Unable to Import PSE18 Catalog into Elements Organizer 2026

Question

I'm trying to migrate my Father's photo catalogs from a Time Machine backup to Elements Organizer 2026 on Mac. I have copied over the photos from the Time Machine backup into the same location on the new computer.

There are two catalogs I am trying to move across (but I believe the second failin gone is the most important).

"MyCatalog" with a pse11db file - ✅ This imported successfully using File > Manage Catalogs > Convert Catalog
"Catalog 1" with a pse18db file - ❌ This won't import at all

What I've Tried

Copied the catalog folder from Time Machine to ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Elements Organizer/Catalogs/Catalog 1/ using cp -pR to preserve permissions
File > Manage Catalogs > Convert Catalog - The PSE18 catalog doesn't appear in the conversion list (only the PSE11 catalog showed up)
File > Manage Catalogs > Browse/Custom Location - Selecting the Catalog 1 directory does nothing
Changed file permissions with chmod 644 on the catalog.pse18db file
Right-clicked the catalog.pse18db file and tried "Open With" Elements Organizer 2026
Temporarily renamed catalog.pse18db to catalog.pse11db to trick the converter - didn't work

Current Catalog Details

The catalog folder contains:

catalog.pse18db (329 MB)
CAXMPFiles directory with 33,930 files
Various cache and support files

All permissions appear correct (-rw-r--r-- for the main database file).

My Question

How do I properly migrate a PSE18 catalog to Elements Organizer 2026?

I no longer have access to the original computer running Elements 20 (this is the version he has in his purchases after 11) - I only have the Time Machine backup. The PSE11 catalog converted fine (I think, there were some error messages if I recall), so why won't the PSE18 catalog even show up as an option?

Is there an intermediate step I'm missing? Do I need to install an older version of Elements first to properly convert the PSE18 catalog before bringing it into 2026? I have tried downloading Elements 20 again. But since it is an M1 Mac it doesn't seem to work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

System Info

macOS (latest)
Adobe Photoshop Elements Organizer 2026
Source: Time Machine backup from Elements 20
MacBook M1 Pro

Greg_S. · Answer

I know nothing about Macs. My experience is based solely on Windows. I will ping @Jeff Arola another community expert who may be able to help you.

In the meantime, are you sure that the Elements 2020 catalog (version 18) was not automatically converted when you first launched the Organizer? There should have been an option to do that if Elements 2020 had been used on the same computer as the Elements 2026 installation.

If there was a failed attempt to convert the version 18 catalog, the reason it may not show up in the Catalog Manager dialog is because the program may think that the catalog has already been converted. If you haven't done so already, check the Show Previously Converted Catalogs box in the Convert dialog and see if it now appears. You can then convert the catalog again.

6962026.01.24.png

Another option would be to install Elements 2020 on the current machine and try to open and repair the catalog in that version before converting it again. (This may not be possible if the current Mac OS does not support the older version of Elements. Jeff will be able to tell us if you give us that information.)

What I've Tried

Current Catalog Details

My Question

System Info

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