in elements photoshop 2026 edits are not being done to the original photos. Is this a bug.

What do you mean when you say that edits are not being done to the original photos?  If you are using the Instant Fix feature found in the Organizer, then the intended behavior when you save an edited photo is to save it as a copy and to place the copy at the top of a version set.

If you are talking about saves made in the Editor, then some bugs that were present in the original release when saving files have been fixed in the most recent release (Version 2026.2).

Try this:

Restore default preferences
Preference settings control how Photoshop Elements Editor displays images, cursors, and transparencies, saves files, uses plug‑ins and scratch disks, and so on. If the application exhibits unexpected behavior, the preferences file could be damaged. You can restore all preferences to their defaults.

Note: Deleting the preferences file is an action that cannot be undone.

Do one of the following:

Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Mac: Option+Command+Shift) immediately after Photoshop Elements begins launching. Click Yes to delete the Adobe Photoshop Elements settings file.
Go to Edit > Preferences (Mac: Photoshop Elements > Preferences > General), click the Reset Preferences on next launch button, and then click OK. When you restart Adobe Photoshop Elements, all preferences are reset to default settings.
A new preferences file is created the next time you start Photoshop Elements Editor. For information on a specific preference option, search for the preference name in Help.

from here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/preference-file-locations-photoshop-elements.html