Quick reference guide

Quick-Reference Guide for Sharing Photos Online

You have just returned from the vacation of a lifetime or perhaps you’re newly married, have your first child or grandchild, or moved into your first home. The photos you’ve taken are terrific and you want to share them with your family, friends, coworkers, maybe even the world. You know it can be done, but you’re not sure how. So to help navigate you through the countless options surrounding online sharing, we have developed quick-reference guides.

Using today’s technology, you have many choices for sharing your photos online, many at little or no cost to you. They include SkyDrive, Facebook, Google+, Google Drive, Picasa, Flickr, Instagram, Shutterfly Share, Photobucket, DropShots, PhotoRocket, Bayimg.com, My Photo Gallery, and Gallery.

This guide will cover only SkyDrive. We will cover the other choices listed above in future guides.

Using SkyDrive is like having your own personal cloud to store all you photos, documents, videos, or any other type of file. SkyDrive lets you access and share your files anywhere and at anytime using your smart phone, tablet, personal computer (PC), or Mac computer. Unlike other similar products, SkyDrive is not limited to a single PC or device. SkyDrive also gives you access to free Microsoft Office applications, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

Now that you have a basic understanding of SkyDrive’s capabilities, let’s get started. Once your device is turned on, connect to the internet. As long as you have an active Microsoft email account (such as Hotmail, Outlook, MSN, or live.com), you can either download the SkyDrive desktop application to your PC or use the online site to manage and share your files. Now, navigate to windows.microsoft.com/en-US/skydrive/download.

Select “Get your SkyDrive”.

At your email account “Sign in” screen, sign in to your email account.

Next, you will see the “Microsoft account” page. Right click on the hyperlinks to review both the Microsoft services agreement and the privacy and cookies statements. If you accept the terms, select the “I accept” button. Otherwise choose “Cancel”.

You have now reached SkyDrive’s active online home page. If you wish to download SkyDrive to your PC, select the “Download” button. Selecting “Close” will close the download option.

Now let’s take a closer look at the different options on the SkyDrive online page. Selecting the down arrow next to the “SkyDrive” cloud gives you direct access to your email account, your “People” or contact list, or a personal calendar. Choosing the “SkyDrive” option returns you to the SkyDrive home page.

At the home page, you can select “Create” for access the the various Microsoft Office applications. You will use “Upload” to select and upload all your files into your personal SkyDrive cloud. More on that option in a moment.

The “Talk” bubble opens the “Messaging” window allowing you to instantly chat with your “Facebook friends” or “Google contacts”.

You would use the “Tools” icon to access “Options”, “Help” screens, and to offer “Feedback”.

“Options” allow you to “Manage your storage”, “Upgrade”, select different “Office file formats”, and “People tagging”.

You can also use the “Sort by Name” option to change the order of your files. The icons to the right change the appearance of your files.

Now, let’s “Upload” our “Pictures” and share them with friends and family. Remember, we are only uploading “Pictures” to share. You would use the same steps to upload and share documents or any other file types.

First, select the “Pictures” file. Note that you now have “Sharing” and “Folder actions”. The “Folder actions” controls your folders, allowing you to download, embed, delete, and move any folder on your hard drive.

Next, select “Upload”.

This opens the “File Upload” window. Now, navigate to your “Pictures” files.

Select the photos you wish to upload to your SkyDrive cloud. If you want to select more than one photo, hold down the control (Ctrl) key (Command key on Mac computers) and select your list of photos.

When you are finished, select “Open”.

A box appears showing when all the photos are uploaded to your SkyDrive cloud.

All your selected photos will now appear in your SkyDrive cloud under the “Pictures” option.

Select “Sharing” and a warning message will appear verifying you want to share the folder.

Selecting “Don’t share this folder” returns you to the “Pictures” files. If you wish to continue and share the photos, select “Share this folder”.

You can now share you photos by sending a link through email or by posting them to facebook, twitter, or LinkedIn.

When choosing the email option, key in each email recipient’s name into the “To” box. A drop-down box appears allowing you to quickly add the email addresses. Choose as many email addresses as you wish; there is no limit.

You can also add a personal message and decide whether you want to give the recipients the rights to edit your photos or if you want them to sign in before they can access them.

To post the photos to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, you will need to add or sign into the specific services.

Choosing “Get a link”, gives you the options to “View only”, “View and edit”, or add to your “Public” files so anyone can view them.

Once you choose your option, select “Share”. Select “Close” to exit the application.

Once your photos are shared, a confirmation page will appear, which allows you to “Remove permissions” if editing options were added. Select “Close” to exit the confirmation page.

The “Sharing” information now appears in a separate pane.

Now the recipients just need to follow the supplied link to view your photos.

Remember, with the SkyDrive cloud application, you can quickly and easily share your photos and files with virtually anyone. With today’s technology, sharing photos has never been easier. SkyDrive is only one of many applications you can use to share your photos online. In future quick-reference guide segments, we will cover the other applications as well.