Catalog file overwritten

nicos94289222 wrote: Dear all, When last starting Photoshop Elements (PSE 7), my catalog suddenly was completely empty (no pictures, no Albums, no tags). When looking at the catalog file ("catalog.pse7db") I found that it was still the original one (telling from the creation date) but was obviously saved with zero information when I started PSE. The same goes for "backupCt.dat", "collstatus.dat", "tagstatus.dat", and "thumb.5.cache". The only file that went unchanged since when I actually used PSE last is "itemData.mk4". I have never encountered any problem like this before. Does anyone have an idea how this might have come about and haw I may restore the catalog? Many thanks in advance!

Your description is not that of an 'overwritten' catalog, it's typical of another catalog selected for some unknown reason.

If the catalog is empty and the date corresponds to the creation date, that is generally because your active catalog is elsewhere.

Main point to consider, a catalog is not only the 'catalog.pse7db' file, it's the whole folder containing it.

- The name of the folder corresponds to the catalog name.

- The default catalog is a 'hidden' folder and you may have to set the Windows Explorer to show it.

- You can have other catalogs with other names in the same default location, or you can have catalogs outside this default location. In the catalog manager, you are shown all the catalogs in default location. You can also select 'custom' location and browse to the different location of the custom catalog. You do a search for 'catalog.pse7db' with the Explorer. That will find any catalog file outside the default location. One of them should be the last active catalog, based on dates and file sizes in the folder. You double click on the 'catalog.pse7db' file to open the Organizer with that catalog; or you use the catalog manager to browse to the found location.