December 4, 2008

Private Albums in Picasa Web

Picasa Web Albums added a new option that makes your albums truly private. If you edit an album's properties and select "Require sign-in to view", only the people you are explicitly sharing the album can see it.

"Select the 'Require sign-in to view' option to set the highest level of privacy for your album -- you specify who has permission to view it, and visitors must sign in to their Google Account to verify their identity. Anyone not included on the album's 'Shared with' access list will be unable to view the album," details the help page.


The access list is displayed in the album's sidebar and you can add or remove people from that list at any time. The only problem is that your friends need to have Google accounts to validate their identity and access the album.

Until now the only alternative to making the album public was to make it unlisted, but the album still had a web address that allowed anyone who knew it to view your album. If you try to view an album that has the new visibility option enabled, you'll get this error message:


Since you now have three levels of visibility and it's difficult to remember which albums are unlisted or private, Picasa Web Albums' homepage displays the access setting next to each album using an icon.


{ Thanks, Michael. }

13 comments:

  1. great... have been waiting for this for long time :)

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  2. The only problem is that it doesn't remember anyone whom I shared an album with. So, I have to invite them again.

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  3. When did this take effect? I went so someone's web album earlier and it said I had to sign in, but I could still see their albums..was that some kind of trial thing that just started today?

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  4. More interesting is the new face labelling for the Picasa photos

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  5. People tagging has been added in September.

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  6. If I had a photo of nudity, in my photo album, but my album was private, will Google delete the pictures?

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  7. this is a sweet addition, why it hadn't been done sooner i don't know

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  8. It is a good addition, it needs to be more secure and fool proof

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  9. I found this message under the people tab> favorites
    "Note: The links to Unlisted albums section is going to be removed soon. Once this section is removed, you will not be able to use this page to visit these albums. Please use your browser bookmarks or another system to save links to albums you want to visit. We apologize for any inconvenience."

    Do you know any way how we could ask them not to do this...

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  10. I think it is a very nice addition since I want to share family photos, say of my daughter, without them being posted on the web. It is too bad you can't share private photos with non-google account users, such as users on yahoo or hotmail. It would be easier to see family photos if a link from other e-mails accounts were allowed since family and friends may be with other service providers.

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  11. Is there is any way I can View the Unlisted or Private albums without users knowledge .. or how can I view the private album with out user permission..

    Please help me on this..
    vinoth.s.m@gmail.com

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  12. Why did you take this feature off, without letting the users know about it?

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  13. @Asaf:

    What do you mean? The feature is still available. By default, all new albums are private (only you can access them).

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