Windows 7 Pictures Library

Many Windows 7 options can be accessed through the new Windows Pictures Library included with Windows 7. You can find the Windows Pictures Library by choosing Start, Pictures.

By default, the Windows Pictures Library shows all photos that are in all watched folders, including the current user’s Pictures folder. You easily can add individual photos or entire folders of photos.

To add an individual photo to Windows Pictures Library, do the following:

1. Open Windows Pictures Library.

2. Open the folder that contains the photo or video that you want to add to the Windows Pictures Library.

3. Click and drag the photo from the folder that contains the photo to the Windows Pictures Library.

Importing Files into the Windows Pictures Library from a Media Source

To add all the photos from a specific multimedia storage device, simply connect the device to your computer. These devices are typically your digital still camera or a media card or USB thumb drive. Windows Pictures Library will scan the device and add any photos and movies it finds to the associated libraries (that is, images will go to the Windows Pictures Library, videos will go to the Videos Library, and so on). A folder can be removed just as easily in Windows Explorer, by finding the folder under the Folders selection in the left pane, right-clicking it, and choosing Delete.

Organizing Photos and Movies in Windows Pictures Library

Once you start importing several photographs into Windows Pictures Library, your main gallery view can start to become a little crowded. To alleviate this problem, Windows Pictures Library prompts you to create custom categories called tags to better group your media. Windows 7 will ask you to create a tag each time you insert media or import from a camera or other media device. Make the tag as descriptive as possible. If you take a range of different pictures in a set, try using a date and a location description to better organize your media.