Moving from PC to Mac

Question

I want to move my catalogues and images from PSE 10 on a Windows 10 PC to PSE 2025 on a Mac Mini. I’ve succeeded in backing up a small catalogue of 650 images to a destination on the Mac over my home network, but when I try to backup a larger catalogue of 10,000 images, PSE 10 freezes when 34% of the way through estimating the size of the backup. I’ve “optimised” and “repaired” the catalogue, but it freezes at the same point every time.

I’ve tried writing the tags to the image files and then breaking the catalogue into several smaller ones, but PSE 10 fails to transfer a large percentage of the tags to the new catalogue.

I wondered whether I have to install the PSE 2026 free trial to upgrade the PSE 10 on my PC first. I disconnected my PC from the outside world a year ago, so I downloaded the Windows file to my Mac and then moved it to the PC. Unfortunately, the file needs access to the Internet to download the program, and I don’t remember what I did to disconnect it.

How can I get PSE 10 to backup my main catalogue?

Welcome, Martyn · Accepted Answer

No hidden files, all files either connected or deleted, and all tags written to the files. I’ve just spent three days figuring out work-arounds, replicating my folder structure on my Mac, and then rebuilding my keyword hierarchy. I was able to get my keyword tags across, but only in a flat structure. Everything appears to be working now, although it’s a little early to say for sure. I wouldn’t have succeeded without help from ChatGPT.

After 25 years, PSE still isn’t rock-solid - I’ve had to restart several times during this process after the program started behaving erratically.

It’s sad to see that Adobe appears to have stripped away some useful features that my old version 10 had (smart tags, smart albums, the ability to set a custom GUI colour, and to be able to search by date range). Very disappointed with Adobe, but not surprised. The GUI has taken several steps backwards too.

I now have a keyword hierarchy that should work with a variety of other programs, so when my three years is up I’ll be able to migrate to a different product with a lot less pain.

Greg_S. · Answer

I have found that one of the main reasons a catalog backup stalls is because there are missing files in the catalog. If you are talking about Elements 10, try going to File>Reconnect>All Missing Files and see if any are found. Before doing so, make sure that View>Hidden Files>Show All Files is checked. Elements will not find or reconnect hidden missing files.

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