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defaultqpjjind8if64
Participant
January 29, 2023
Question

Reorganize one folder

  • January 29, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 438 views

I wanted to change the dates on some pictures in one folder to 1954, and it changed them all. I now want to correct dates to the dates the pictures were actually taken. I deleted all the 1954 dated pictures from the folder and on the computer. I then copied the original dated photos to the same folder, but the photos were not added back. 

 

Is there any way to highlight the affected pictures and have them added back to my library again?

 

I upgraded to Photoshop Elements 2023 from 2020 and was hoping the file organization would be easier to navigate, no such luck. It is really quirky and needs an overhaul to make it user friendly.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Greg_S.
Community Expert
Greg_S.Community Expert
Community Expert
February 4, 2023

@defaultqpjjind8if64, this is a user-to-user forum and is mainly supported by volunteers like me.  So, to answer your questions as best I understand them:

 

  • The Organizer is only a catalog of the photos stored on your computer.  You must take some action to import the files into the Organizer's catalog.  It is not enough to simply replace the photos in your computer's hard drive.  You will need to import them too.  If you see the 1954 folder in the Folders panel, right click on it and select Import Media.  Any photos in the folder that are not in the catalog will be imported.  BTW, when you deleted the files, did you do so in the Organizer?  You should never manage your files (delete, move or rename) outside of the Organizer.
  • You said: I wanted to change the dates on some pictures in one folder to 1954, and it changed them all.  The only way this could happen is if you had all of the photos selected.  (I'm assuming that you are talking about the Adjust Date and Time feature of the Organizer.)
  • You said:  Is there any way to highlight the affected pictures and have them added back to my library again?  In addtion to right-clicking on the folder in the Organizer and selecting Add Media, you can use the Import>From Files and Folders command.  If there are only a select number of files that you want in the catalog, you can navigate to the folder and select the files.  But if you want to make sure all of the files in a folder are imported, you can select the folder (or more than one) and click the Get Media button.
  • You asked:  How do I get the original picture date back on my photosthat were accidently changed?  If you are talking about the 1954 files, how did you get the date on there to begin with?  The photos were obviously not digitized back then and wouldn't have a date.  If you scanned the photos, the files would have the scan date.  In any event, as mentioned earlier, you can multi-select the files that you want to redate, right-click on one of them and use the Adjust Date and Time command.

 

If you want to actually get help from Adobe Support, you can start a chat session by clicking on the blue Contact Us button under the Help & Support menu at Adobe.com. Or you can contact Support by telephone using the numbers listed here: https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/phone.html. Hours of operation outside of the United States are limited. See the phone link for details.

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defaultqpjjind8if64Author
Participant
February 7, 2023

Thanks for your help, Greg. I originally recopied the missing photos into A Windows Explorer folder and thought Photoshop would recognize the photos and automatically import them again, it didnt. Today I manually dragged the photos from explorer into the PS folder and they were imported with the correct picture date.Thanks again!

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defaultqpjjind8if64Author
Participant
February 3, 2023

Does anyone from Adobe read these messages and offer any support? How do I get the original picture date back on my photosthat were accidently changed?

 

MichelBParis
MichelBParis
Legend
February 4, 2023
quote

Does anyone from Adobe read these messages and offer any support? How do I get the original picture date back on my photosthat were accidently changed?

 


By @defaultqpjjind8if64

 

Yes, they do... sometimes!

Although this forum is mainly followed by volunteers. Your question requires more information from you and probably a lot of explanations about the way the organizer works with the catalog. The simple and basic answer would be to restore your catalog from a recent backup when you have made a user error. Not realy what you are expecting.

 

So, first question:

How did you delete the files before re-importing them?

- from the Explorer?

- from the organizer?

In the first case, you have deleted the files on the computer drives and left them in the database of the catalog. The files are still registered/indexed but they are missing. The result is that you can't import them again, as it is forbidden to import duplicates. The workaround then would be to search for missing files and delete them from the catalog at the end of the process.

 

If you deleted them from the organizer, no problem to re-import the files.

 

There are different ways to change the dates in the organizer in a batch of selected photos. The problem would be to verify if there is an option to recover the original date: I'll have to check that;  I'll come back if I find a way.

 

Edit:

In the organizer, use the menu "adjust date and time of selected items"

The second option is to "change to match files date and time".

Could you try it now that you have re-imported the original files in the computer ?

Alternatively, select your files and right click to 'Update thumbnails". That updates the catalog with some contents of the file itself into the catalog;  that works for captions, not sure about dates.

 

You have to keep in mind that the metadata are managed in the catalog and not automatically written into the files themselves. You can write metadata to files, which is a good backup practice, but that is much, much slower than using an indexed database, so it's your choice to do that when you think it would be useful.

    D
    defaultqpjjind8if64Author
    Participant
    February 7, 2023

    Thanks for your help, Michael. I originally recopied the missing photos into A Windows Explorer folder and thought Photoshop would recognize the photos and automatically import them again, it didnt. Today I manually dragged the photos from explorer into the PS folder and they were imported with the correct picture date.Thanks again!

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