I have Adobe Photodeluxe to edit pictures. I would have to put each picture through that and edit which is just a pain.
You are saying just put all my pictures in Windows Picture Manager? I have all my pictures now either in "pictures" or Windows Photo Gallery. They are everywhere and I don't know how they got there. It is a mess. But there are 100's of them, so I am afraid of losing them.
Thanks.
I think you may be a little confused. "Pictures" is a folder, not an application. Windows Photo Gallery is an application, not a folder. I'm saying, if you select Microsoft Office Picture Manager as your default, then the images located in your 'Pictures' folder (as well as all other images in your system) will automatically open via the Microsoft Office Picture Manager application, (
not Windows Picture Manager ---
Microsoft Office Picture Manager). Once you've done that, you can virtually
ignore Windows Photo Gallery altogether. It doesn't matter whether that application has a copy of all your photos, because
you don't ever have to go there. It's totally redundant, because you can use Microsoft Office Picture Manager to view and edit your images. Additionally, you said that you have Adobe Photodelux as well, so you can use either, or both applications to edit your photo, depending on what editing function(s) you're doing, and whichever application you like better, for those functions.
To further clarify: Windows Photo Gallery has a copy of every image on your system --- more than just photos. And sorting them is extremely difficult, if not impossible --- so just
ignore that application altogether. Instead, sort and arrange your photos in your Pictures folder (and, in
addition, you can put photos into any other folder(s) you wish -- you can even add new folders to put additional photos into). Once Microsoft Office Picture Manager is your default photo application, when you click on any image
anywhere in your system, Microsoft Office Picture Manager will open up, showing you a copy of that photo. (Your photo doesn't 'move' -- it's still located in its original folder --- you're just seeing a
picture of it in the Microsoft Office Picture Manager application.) You can then view it, and make any changes to it, or not, and close it. Or instead, you can chose to
manually open the picture with your Adobe Photodelux application. Doesn't matter -- it's up to you. But you don't have to deal with Windows Photo Gallery at all.
PS I think the reason this is so confusing is that the sorting/arranging of pictures and the editing of pictures need to be thought of separately. You sort/arrange your own pictures in your folders any way that you think best. Microsoft Office Picture Manager shows you a photo of them
whereever they are. In fact, you can choose to view all the photos in the folder at one time (the grid view), or just one at a time (the individual view) --- but you can clearly see
where they're located. On the other hand, Windows Photo Gallery doesn't work that way. It shows you a
huge arbitrary string of images (including photos, icons, PDF files, and all of the other images on your system), and makes no attempt to sort or arrange them, or to show you where they actually are in your system. So the temptation is to try to create some semblance of order within the mess of images -- and to try and sort them. But you really can't.
