adding photos to organizer

debrac75769521  wrote I  downloaded the free trial of Photoshop Elements 2018. When I opened the Organizer I was asked about adding photos to the program and I clicked to make a new photo organizer. (I have an older version.) While I have 12,000 photos on my computer, Photoshop is trying to do something with 80,000 photos. There are 2 or 3 multiples of every photo. It has been running for several hours now. How do I get it to stop?

(Windows) = stop it from the Windows task bar.

Close the organizer.

Start the organizer while keeping the shift key pressed.

Choose the option to start with a new catalog.

The current bad one will have to be deleted later, no hurry.

Question:

Is Elements 2018 installed on the same computer than the one with your older version and your photo files?

If yes, menu File >> manage catalogs; select the 'convert' button and choose your old catalog to be converted. No need to import anything, no change at all in your photo files (the bad import session has not changed them either, it has just created wrong imports in the catalog indexes).

The conversion will create a new catalog in the 2018 database format, and keep your older catalog for your older Elements (available even if renamed with a '-1' suffix).

If you are on a new computer, use the backup and restore process:

Move Elements Organizer catalog

The conversion takes place automatically at the end of the process.

My advice: using the option to 'Import in bulk' will often create your situation. Much better to use 'Import from files and folders'. You'll master the choice of folders you really want to import.

On the other hand, the fact that you have too many files and duplicates to import in the catalog needs some explanation. If you don't import from 'camera or card reader', no new photo files are created on your computer. The 'import' process also filters out real duplicates (files with the same date_taken and size in kilobytes).

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