Prevent auto import to new catalog?

David, your new camera requires ACR version 14.4.   Elements 2022 only updates to ACR 14.1.  You will therefore need to manually update the ACR plug-in.  Elements 2022 should accept the latest version which is 16.x.  See my instructions posted here to perform the update.  Note that for Elements 2022, the plug-in file must be copied to the following directory:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\Elements 20\File Formats

And can you please explain why the Tree View is not useful for your needs.

@David363815122dz6 said:  Would the RAW files be brought in as separate files I could edit? I assume so. I only recently had a camera that would even create RAW files.

Yes, the raw files are brought in as separate files.  They are edited in the Adobe Camera Raw Editor (ACR).  Once you select a raw file, some basic editing can be performed in the ACR.  If you want to perform more creative editing or save the edited raw file as a jpeg, you need to click the ACR's Open button and the file will then be opened in the main Photoshop Elements Editor.  You can then perform your other edits and/or save to jpeg.  (I recommend saving the file in a Version Set.  This will stack the edited file over the original raw file which will never be altered - although the raw thumbnail will be changed to reflect the edits made in ACR).

Also, if you have a very new camera, Elements 2022 may not have a necessary updated ACR plug-in file.  Let us know if that is the case and we can tell you how to update the file.

When you are importing files from your new camera, the import dialog has the ability to stack the raw and jpeg files together.  So you could end up with a single stack containing the raw/jpeg files and also any edits of those files that you have opted to save as a Version Set.

@David363815122dz6 said:  I have no tags at all, file names are just whatever the various cameras created at various times over the years or a few folder names of whatever I customized as memory joggers,

The Organizer has a feature that automatically analyzes your photos and applies Smart Tags to them.   This is such a powerful and proficient feature (powered by AI) that I rarely tag my photos any more.  The Search function will allow you to find photos containing a particular subject with a high degree of accuracy.

@David363815122dz6 said:  so there are probably duplicate names scattered around the various years when I did not rename folders, i.e., New York Trip, China Trip, etc.. Is that going to be a problem?

No problem whatsoever.

@David363815122dz6 said:  I also rarely go very far back in time for searches. What year I need is found by memory or a bit of trial and error.

That is the beauty of the Organizer.  You don't need to rely on memory.

@David363815122dz6 said:  All of my image files are part of a tree named E:\Images. Under that is all the yearly structures. Would I just create a new catalog called, say, Main. Then use Import, Files and Folders and Get Media? I expect it could take
hours with that many files. 

Yes, Michel and I would recommend that you have just one catalog and import the files as you have said, using the Import: From Files and Folders.  You can select all of the folders in the Images directory and use the Get Media button to import them all.  (Make sure the box to import files from sub-folders is checked.)  It may take a little while on such a large number of files, but probably not hours.  The files are only being cataloged, not copied.  However media analysis, including face recognition could take a couple of days.  I suggest leaving your computer on over night while the analysis takes place.

@David363815122dz6 said:  Should the catalog be on the same SATA hard drive as E:\ images, or should it be on an M.2 SSD drive on C:?

You should probably leave it on the C drive.  The catalog folder is relatively small.  But you can move it to another drive without any noticeable performance drop-off.  And you should copy the catalog folder to another drive as a backup.

Hope you are enjoying your retirement as much as I am.  Photography can certainly take up a lot of time.  😁

David, my last post cross-posted with your response to Michel.  Hopefully what I have said will help you better understand the Organizer.   I will go through your last post in more detail to respond to your questions in more detail.  But first, please confirm that you were viewing the folders panel in List View, not Tree view. 

Hi, David,

I am sorry to seem to be very negative in my answers...

First, the full Photoshop does not use an Organizer, it needs either Bridge or Lightroom to manage the files on your computer.

- Bridge is a powerful file browser optimized for managing images. It does not work on a catalog, and looks like the default Explorer or finder of your operating system. You can use it for free with the organizer.

- Lightroom Classic is a powerful data management built on an Sqlite database (like the Organizer), but it's not a pixel editor like Photoshop or Elements, it's a parametric editor. That means that the original media file is never changed, but the information about all the edits you are doing are recorded and saved together with the source file (for raw files in a sidecar xmp file, for image formats like jpeg in the metadata header of the source file).

Lightroom is a subscription licence while Bridge is available for free for Elements if you install the desktop version of Creative Cloud without any subscription software like Photoshop and Lightroom.

Now, about your project to split your catalogs, it's considered a very bad solution compared to using a single catalog. You don't get the gain of speed your are expecting and you make backup management impossible. You can't search across several years. If you have 25 years  of digital photos like me, imagine the job to search by places, names or tags.

I have found that having a main year structure is enough to organize the files in the Explorer. I create a new year subfolder every year. At the same time I set my preference to import new files in that subfolder.  I would need to create months subfolders, but that would be too much work for very little advantage.

Additionally, I have set my preference in the advanced mode of the downloader to store the imported files when you import by camera or card reader, not from files and folders, but there is a workaround by copying your files to a USB drive. Importing the files of any date will put them in the required subfolder of the year you have set in your preference. That way I have both the logical file structure of the catalog and a useable file folders hierarchy which can be used without the organizer.