Participating Frequently

Question

Import changes in Photoshop Elements 2026 - no card reader option, no copying or renaming??

Forum|Forum|3 days ago
March 24, 2026
4 replies
77 views

I’m importing photos for the first time using Photoshop Elements 2026. There seem to be some unexpected changes. There’s no longer an option to import from a card reader. OK, so I’ll import from a folder instead. But it no longer gives me the option to copy the files to a selected folder, and it no longer gives me the option to rename the files when it does so (for example, adding the shoot date to the file name). Is this normal, or am I missing something? So am I supposed to copy all the files to my hard drive first AND somehow batch rename them BEFORE I import them into my PSE library?

Jeff Arola

Community Expert

One option if you don’t have an older Photoshop Elements version is to use Adobe Bridge which has a Photo Downloader very similar to the one in the Photoshop Elements Organizer.

It still doesn’t get you the direct import of photos off your card reader into the Organizer, but you can rename, etc and then import the photos into the Organizer from the folder you saved them to using Bridge.

https://prodesigntools.com/free-adobe-bridge-cc.html

M

Mister HU2Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks for that workaround, Jeff! That is working. I had PSE 2022 but it no longer works with OS 26 so that’s why I switched to PSE 2026 and discovered this annoying import bug. Is there some way for me to report it to Adobe without being on phone hold for an hour and then speaking to someone in the Philippines whose accent I can’t understand? They would surely just make me go through all the steps I’ve already taken.

Duncan

M

Mister HU2Author

Participating Frequently

NEW PROBLEM! Organizer is showing me all the thumbnails, but whenever I click on one to display it larger, I get the dreaded grey box with a question mark. This includes the ones I just imported after running the files through Bridge. This is for raw, JPEGs and TIFFs. All 20,000 photos. What gives?

Jeff Arola

Community Expert

Yes i can confirm that for whatever reason the Adobe Photo Downloader is absent on the Mac side with Photoshop Elements 2026 , so there nothing wrong with your install of PSE 2026.

Somewhere here on the forum there is another thread about this, but i haven’t found it yet.

Unfortunately, there is no solution that was as easy as using the Adobe Photo Downloader , except to use an older version of Photoshop Elements if you have one.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

Are you using a Mac? IIRC, the Adobe Photo Downloader has been removed from the program under that OS. So that may explain the problem.

Glenn 8675309

Legend

All that card reader stuff in found in the IMPORT button in organizer, not the editor.

Renaming is found is found in “Process multiple files”- in the editor FILE>PROCESS MULTIPLE FILES

M

Mister HU2Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks, but this doesn’t seem to be a solution. I AM importing them in the Organizer (which is v26.0 while the Editor is v26.2 - I don’t know if that is normal, and have found no way to see if there’s an update for the Organizer). There is no Card Reader option like there used to be in earlier versions, and although there is a “Copy Files on Import” option, it never asks me where I want them copied to (again unlike previous versions) and I have no idea if it did copy them somewhere at all. Renaming them on Import used to be a very easy thing. If I now have to do that in the Editor as a second step after importing, that’s annoying. I’m including a couple of screenshots of the only two Import options I’m given (no Card Reader) and no asking me where I want the files to be copied to.

Glenn 8675309

Legend

ME? I would log out of the editor (Do that) then uninstall and reinstall using the download link in your adobe account (PSE 2026 is listed at the very bottom of your products.)

A NOTE: You will see “activated devices” listed. That is only for things you subscribe to- things that are part of the creative cloud family, PSE is not listed there, Nore does the “Activated devices” apply to pse- it is a 3 year term license, not a subscription.

I subscribe to Photoshop so I have a listing of activated devices.

This is from about 1.5 years ago:

Make your own screen shot of what you see, and post it.

What version of organizer are you using?

Never hurts to reset your preferences in the editor.

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