One of the most popular tips at Basics4Mac is Printing from iPhoto at Walgreens and Walmart. At the time I wrote that tip, I also tested CVS but is was extremely Mac-unfriendly.

CVS has reworked their website and it is now a perfectly good options for printing photos.

Printing photos from iPhoto at CVS is a two step process: Prepping the photos and uploading them to the CVS photo website.

Prepping your photos:

1. Do any editing you want to do to your photos. For best results, crop your photos to the size you are planning to print. (See how to pre-crop)
2. From the Thumbnail view, select all the photos you want to print. (Remember that you can use Command-click to select multiple photos.)
3. Choose File / Export... from the menu bar.
4. Leave the settings as they are and click Export.
5. In the export file dialog, select Desktop from the left pane and click the New Folder button. Name the new folder To Print and click Create.
6. Make sure the To Print folder is selected and then click OK. Your selected photos will be copied from iPhoto into your "To Print" folder on the Desktop

Uploading your photos:

1. Go to cvsphoto.com.
2. If it is your first time at the site, create an account. Otherwise sign in.
3. Click the Upload Photos button.
4. Choose to Create a New Album or Add to an Existing Album and then click Continue to Upload.
5. cvsphoto.com will attempt to load a Java application to load the photos. Before the application runs, you get a very scary message from Safari: An applet from "cvsphoto.com" is requesting unrestricted access to your computer. (The message will vary depending in the version of Safari you are running, but the gist of it is the same.) The first time I saw that message it gave me pause. I did some research and found that Safari puts that message up anytime a Java applet tries to run. As long as you are at the website of a trusted source (and I think CVS qualifies) you are fine to click "Allow".
6. Click the "Get Photos" button. The uploader window will open.

CVS photo uploader window Click to see a larger image

7. Along the left side of the window are locations and the rest of the screen shows the contents of that location. The top left button is the Pictures folder. DON'T select that. Instead, choose Desktop and then open your "To Print" folder you created way back in the prepping stage. Click the Select All since you know that you want to upload all the photos you prepped.
8. Click the Upload button and your photos will be uploaded into an album.
9. Choose the type of photos or gift items you want and select the pickup location.

When you have finished ordering your prints, you can delete the "To Print" folder on your Desktop. Your photos are still safely stored in iPhoto.

I haven't personally used CVS for prints because Walgreens is closer to my house, but I assume the quality is about the same. If you've have issues with CVS's quality, please post the info in the comments.

Related Items: iPhoto | Prints | Walgreens | Walmart