ACOT Message Board

Ladies,
I use a fairly old program to digi scrap called Microsoft PhotoDraw. It is awesome, but I am finding a difficulty that I didn't have before, and I'm guessing it is due to some designers saving larger files. Anyway, the problem I have is when I try to open some designers' templates, I will get an error message in my program that says the image is too large for file conversion (my program automatically converts .psd files for me), and to please keep images below 3986 pixels. Is there any way I can shrink these files without having Photoshop? I usually shrink things in PhotoDraw, but they are too large to even get them open. I would appreciate any help, because I really don't want to switch to Photoshop (both the learning curve and the cost make me want to stay with what I have!).

Thanks!

btt Anyone got any ideas?

I wish I could help Laura but I am using Photoshop on a Mac. The only thing I can think of is maybe do a search about your problem and see if anyone else has come across this problem. Maybe there is a free program out there that you can use to shrink the files. Just a thought.

Laura, I think you can use the free program Picasa to save the program in a different format that you can open. I hope that helps you.

writerlady wrote:Laura, I think you can use the free program Picasa to save the program in a different format that you can open. I hope that helps you.

Thanks, Sandy! I will try it.

I use Photoshop and PSE. You can get a free trial of them both at their site, see if it's something you can learn quickly. I find PSE very user friendly because where computer stuff is concerned, I'm an idiot. Remember your summer challenges????

sherelm wrote:I use Photoshop and PSE. You can get a free trial of them both at their site, see if it's something you can learn quickly. I find PSE very user friendly because where computer stuff is concerned, I'm an idiot. Remember your summer challenges????

I know I could get them for free, but the learning curve is there. I taught myself my program with no tutorials, because it is intuitive and it just makes sense! Probably was designed by a designer and not a computer programmer!

I know there are free programs that you can use, I can't remember if it's something you can download or just a website. That's not very helpful, but I do at least know that it's possible! (Google "free resize photo" or similar?)

Maybe you could grab the program GIMP as it's a free program, very similar to photoshop, and shrink it in there. That might work for you too.