Industry guru Dave Taylor offers free tech support on a wide variety of technical and business topics, including HTML, Apple iPhone, online advertising, Cascading Style Sheets, Web design, management, Unix, Linux, search engine optimization, online dating, Mac OS X, shell script programming and Microsoft Windows.

Updated: How do I change my MySpace profile picture?

I read your earlier article about how to change your default MySpace profile photo, but the suggestions did not help me at all. The way your instructions were explained, they did not flow with the current MySpace screens in either "classic" or "new" mode. Can you post an updated tutorial, please?


Dave's Answer:

Congratulations, you have found one of the biggest challenges of writing about Web sites: they keep changing. Most of the times the changes are fairly subtle and it'snot that big a deal, but sometimes the entire interface is revamped, new features are added, and things change so much that the older tutorial pages are pretty much useless.

I hate it too.

So I'm going to start a series of articles that offer updated instructions on how to accomplish common tasks in MySpace with the hope that it'll help everyone over the "interface improvements" hump, starting with this very article!

Where you can immediately get confused with MySpace is that you can't change your default picture by going to the "edit profile" area. Instead, there's a surprisingly easy shortcut once you know the secret!

Immediately below your picture you'll see a little "Photos: Edit | Upload" link:

Dave Taylor's pirate photo default photograph picture for his MySpace Profile

Click on "Edit" if you already have the picture you want to use uploaded, or "Upload" if you need to upload it first.

Now just click through the albums, etc, to get to the specific photograph or image you want to use as your profile picture and you'll see along the top a row of buttons:

MySpace Photo Options

Click on "Set as Default" and poof! You just changed your default photograph in MySpace. Well done!

:-)

Now, I should say that though a few articles are out of date, the vast majority of MySpace Help is a great place to learn more about how to use this cool social network, and if you want to find my profile there, well, I'm myspace.com/d1taylor.



Help others find this article at Del.icio.us, Digg, Netscape, Reddit, and Stumble Upon    

Subscribe!

Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader.

Comments

hey how are u i wanted to know how can we get on myspace at school

Posted by: Paris Bias at April 4, 2008 12:55 PM

Hey how are you i wanted to know how can i get on myspace at school we be board when we dont do nothing.

Posted by: Paris Bias at April 4, 2008 12:57 PM

How do i change my link on myspace? Can you tell me please.

Posted by: Kelly L at April 5, 2008 7:59 PM

Your instructions for setting the default photo at MySpace are compeltely wrong as of 4/13/08, with respect to using Firefox. Also, you should put dates with your instructions else nobody will know as of what date something applies. Personally, I am done with MySpace. My small 6-figure a year programming mind is not smart enough to handle such trivial tasks, so I will leave to the 10 year-olds.

Good luck

Posted by: Steve at April 13, 2008 2:35 PM

Odd you'd have that problem, Steve, as I wrote this entry just a few weeks before you commented and, as always, I used Firefox to do the screenshots and test things. Are you using "Classic" view? it's still 95% the same, certainly shouldn't be a big issue for a "six figure a year programming mind" :-)

Posted by: Dave Taylor at April 13, 2008 9:02 PM

This method does not work as described.

Posted by: Loren at April 26, 2008 11:18 PM

Following your instructions does not change my default picture. It used to work. It's been over a month since I changed it. Now it won't change. Perhaps there is a problem with Myspace.

Dave

Posted by: David Fowler at April 29, 2008 2:46 PM

Thank you!!! I have felt like an idiot for months b/c I couldn't figure out how to get rid of my profile pic.

Posted by: Michelle at May 4, 2008 6:40 PM

THANK YOU SO MUCH! i've been sitting in front of the computer for ages trying to work how 1)one of my pictures became my prile picture and 2)how to change it! again, thanks!

Posted by: Louise at June 4, 2008 7:50 PM

Awesome! It worked when I finally figured out what you were saying. :)

Posted by: Torie at July 12, 2008 7:39 PM

on myspace IM how do u change yr pic?

Posted by: mel at July 20, 2008 2:18 AM

This doesnt help me change my profile pic, there is no "set to default" button there , any other help would be much appreciated

Posted by: Michelle at August 2, 2008 12:34 AM

To Paris Bias. You have plenty to do in school. You need to study Englsh grammer. I say this in love. If you talked like this in a job interview, You wouldn't get it.
Your statement/question: Hey how are you i wanted to know how can i get on myspace at school we be board when we dont do nothing.
The correct way: Hi, how are you?I wanted to know how I can geton MySpace at school. We are "bored" not "board" when we don't have anything to do. See how nice and correct that sounds. Best wishes for your future.

Posted by: Tina Williams at September 14, 2008 3:54 PM

Hello - I have found that the "Use As Default" button (or whatever it is exactly called) DOES appear when using Firefox but DOES NOT appear when using Safari. At least, this is when using OS X 10.5.4, Safari 3.1.2 and Firefox 2.0.

Posted by: TOny Vose at October 19, 2008 10:25 PM

I am changing the focus on my site & have a big picture that I would like to change, to fit other changes. How do I change that picture? I have tried more times, than I care to remember, with absolutely no success. I cannot believe how easy it was to change profile pic. I spent hours trying to figure it out, until tonight.

Is it possible to close the space where picturetrails used to be? If not, can something be added to replace it & how?

Thanks,
Jamie

Posted by: Jamie at December 12, 2008 12:50 AM

thanks soooo much, i've been sitting here tryin to figure this out with no success....

Posted by: sherry at December 23, 2008 1:39 AM

I am using safari on a mac and the set as default button is not there. I really want to change my profile picture. Do you know how I can do this with safari.

Posted by: Hil at January 17, 2009 1:41 PM

thanks you really helped have a good day

Posted by: britany at June 4, 2009 12:26 PM

Hi,
How do you change myspace music profile pics,theres no set as default in the nav bar?
Its a great website uv got!
Heres my umble offering:myspace.com/stethebass
cheers ste

Posted by: ste at June 9, 2009 7:10 AM

I still cant figure this out i been trying now for 2 days

Posted by: Jessica at June 24, 2009 10:42 PM

Please someone help me b4 i go crazy thank you

Posted by: Jessica at June 24, 2009 10:55 PM

I would just like to say a simple thanks ... I've been tearing my hair out about myspace and the way it works :-)

Posted by: Ric at July 27, 2009 12:01 PM

thanks so much! Couldn't figure it out!

Posted by: theturtle7335 at August 21, 2009 9:11 PM

Dave, there is no 'set as default' button either on Firefox or Explorer for me - and there has never been so in the 2 years I've had a Myspace page.

Posted by: Peter at August 28, 2009 3:57 PM

Thanks great info :o)

Posted by: Mark Thomas at September 26, 2009 5:42 AM

can u be more specific about ur website.
i asked a simple question and no reply

Posted by: karma at September 28, 2009 1:11 AM

thanks :-)

Posted by: asa at October 8, 2009 3:47 PM

Ma'am,
I think that Paris Bias had every right to ask how to get on Myspace at school. I have one class where we do nothing but sit at a computer for about 40 minutes. When we have free time, everything fun is blocked. That makes me feel stupid. I also know how to spell just fine, I think that Paris Bias does too. He/she probably just wanted to make a point quickly.
Oh, and you made 3 mistakes. "Grammer"? I think not. It's more like Grammar.
Brandy

Posted by: Brandy at December 23, 2009 6:40 PM

Thank You so much that really helped me so much

Posted by: Kaylee at January 22, 2010 4:28 PM

thank you very much friend was very easy

Posted by: claudia at February 25, 2010 7:24 PM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...
Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











Remember personal info?


Please note that I will never send you any unsolicited email. Ever.

While I'm at it, please note that by submitting a question or comment you're agreeing to my terms of service, which are: you relinquish any subsequent rights of ownership to your material by submitting it on this site.








Ask Dave Taylor: The iPhone App: Advertisement



Follow me on Twitter @DaveTaylor

Search
Find just the answers you seek from among our 2300+ free tech support articles by using our Lijit search engine.


Help!





Subscribe to
Ask Dave Taylor!

Add to Google Reader
Add to My Yahoo!
Subscribe in NewsGator Online

RDF   XML

Free Updates!
Sign up and get free weekly updates and special offers on books, seminars, workshops and more.


Recent Entries
Book Links
© 2002 - 2010 by Dave Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

Note: This web site is for the purpose of disseminating information for educational purposes, free of charge, for the benefit of all visitors. We take great care to provide quality information. However, we do not guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this web site or on any linked site.

[whiteboard marker tray]
"Ask Dave Taylor®" is a registered trademark of Intuitive Systems, LLC.