Need help importing tags and albums in PSE 2026

​@cjr114 , there are a couple of issues that need clarification.  

You said:   When I downloaded PE 2026 and first opened it, I was prompted to get my photos which had been restored to my laptop via OneDrive. All of my photos are now in PE 2026.

On your original computer, where were your Elements Organizer catalog photos stored?  (In a Pictures or similar system parent folder or in a local One Drive folder?)

When you restored your photos to the new computer (from the One Drive folder on your external drive?), what file structure did you use to save the files?  Are the files in the exact same file structure as was used by your Elements 2021 catalog?  In order to be effective, the entire file structure would have to be identical.  Often, when changing computers, a new user name account will be opened.  So, the Pictures folder might be under C:\Users\NAME 1 on one computer and C:\Users\NAME 2 on another.  

There are a couple of ways to deal with your situation.  You can test whether the file structure is the same by simply double-clicking on the database file catalog.pse19db under what I presume is the My Catalog folder shown in your screenshot.  If you only have Elements 2026 on the new computer, the Elements 2021 catalog will be converted to the 2026 version and will open in the Organizer.  Once the thumbnails appear in the Organizer, see what happens if you double-click on one of them.  If you get a message that the file is missing, then the file structure for that catalog is not the same as on the new computer.  I also note that the catalog date appears to be more than a year old.  So I assume that it is the backup version of your catalog.

If you have the missing files message, it may take a while to connect the catalog to your current photo file structure.  If that is the case, it may just be easier to start over - meaning restore the backup from your external drive and use the Restore Original Folder Structure option for the restoration.  See this article for more details. You can then update the backup by importing any newer files.

I shall await your response before giving any additional advice.

Hi ​@cjr114, thanks for reaching out! I have moved your thread to Photoshop Elements. Let’s confirm a few things:

1. Ensure that the catalog from PSE 2021 is still available on your hard drive. The catalog file is typically named catalog.psedb and can be found in the folder where you restored your catalog.
2. If you have a backup of the original catalog, consider restoring it from the external backup. Make sure you choose a location that is fully accessible by your current user account.
3. After restoring the catalog, check to see if the tags and folder organization have been restored. You can do this by selecting a few photos at random in the catalog and verifying their properties.

If you’re still experiencing this issue, we can continue to troubleshoot. I hope this helps! ^CH

​@cjr114 

You accidentally posted to Photoshop.

By “PE” do you mean Photoshop Elements (PSE) or Photoshop Express (PSX)?

I found the links for both for you. Please post to one of these forums:

• Photoshop Elements:
  https://community.adobe.com/photoshop-elements-714
• Photoshop Express:
  https://community.adobe.com/photoshop-express-717

Jane

Good morning. I recently had to purchase a new Windows 11 OS laptop as my old laptop died. On the old laptop, also running Windows 11, I had PE 2021. When I bought the new laptop, I purchased PE 2026. I did have an external drive backup of my catalog, as well as all photos backed up on Microsoft OneDrive.

When I downloaded PE 2026 and first opened it, I was prompted to get my photos which had been restored to my laptop via OneDrive. All of my photos are now in PE 2026. However, it did not access the files that contain the information for tags and folders, so I now have some 20K photos with no organization.

I am trying to figure out the best fix for this. Is there some way to access the file(s) that contain the folder and tags data that is likely somewhere on my hard drive? If not, would it make more sense to uninstall PE 2026, reinstall it, and then restore my catalogue from the external drive backup?

I appreciate any guidance here!

Thanks,

Craig