Photo albums empty on IPhone after sync

Elements 15

IPhone 7

Ios 10.3.3

ITunes 12.6.2   

I just purchased Elements and tediously organized about 4k pictures into albums. I synced with my IPhone and all the albums have transferred to the device but all have 0 photos in them. I've tried about ten different ways to force the transfer of the pictures but no luck. What am I missing?

This all worked perfectly on my IPhone 5 and Elements 10....