Microsoft Image Resizer
While it's great that newer digital cameras can take beautiful 5-, 6-, or 7-megapixel pictures, uploading such large photo files can be problematic. Resizing pictures before you send them to your Instructor is easy using a free Microsoft Windows download called the Image Resizer, which lets you resize a photo(s) in seconds with a simple right click.

Downloading and Installing the Image Resizer

  1. Download and save Microsoft's free Image Resizer Powertoy to your computer.
  2. Double click on the .exe file and follow the prompts to install.

Using the Image Resizer

Begin by making sure your pictures are well organized. Because your digital camera probably gives pictures an arbitrary and confusing name, such as dscn0809.jpg, you may want to rename your photos to something more appropriate and easily identifiable at a glance, such as flowers.jpg.

Note: Ordinarily, it's recommended that you make a backup of your original digital photo before resizing it. However, Image Resizer creates a duplicate file in the same folder as your original and resizes the duplicate; your original picture file is not altered in any way during the process.

  1. Open the folder that contains the pictures you want to resize. Right-click any picture you want to resize, and click Resize Pictures.


     
  2. In the Resize Pictures dialog box, click the size you want your photo to be, and click OK. In general, Small is a good selection for most of your needs, such as e-mailing pictures or posting them to a Web site.


     
  3. Your original file is still intact; and a new, resized file has been added to the same folder.

Resize Multiple Photos at Once

To resize a sequence of photos at once, click the first photo in the sequence, hold down the SHIFT key, and click the last photo in the sequence. All the photos in between those that you clicked will be selected. Follow the steps outlined previously to resize the selected photos.

To resize nonsequential photos in a folder, click the first photo, and hold down the CTRL key while you click the other pictures you want to resize. Once you have your photos selected, follow the steps outlined previously to resize the selected photos.

Advanced Features

Image Resizer includes some additional advanced features. Click the Advanced tab to show the following options:

  • "Custom" lets you manually set the size you want for your photos.

  • "Make pictures smaller but not larger" constrains resizing to only sizes smaller than the original photo.

  • "Resize the original pictures" (don't create copies) permanently applies resizing to your original photo.  This is not recommended.