Photoshop elements 2020 using an external drive to import photos from card reader to organizer

@Bonnie26642331u0gs asked:  Please explain the save or save as funtion thanks.

The Editor's Save and Save As functions operate like any other program. 

• If you use File>Save, the file that you opened to edit will be saved with the same name and in the same format as the original file.  So, if you opened a jpeg file named File 001.jpg and edit it, the original file will be overwritten with the edits you have made and the edited file will also be named File 001.jpg. 
• If you use the File>Save As command, you can save a copy of the file with either a different name or a different format (or both).

There are various other options that are available in the Save/Save As dialogs, but they depend on what you are doing at the time.  In my jpeg example above, if the edits create a situation where you cannot save the file as a jpeg, e.g. if you have added a layer to the file, the file will default to save as a .psd file.  It is still possible to save the file as a jpeg, but the saved file will be flattened into one layer because jpeg files cannot have more than one layer.  You may also see a warning button which will tell you more about the situation you face.

For more detailed information, see this HelpX article.

@Bonnie26642331u0gs said: I mentioned in my last communication that when I mported this time it indcated seagate expanison is where it was stored? I think there is a clich because previous to this import it went into pictures this import did not go into pictures on my laptop. 

As you can see from the following screenshots, when you import photos from a memory card, you can control where the files are copied and stored.  The screenshots show the Adobe Photo Downloader (APD) dialog which opens when you choose Import>From Camera or Card Reader in the Organizer.  On the left is the standard dialog.  On the right is the advanced dialog which is available by clicking on the Advanced Dialog button.  I recommend using the advanced dialog because it offers additional options:  thumbnails and file names and dates of photos on your memory card are displayed; you can filter by photo and video files; you can avoid the reimport of files already in the catalog; and you can choose to stack jpeg/raw files if you shoot both formats of the same image.

If you wish to change the location to store your files, simply click on the Browse button and navigate to the desired folder location.

@Bonnie26642331u0gs said:  YOU SAID: In the case of your external drive, it must be connected to your computer for you to edit your photo file. this contradicts the first POINT 1 ? 

I'm not sure I understand why you think this is contradictory.  The Editor can only edit files that are available on the hard drive where they are stored. The Organizer can identify and catalog your files wherever they are located on your machine.  If you disconnect an external drive e.g. to stop it overheating, the Organizer will show the file as missing (with the yellow ? icon).  If you reconnect the external drive (and maintain the same drive letter as the drive had when the photos were imported) the photos will be reconnected and no longer show as missing.  Similarly, the Editor will be able to open the files.  If you were to disconnect and reconnect an external drive and the drive were given a different drive letter, the photo will be missing in the Organizer and cannot be opened from there.  BUT, the file would still be available on your computer and could be opened and edited in the Editor using the Editor's File>Open menu to navigate to the file.  I would not recommend that you do this.  Always make sure that the external drives maintain a consistent drive letter when you reconnect them.

@Bonnie26642331u0gs said:  Yousaid:.  The Organizer does NOT copy or move the files.How can I tell where the photos are located

There are several ways:

• Select a file in the Organizer's grid.  The Information Panel on the right will display the Location of the file:

• In the My Folders panel on the left, make sure you are in the View as Tree, not View as List which is the default display. 

   

• Right-click on the photo and choose Go to Folder from the context menu.  The selected photo's folder will be selected and you can see its location in your computer's folder hierarchy.  All photos in that folder will then be displayed in the Media Grid.

@Bonnie26642331u0gs said:   I mentioned before that when the external drive is used for about an hour the external gets hot and in my opionion it is not a good . That being said I want to avoid using the external and somehow edit the photo in the editor function in Adobe Elements but you have not indicated how or if that can be done? IT CONTRADICTS YOUR FIRST POINT AND  CONDRADICTS - your external drive, it must be connected to your computer for you to edit your photo file.

As mentioned before, the Editor can only edit photos stored on one of your computer's hard drives.  You can store your photos on any of your drives, internal or external.  It is only if the file is stored on your external drive that the drive needs to be connected to your computer in order to edit it.   If you are concerned about your external hard drive overheating, you can disconnect it or switch it off and only connect it when you want to edit a file stored on it.  Frankly, I think you are overstating the concern about the external hard drive heat (unless you are living in a very hot climate).   I have many external hard drives connected almost 24/7.  And, yes, my Seagate drives do tend to be hotter than the others, I don't think I have ever had a drive fail because of it.  In any event, there is nothing to stop you disconnecting the drive whenever you want.  But, at least on Windows, make sure you disconnect when the computer is off, or use the utility in the Task Bar to safely remove a live drive.

@Bonnie26642331u0gs said:   SHOULD I ASSUME IF THE PHOTO AND/OR PHOTOS ARE ON OR GET THEM TO GO INTO MY INTERNAL HARD DRIVE THAT I CAN IMPORT? OR IS IT EXPORT? THE PHOTO INTO THE EDITOR IN ADOBE ELEMENTS THEREFORE AVOIDING THE USE OF EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WHICH I WANT TO DO. 

What do you see if the catalog is open?  is this the way  to accomplish the above question?  

Hopefully, my above responses have answered this question.

@Bonnie26642331u0gs said: 

• The photo will be converted to the .PSD format.  This allows edits to be made using layers, transparency and other editing features that could not be made to a jpeg for example. WHAT ABOUT USING CAMERA RAW FILTER ASSUME THAT IS OFFERED IN ADOBE ELEMENTS ? IS PSD AUTOMATIC?

There is no Camera Raw filter in Elements (and probably never will be).  That feature is only in Photoshop CC.  In my earlier post, I described how the ACR dialog will launch if you open a raw file in Elements.  The Elements ACR offers very limited raw file editing features compared with Lightroom or Photoshop CC.  However, the basic crop, exposure and tone commands are all there.  If you complete your editing in the ACR, you can click the Done button and your edits will be saved in what is known as a sidecar text file.  Your original raw file is not touched.  Any software (including the Organizer) will interpret the edited raw file for viewing using the sidecar file.  If you want to share the raw file for viewing e.g. in an email or on social media, you need to use the ACR's Open button.  This will open the file in the Elements Editor and you can then save the file as a jpeg, tiff, png or other format.

Photoshop Elements consists of two seperate programs:

1. The Organizer which is merely a catalog or database of the photo files stored on your hard drive(s) and
2. The Editor which allows you to edit your photos.  The  Elements Editor has nothing to do with either Lightroom or Photoshop CC.  It is a photo editor that is designed for hobbyists and does not have all of the features of those subscription programs.  (It also has a number of features that those programs do not have.)

The Organizer allows you to view your photos and provides many ways to help find a particular photo stored on your computer (for viewing or editing).  Those files can be stored on any hard drive - internal or external.  To borrow from an analogy that Michel frequently uses, think of the Organizer as a paper catalog of paintings in an art musueum.  The catalog lists all of the art work in the museum and tells you in which gallery the painting may be seen.  Similarly, the Organizer lists all of your digital photos and keeps track of where they are stored on your computer.

The museum catalog may have pictures of the art work found in the galleries.  But if the curator wants to restore a painting, they must go to the gallery to work on it.   They can't simply work on the catalog.  In the case of your external drive, it must be connected to your computer for you to edit your photo file.  If it is disconnected, it will be like the museum gallery is closed or the artwork has been sent out for a travelling exhibition.  (A similar situation occurs if you move or rename your files outside of the Organizer.  As I think you may have found, the file will be treated as missing, or - to use the analogy - stolen.)

The Organizer allows you to Import files into your catalog in several ways:

• If the photos are already stored on your hard drives, you use the command to Import>From Files and Folders.  When you do this, all that happens is that the Organizer adds your files to the catalog.  The Organizer does NOT copy or move the files.
• If the photo files have not been copied from your camera's memory card to your computer's hard drive, the Organizer does take care of that job for you.  You can either connect your camera to the computer via a USB cord or you can use a memory card reader.  In either case, you tell the program which hard drive to use to store your photo files.  The photos are then copied to your desired location and the files are then imported into the catalog.  YOU have complete control over where the files are stored. This is the process that Michel is referring to as registering the files in the catalog.  He means that the files (wherever you have chosen to store them) are placed in the catalog database and can be viewed in the Organizer's media grid.

It is possible to edit your photos in the Photoshop Elements Editor using various avenues.  You have specifically asked about editing files that exist in the Organizer's catalog.  Without getting too technical, here is how the process works:

• You view your photo files in the Organizer.  (The Organizer only displays a small thumbnail of your photo, not the full resolution photo.  While that may not be relevant to our discussion, I just want to emphasize that the Organizer is not holding a copy of your photo file.)
• You select a photo that you want to edit and send it to the Elements Editor.  You can do this via a command from the Edit Menu, using the Editor button in the lower tool panel, or (my favorite) using a keyboard shortcut:  Ctrl+I for Windows (Cmd+I for Mac)
• The photo will open in the Editor.
• The photo will be converted to the .PSD format.  This allows edits to be made using layers, transparency and other editing features that could not be made to a jpeg for example.
• When you are finished editing your photo, you are given the opportunity to save the file in various different formats.  If you wish to save to the original format, e.g. jpeg, you can save the file as a new (edited) copy, or you can overwrite the original file.  A copy will be given a new name with a suffix such as photo1 (copy1).jpg.   The Save As dialog also allows you to include the edited copy in the Organizer so you now have the original and edited copies listed in the catalog.  You also have the option to save the edited copy in what is called a Version Set.  If you choose this option, the edited copy will appear in a stack on top of the original so that only one thumbnail is seen.  You can always expand the stack to see all versions of the photo in the Organizer.

Bonnie, in a PM to me, you talk about files importing as jpegs, not raw files.  It is not clear to me which format you are shooting in.  Perhaps you are shooting in both.  If you are shooting raw, the file will open in the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) plug-in dialog which will appear over the Elements Editor.  You can make all of your edits in the ACR and close the ACR, in which case the edits will be saved in a separate small text file and the Organizer will display a thumbnail with the edited result.  No new photo file will be created and the original raw file will stay intact.  Alternatively, when you close the ACR, you can open the raw file in the Elements Editor and you can make further creative edits there.  This also allows you to save the raw file as a jpeg or other format file for viewing by others.

You have also asked about multiple edits and saves to jpeg files affecting the picture quality.  IMO, with today's higher resolution images, any lowering in quality because of added jpeg compression will be almost imperceptible.

You have asked a lot of questions and I am sure I have missed some.  I'll let you wade through these answers and I'm sure Michel or I will be happy to answer any further questions you have.

Short answers:

- your computer sees the external drive exactly like an internal one. It is supposed to be plugged in to be accessed

- When you import ("download / Get files from...") you can either just read files already stored somewhere on your computer, in which case you are only registering the location and metadata information including your keywording into a catalog, particularly the location of each file on the drives ; or you "get" from camera or card reader, which means that before registering in the catalog you copy the files where you want on your computer.

- There is no file duplication, no implied backup in the downloading phase.

- the key idea is to work with a catalog just like in Lightroom.

 Before going into details, my questions:

- Do you intend to use either Photoshop or Lightroom together with the organizer?

- Which Lightoom? Lightroom Classic or the Cloud version?

- Which of them have you been using before going to PSE and its organizer?