As the command says, when you Export as New File(s), new files are created.  This in fact allows the new files to be imported into the catalog even though they are exact duplicates of the original files.  Normally, the Organizer will not allow the catalog to contain duplicate files.

As you have found, People and Places tags are not imported into the catalog.  However, the People names should be found in the Imported Keyword Tags category and the geo locations should be found in the files' metadata.

Since the catalog treats the files as new files, they will be analyzed for face recognition again.  But if you only need the People names to appear and not the faces to show up in a People stack, it is fairly easy to accomplish that task:

1. Select the person's keyword tag (in the Imported Tags category)
2. Select all of the person's images in the grid (Ctrl+A)
3. Drag the person's People name to an image in the grid (or if the person's name doesn't exist in People tags create a new People tag with that person's name and do the same).

All photos of that person will now appear if you select a People tag.  But the People room will only contain a generic icon, not a face for those imported photos.  You can then delete the keyword tag from the Imported Tags category to avoid confusion.

@tomp77891254 said:  You mentioned: "rearrange your folders to a different drive or directory by click-and-drag"... can this be done for a single folder in the directory tree list or must this be done for the entire directory? 

You can do either.

@tomp77891254, you should NEVER perform any file or folder management tasks outside of the Organizer.  Otherwise the  files will go missing in the catalog.  You can easily rename a folder in the My Folders panel of the Organizer.  Simply select and right-click on the folder you wish to rename and that choice will be available in the context menu:

You can also move or rearrange your folders to a different drive or directory by click-and-drag.  This operation should be done slowly and can be a little finicky but is fairly easy once you get the hang of it on your particular machine.  Make sure that the My Folders panel is in Tree View not List View:

As Michel has already suggested, there really is no need to change file names and folder organization, particularly if you are talking about files that have come from a camera.  Your camera files should already contain metadata with the dates of when they were taken.  So changing a name to include the date doesn't really seem like a worthwhile effort.  Of course, the situation may be different if you are talking about photos that have been scanned.  Similarly, while I appreciate your concern that PSE may become permanently unavailable to you at some point in the future, that idea seems to be a little far-fetched.  And in a world where that happens, I'm sure AI will find a suitable replacement to organize and find your images.

But if you insist on undertaking this tedious work, I suggest you rename the files a folder at a time. You can rename files one-at-a- time, using the Information panel.  Doing that will avoid the file becoming missing.  However, if you want to batch rename some files, performing this task a folder at a time should make it easier to reconnect the files once they become missing.

In my opinion, the better approach is to spend your time keyword tagging your files to establish their subject matter.  You should then save the metadata to each file using the Ctrl+W command.  For the foreseeable future, there will be software that will be able to read that information and help you find your photos.  In the meantime, the Elements Organizer will serve you well.

Is it possible, in PSE 2023, to change the file name of 20,000 photo files and put them in appropriate folders without PSE 2023 classifying them as missing files?

By @jamesC10405

The key word here is "appropriate".

For whom?

The organizer and softwares based on catalogs don't rely on folders to store their files. They are even built to let you largely ignore the location of the files. They are built on data recorded in your cameras and tags, categories and albums you create yourself.

The result is that no folder organization can afford the same flexibility as a catalog. For instance, you can have a single image stored in many albums without needing any duplication,  you can search files by multi criteria queries.

Searching pictures having a combination of properties is a breeze. You can even search from pieces of a text in a tag or in a filename or a caption associated with a date.

So, even if there was some IA software able to understand your own idea of appropriate, that would not make your organization faster or more efficient. That would only make easier exporting to a new system not able to work with PSE catalogs.

@jamesC10405, how do you propose renaming 20k files and moving them to different folders?  Any file operation that you undertake outside of the Organizer will result in the file becoming missing in the Organizer catalog. 

@tomp77891254, yes, if you move the files in the My Folders panel, the Organizer will keep track of the files.  Make sure you are in the Tree view, not the List view.

+1... same question... want to move a folder in Organizer/My Folders to a different location on the same PC.  Will PE track this or do I have to export/import to keep the Organizer Directory in sync??