Best Free Digital Photo Organizer

When you first run Picasa 3 it offers to scan your whole hard drive (or designated locations) for photos and videos. Scanning is surprisingly quick and when finished you'll have all your shots neatly organized into folders on a time line basis. Now you can view your shots one at a time, in slideshow or traversing the time line.

The editing features are limited compared to professional image editors yet they provide you with every function amateur photographers need including one click red eye reduction. Similarly adding labels to photos is a cinch while a simple but effective star rating system allows you to flag favorite snaps. Individual folders can also be password protected. Facilities are provided to import your images from your camera in multiple formats including RAW. You can send photos to your choice of web printing services, cut a CD, print to a local printer or share with others via your own blog or instant messaging. It is also worth noting that you can create web albums with free online storage, backup, and automatic resizing when exporting or email etc. Simply sensational.

DigiBookShelf has been around since 2004 and it appears it has been left that way. This is no in-detriment to the software as it is in a class of its own and I enjoyed the virtual library. You do have to register to use all of the facilities, this is free. The surround of the bookshelf seems stark and cold, but don't let that put you off as you can download new skins and new books ends. Tutorials are available on the website.

Not only can you catalog your photos, you can edit them manually or automatically, resize, reformat (although limited) and download pictures from your camera straight into an album. Editing is quite comprehensive and there are filters for you to work with and if you wish you can add links to your photographic editor anyway. There are options to email, transfer to disk and print, but not just print the photo as you can make cards (very limited, but if the photo speaks volumes then you only need that picture) and create calendars. Still not enough? Well okay, you can save your albums as an executive file which is handy when creating your disks or pen drive and add text or sound to your pictures or album. You can even create a slide show or a webpage. Being a bookaholic I just love the way I can view each album on a book shelf, sad I know, but its creative and wonderful to use.

Studio Line PhotoBasic3 has many features that the other two have and don't have, but it is a large download if you have a 56k modem as it is a 56.6MB download. This 'free' version is for personal use only and you do have to register. PhotoBasic3 does everything you want and ask for in a photo-organizer, it displays the albums as you would see them in Windows Explorer and then the real fun starts as you won't need a photo editor at all with this. If you do want to use a photo editor then there is a link that enables you to do this. When opened you will see three main panels, left hand side is the Album files and boxes of editing and web galleries links, the middle is the photo display and information below (the information can be adapted to your own requirements) and the left is the information bar. Note in this 'free' version - Timeline - Image Archive Filter - Print Project Pages are not available.

The software can add descriptions to your images, send photos per email in just the right size, print, display slide-shows, publish web-galleries, safe-keep your images on CD or DVD. Download your photos from your camera and organize them into files and back up your images. The image edit facility has all that you would require to ensure that the photo is edited to your demands with the added bonus of some excellent effects.

Album Burger was a joy to work with, the inane smile of the burger icon with its tongue hanging out didn't put me off. To engage this software you have to create your first album, it will ask for a title and any other information you find important. If there is not a category then select your photos, select the frame for each picture and background color, when done then select your page design layout. Simple, as you can have different designs on each page. Whilst it collates the photos you will notice a window 'Album Explorer' that enables you to manage the files and open them. When you move your mouse over each photo, transparent icons will appear at the top enabling you to seek the exif information, edit the photo, magnify, define actual size of image and print. By right clicking this gives you the same information and more. You can cut paste insert extra pictures, make CD/DVD and slide shows as well as create your own web gallery and upload to the web.

DigiBook® 2005 Light- version 11
Website: http://www.digibook.com/en/index.html
Download: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/digibook.html
License: Freeware
Download file size:13.9MB
Windows Operating Systems Supported: 98(SE only)/Me/NT/2000/XP/(Vista unknown)
System Requirements: - Intel Pentium-class processor or equivalent, (PIII 500 or above recommended) 28MB of RAM - 30MB of available HD space

Studio Line PhotoBasic3
Website: http://www.studioline.biz/EN/downloads/photo-basic/default.htm
License: Freeware (for personal use only)
Download size: 57.14MB
Windows operating systems supported: Vista* / XP / 2000 / ME
System requirements: Pentium III or 4 or compatible processor, with a minimum of 800 MHz, higher recommended - RAM: 256 MB, more recommended - 150 MB disk space for programs (allow extra space for data) - 24 bit graphics adapter with monitor resolution of 1024 x 786 pixels