PSE 2021 dropped Camera RAW Database?

Hi Frans,

The ability to save image settings in a Camera Raw database was deprecated in Adobe Camera Raw 12.3 which was released in July 2020.

Here's Andrew Rodney (aka @TheDigitalDog) on the Camera Raw database vs. XMP sidecar files over on the Camera Raw Support Community:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/camera-raw/bake-xmp-changed-into-my-canon-raw-files/m-p/11280998#M11672

Not convinced? Here are some workarounds:

- Hide the XMP sidecar files: If you still maintain a folder-based way of organizing your images, here's a quick video recording I made of a way to hide the XMP sidecar files in Windows 10's File Explorer:

Just remember to unhide them if you're manually copying the image files to another folder/drive/computer or you'll run into the same issues that Andrew Rodney described when he was talking about the Camera Raw database.

- Revert back to Adobe Camera Raw 12.2.1: Use the steps outlined here to replace your current Adobe Camera Raw plug-in with version 12.2.1 which still contains the option to save your image settings in the Camera Raw database:

Update the Camera Raw version on your Mac or Windows machine

Here are some screenshots of Adobe Camera Raw 12.2.1 working in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021:

- Convert all your images to DNG files: if you really don't like XMP sidecar files AND you want to run the latest version of the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in, convert all your images to DNGs using Adobe's DNG Converter:

Adobe Digital Negative Converter

Hope that gives you enough info to help you make an informed choice 🙂