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fotografffic
fotografffic
Known Participant
November 1, 2017
Question

Pictures directory a mess after using PSE Organizer!!

  • November 1, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 7718 views

I organized photos in Photoshop Elements Organizer 2018 in Tree View.

Then I checked my Pictures directory (Windows 10) and it is an absolute mess!!!!!!!! I had about 30 folders (not counting subfolders) before using Organizer. Now there are 314 folders!!! I've used a few other organizers before and when I changed something in the organizer, the same changes took place in the Pictures directory (eg. moving, renaming)...and visa versa,

Questions: Why did this happen, and what can I do? Is it a glitch? What am I missing? If I reorganize everything in the Pictures directory, which will take hours, what can I expect to happen in Organizer?

What a mess!!!!

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

D
Don26812
Inspiring
April 15, 2018

This is probably way too late and not useful at this point given the length and actions undertaken during the months of activity on this thread. But I strongly suspect that somewhere along the way the Cardinal Rules of using the Organizer have been broken.

Cardinal Rules: Once an image has been imported into the Catalog using the Organizer, you must not MOVE, RENAME, or DELETE the file, unless you use the applicable Organizer command.

That is, you must not use Windows Explorer or the Mac File finder, Picasa, or any other similar program, or you will disconnect the photos in the Organizer. Like a library's card catalog, the Organizer's Catalog does not contain the photos, only pointers to which folder contains them.

From what I saw in the original post, it appears that initially the Cardinal Rule was not broken, because Tree Size Folders view was used. But here is what might have caused the problem. It is possible that while dragging/dropping images, figure/mouse coordination issues have  caused duplicates to be created somehow. Similar things have happened to me when I try to drag/drop in Windows Explorer.

I always use the Organizer's File > Move command when I reorganize physical locations. Slower, but for me far safer.

Also with all of the other actions tried throughout this long thread, I would not be surprised at all if the Cardinal rule was not broken somewhere along the way.

FWIW

https://don26812.wordpress.com/

fotografffic
fotograffficAuthor
Known Participant
November 2, 2017

While I may never know what caused the problem of hundreds sub-folders showing up in my Pictures after an Adobe tech person reinstalled Photoshop Elements 2018, I think I solved the problem.

I manually removed the hundreds of extraneous folders from the Pictures directory and backed them up to an external hard drive. I then deleted the extraneous folders off my hard drive. Thus far, Organizer seems to be behaving, and everything else seems to be working fine to this point.

Thanks everyone for trying to determine and help me solve the problem.

fotografffic
fotograffficAuthor
Known Participant
November 6, 2017

Yesterday, Organizer duplicated a subfolder that appeared in my Pictures folder. At least it made only one and not close to 300!

Another strange folder appeared: PictIQ. I assume, maybe erroneously, that it was created by Organizer?

MichelBParis
MichelBParis
Legend
November 6, 2017

fotografffic  wrote

Yesterday, Organizer duplicated a subfolder that appeared in my Pictures folder. At least it made only one and not close to 300!

Another strange folder appeared: PictIQ. I assume, maybe erroneously, that it was created by Organizer?

Never seen such a folder in Elements context.

A Google search shows this:

W10 - I delete duplicate photos & they all reappear: PC Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Do you or did you use the Google Photos App with syncing enabled?

99jon
99jon
Legend
November 1, 2017

What are the other Organizer apps? Are you using something like Picasa or similar? Could these apps have created folders to protect the integrity of a library?

Organizer simply manages the photos you tell it to. You can import one folder at a time, choose a batch of folders or import all folders & subfolders. You can also turn off the watch folder (Pictures by default) if you prefer not to have images imported automatically.

    fotografffic
    fotograffficAuthor
    Known Participant
    November 1, 2017

    What are the other Organizer apps? Are you using something like Picasa or similar? Could these apps have created folders to protect the integrity of a library?

    Thank you for your reply. But I really don't understand it. What do other programs have to do with the way Organizer is behaving?

    I've only had my notebook for about four months and have done no photo organizing with other programs. Saying that, I do have Picasa on my computer but have only used it two times to make photo collages. I also use Canon ZoomBrowser and photos are imported into it from a SD card.

    Organizer simply manages the photos you tell it to. You can import one folder at a time, choose a batch of folders or import all folders & subfolders. You can also turn off the watch folder (Pictures by default) if you prefer not to have images imported automatically.

    I still want to understand why Organizer changed all the photos in my Pictures directory and messed everything up. In fact, when I looked closely, the directory is now "organized" the same as all the folders appear in List View in Organizer.

    No folders are being watched. All Meta Analysis is unchecked.

    Now I'm afraid to change or move anything in the My Pictures folder like I've been doing for years. Organizer will probably tell me that the photos are unlinked.

    If you or someone can help my better understand what is going on, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you.

      MichelBParis
      MichelBParis
      Legend
      November 1, 2017

      I still want to understand why Organizer changed all the photos in my Pictures directory and messed everything up.

      Simply, I don't believe it.The organizer does not create or move folders unless you decide so.

      There is still a mystery about what you are seeing as 'a mess' and what you are seeing in the left panel folder.

      How does it compare with the folder tree in the explorer?

      What do the 'created' additional folders look like?

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