Windows Live Photo Gallery can display photo files that are in camera “raw” format, but cannot edit, or “fix”, those files. You get the message shown in the illustration here.
Photo Gallery needs the file to be in a format it can handle. The most popular format is JPG, as that is widely used for sharing and on the Internet.
The advise you receive from the helpful link is:
To convert a batch of photo files, proceed like this:
- Select the photo thumbnails that you wish to convert to JPG format. To select all the photos in a folder, use Ctrl-A.
- Note the larger dimension in the information pane. Example:
- Click File in the menu bar.
- Click Resize… in the drop-down menu.
- Click on the size shown below Select a size:
- Click Custom in the drop-down menu.
- Enter the larger number of your photo dimension. In the illustration here, that is 3872.
- Click Resize and Save.
You can select the folder to save to, even make a new folder, by clicking Browse… – Here I won’t go into that. (You will learn why in my next post.)
If you have selected a large number of photos to convert, this process will take some time. The nice thing is that it runs without needing any more input from you.
Use it! Enjoy!
© 2010 Ludwig Keck
Thanks for posting; I’ve spent all morning trying to find a way to do this automatically. Though doing it manually would have taken a tenth of the time I spent today trying to find this answer, the long-term benefits are clear. 🙂
On a separate, but not unrelated not, I appear to be using a newer version of WLPG than you are (likely because this is an old post) – does that mean that Microsoft still haven’t added a simpler method to convert batch files? Really? REALLY?
Perhaps I just wasn’t able to find it, but if this is still the case, can someone please let me know? I’d like to make an example of this; as a journalist, perhaps I can apply some pressure to ensure that this feature is included in future versions. Considering that this software is a mandatory element of Windows, and that most amateur photographers will likely begin with it, Microsoft should be made accountable for this.
Thank you Cody,
Yes, this post, from April 2010, shows an older version of WLPG. For file-type conversion, however, the process is still the same. A couple of hints that make the process a little simpler: Select all the thumbnails of the files you wish to convert, click the Edit tab, click Resize. Select Custom size, then set the maximum dimension above your cameras maximum size. I use 8000. WLPG will not resize upwards, so the conversion is at the full size of the file. You can set the JPG quality (in Options > Edit), I leave mine set to 100%, but if you need small file sizes you can go as low as 80%.
The folks at Microsoft have been very responsive to requests and suggestions lately. Some of the latest changes have been really nice improvements. By all means, let them know your concerns. Use the feedback site, or the Photo Gallery Forum. They even read, and respond to my blogs!