make all my pictures smaller. Windows makes a smaller photo file and attaches it to an e-mail message that displays a default subject and text message.

  • To send the photo without reducing the size of the file, click Keep the original sizes.
  • To change the settings for the size of the image, click Show more options.
  1. In the To box, type the e-mail address of the person to receive the picture, change the subject and message text if you want, and then click Send.