I don’t want to join Google+. Can I just keep updating my Picasa Web Albums or will I be forced to transfer them all to Google+? And if the latter, how do I do the transfer?
Picasa and Google +
google-pluspicasa-web-albums
Related Solutions
You can easily do this with Google's command line tools.
http://code.google.com/p/googlecl/
Here's how to create a new album and upload new files to it:
Create an album titled "funny-pics-from-reddit"
stu@sente ~ $ google picasa create --title "funny-pics-from-reddit"
Created album: https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE
Upload some images to that album
stu@sente ~ $ google picasa post --title "funny-pics-from-reddit" *.jpg
Loading file 1IH46.jpg to album funny-pics-from-reddit
Loading file 8518.jpg to album funny-pics-from-reddit
Loading file 8mWVg.jpg to album funny-pics-from-reddit
Loading file aMgoD.jpg to album funny-pics-from-reddit
Loading file B5OzH.jpg to album funny-pics-from-reddit
Loading file BdA1X.jpg to album funny-pics-from-reddit
Loading file cinkh.jpg to album funny-pics-from-reddit
Loading file Il45S.jpg to album funny-pics-from-reddit
Loading file s8mYA.jpg to album funny-pics-from-reddit
Loading file VNXqI.jpg to album funny-pics-from-reddit
Loading file YS0ri.jpg to album funny-pics-from-reddit
Thats all!
you can also get a link for sharing
stu@sente ~ $ google picasa list-albums --title 'funny-pics-from-reddit"
funny-pics-from-reddit,https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE
or get a link for each of images within the album
stu@sente ~ $ google picasa list -link --title "funny-pics-from-reddit"
https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE#5676197402363448466
https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE#5676197407826357506
https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE#5676197411671223314
https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE#5676197415991037282
https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE#5676197418880127170
https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE#5676197428322810098
https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE#5676197433154709954
https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE#5676197440054494146
https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE#5676197445495462290
https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE#5676197447926728866
https://picasaweb.google.com/108147164794119808099/FunnyPicsFromReddit?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeGh-vqrJLlrgE#5676197458703531074
There is nothing you can do besides making them private. If the browser sees the picture the browser can store the picture. This is true for any picture on the internet with the exception of pictures embedded in some sort of flash application but still with a hi res monitor you can get a very nice quality screen shot.
By checking no printing and no download just means that other people can't order prints from picassa or right click save as. ( you can still save using a web inspector ).
Best Answer
Whether Google will kill Picasa Web Albums completely for those who don't want to sign up for Google+ is unclear. It certainly looks like that's the way they're going, but I haven't seen any official announcements. I think it may depend in large part on the fate of the Picasa desktop app.
You shouldn't need to do anything to get your photos in Google+. All of my Picasa Web photos were added to my Google+ photos without me having to do anything. (And, actually, all of the photos I had in Google+ were available in Picasa Web Albums.) They have remained in sync ever since.