I found the stamp tool. It lets you quickly add photos to a particular category (including star ratings) by setting the category, activating the stamp tool, and then clicking on the photos. You can easily switch between categories. Undoing is a bit clunky, but works. (I'd really like to just click again & undo, but I have to click on a garbage can and then the photo(s) I need to remove the tag(s) from)

I'm a brand new user and disappointed that you didn't get any answers to your question. But thank you for posting what you found out. I'm trying to find a Picasa alternative that can do all the things I needed from that wonderful program, so I'm encouraged by your comment that this might be the one to use. I'm going to dive in and see what I can do with it. I came here looking for info on the photo rating, because I was able to drag and rate photos but then cannot actually see the rating, and the detail thumbnail view I see in a tutorial is missing in my program, so if that is where you see it I'm out of luck. Anyway, I'm grateful for your info. I hope it is still working for you a year later.

Just be warned that if you have Canon Raw images, they crash the program. It has been 7+ months since I discovered this issue. The company has been able to reproduce and said the fix would be in the next update, but until then the program is unusable to me. I don't recommend it if you have Cannon Raw photos. I have switched to using ACDsee in the meantime, which has easy ratings and handles all of the filetypes I need. The biggest thing I like better about ACDsee is that it has the ability to save the ratings and comments directly to the image files, which means if you ever need to change photo management software, your info will be saved (there are some exceptions, but it's clear in the interface which parts are specific to the database vs. which are in the file itself). There is a lot that I like about the interface of Magix software vs. Picasa and for most users it will be a good option.

So far in Magix trial version I still have not figured out how to see the photo ratings. And sure would be nice if there was a shortcut for rating too. Picasa made it so easy to just click the star, and I could also add other tags (plus face tagging too) and then filter by the star and/or tags I put on the photos. For my use these things are really important. I take thousands of photos of kids and then have to narrow down which ones will go in the end of the year slide shows, and this part of the photo management is really important. I don't use Canon Raw for these photos, so that won't matter for my application. Once the right photos are selected, I do basic edits (which in Picasa are reversible), and in Picasa I could put them in the order I wanted and then export them with all the edits and an optional number to keep them in that order , and they'd be ready to go into my slide show program. I could even make basic collages of 2 (or more) photos really easily. Can either of these programs do anything like this? I've spent hours hunting, and downloaded more trial versions than I'd like, so any advice would be much appreciated!! I know I probably can't find something that will do it all, but it would be nice to at least come close.

The trial version does not have all of the same capabilities as the full version.

That being said, in the photo view mode at the top right there is an option to view thumbnails, thumbnails + details, and more. The view options with details show the ratings as well. I haven't used the program in awhile so am a bit rusty due to the learning curve of the different programs. I also have tried dozens of different options. I checked and the thumbnail view alone can show if you have rated a photo (not the exact rating unless you use thumbnail + details)

The workflow I use to narrow down photos is to either save to a temporary tray on my first pass or 2 through the photos, (what I do with ACDsee and used to do with Picasa) and then flip through those to further narrow down my favorites. I don't think Magix has the temporary tray, but you can create albums. I did this with Picas and Magix- created a first pass album and then went through that to remove or save a second-pass or final album version. I'm not sure about exporting with a given order. I would imagine so, but wouldn't expect it without trying first. Can you try that with the trial version?

The face tagging sometimes crashes the program, and none that I have found compares to Picasa, FYI.

ACDsee has reversible edits (I think it's "Develop" mode). I can't recall if Magix does or not.

ACDsee has an image tray that you can temporarily put photos in while going through them, which I find super helpful when going through photos of kids or trips. :-) You can save them all to an album or export them, etc.

You are so very helpful - thank you!!! Not very many people would take the time to help someone they don't know, so I really appreciate it!! It is very frustrating to me that someone can't just re-create a Picasa program, and I'd pay good money for it! I don't know if the program was just that good, or if it was just that I made use of all the features it had and got used to it and find myself in a pickle now. Anyway, thanks so much!!

And in my notes it does appear that Magix allows non-destructive photo editing.

You need to be in Advanced Mode (checkbox at top right) to see the details of GPS location tagging, rating, and album/tag info along with the thumbnails