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Participant
March 7, 2019
Question

Updating Place Tags As Photoshop Elements Changes Over Time???

  • March 7, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 2454 views

I am a long-time Photoshop Elements user, with 45K+ photos tagged with Keywords, People, Places and Events.  I believe I started with Version 10 on a Windows machine.  Whatever I started with, I had to build Place tags manually, and tagged 10's of 1,000's of pics.  At some point in the upgrade cycle, Adobe's Place function started using Google Maps, and had no ability to 'import' manually generated tags, so a whole new file hierarchy was started, under country names, such as "United States".  Annoying, but I gritted my teeth and stuck with the product line.  When I upgraded to Version 16, Google Maps was no longer used, and I could not create new Places.  Reluctantly I upgraded to Version 17, assuming some sort of compatibility would be achieved.  No.  Worse yet, Adobe now embraces 'Map Box', not compatible with my Google-based Places, or my manually-created Places.  I am disappointed.  If I create new Places in the US, they show up under "United States of America", as opposed to the old "United States", starting a whole new file hierarchy.  Ridiculous.  Call in support was persistent and creative in trying various work-arounds, such as renaming files and the like, but nothing they could come up with would allow the creation of one file structure.  I am *very* disappointed.  I have the further fear that Adobe's current romance with 'Map Box' will cool, and in a couple years they will go to yet another incompatible platform.  They have done that twice, why not a third time?!?  Here is what I want:  a drag-and-drop capability to move existing tag categories under new headings.  I have a number of US State file folders, for instance:  let me drag them under a new "United States" category.  Can anybody help me in the meantime?.

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4 replies

Participant
July 3, 2020

All I can say about this message and all the answers is:  ME TOO!!!  The "Places" tagging is a complete mess. 

Another feature that has changed from version to version is the capability to handle PDF files.

Good software should always be backward compatible to previous versions or there should be a converter to upgrade old data (catalogs in this case) to the new version.  Adobe has not done this, and I, too, would jump to another photo organizer if there were an alternative that was:

a) reasonably priced

b) reasonable convenient to convert from the Adobe PSE Organizer

c) demonstrated a business strength to carry on into the future.

 

Participating Frequently
June 21, 2021

A very late addtion to this issue. The map label problem is horrible. With 2019 it was bad enough but 2021 made it worse. I can't find any way to consolidate locations as sub fioles. (E.g., my Italy pictures have at least five different tag schemes even though I have only gone to Rome!) Furthermore, I cannot expand thumbnails to see larger versions unless I leave on the tags/information panel. If I did not have so much time invested in this mess, I would switch to something else. Adobe, wake up!

Participant
April 2, 2019

I am having the same problems - just updated from Elements 13 to 19.  Now I have a US folder and a USA folder.  Very annoying that changes are made that do not allow for one file structure for locations.  Is Adobe planning to resolve this problem?  I have thousands of images that would have to be retagged!

Greg_S.
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 7, 2019

I have never used geo-tagging, and instead have always used keyword tags for a simple hierarchy of places which serves my needs.  It would be possible to create a 3-level "places" hierachy, e.g. Country>State/City>Location. If further levels are required, multiple tags can be applied (although, this makes it more difficult to have an indented hierarchy).  Since the real reason to tag a file is to search for it at a later time, is there any real need to have a country top-level category?  And if you really need 4 (or more) levels, tagging an image in a hierarchy of California>Anaheim>Disneyland with additional tags of USA and Tomorrowland should give all the specificity and flexibility needed. 

Given all of the changes with Maps, I am glad I have stuck with keyword tagging instead of using Places.

I have a number of US State file folders, for instance:  let me drag them under a new "United States" category.  Can anybody help me in the meantime?.

I'm not sure if you mean you have US States files or tags.  If it is just folders that you want to tag with a United States tag, here is what I would do:

1.  Create a new keyword category called United States;

2.  Select the folders in the Folders panel (one at a time);

3.  Hit Ctrl+A to select all of the media in the folder;

4.  Click and drag the United States tag onto the grid.

If you want to tag each state with its own name, create a sub-category of the state name, and use the same method to tag the individual folders.

If you meant to say that you have a Places tag for each state and now want to place them under a United States category, but can't because of the changes in Maps, I would propose the following:

1.  Create a new keyword sub-category with the name of the state.

2.  Select the existing Places tag for that state to display all the images for that tag;

3.  Hit Ctrl+A to select all of the tagged media;

4.  Tag with the new state keyword tag.

5.  If desired, and to avoid confusion, delete the Places state tag.

Ron210463
Participant
March 23, 2019

This typical of Adobe, you buy software from them with features such as places, this stops working and rather than provide a fix for the software you HAVE PURCHASED they want you to upgrade for a feature you have already paid for.

I have had nothing but problems with ADOBE and their support is simply awful, i am looking actively for an alternative as it is clear they are only interested in selling faulty software!!!!!

johnd55503680
Participating Frequently
June 7, 2019

I agree. The map function is not good. For example, I search for a location and it is found (sometimes correctly). When I add that location nothing happens or if I select a photo and add the location (which was found) the photo gets added to another location that is not even close!

The map function is terrible !!!

Inspiring
March 7, 2019

same problem!  See my post

MapBox Problem not compatible with Google Maps Tags

Using PSE 17 and previous versions of PSE, I have placed over 10000 photos on Google maps and created keywords and tags for each. When Google maps became no longer supported by PSE 2017, I purchased PSE 2019 and imported my photos and associated tags into PSE 2019. This seemed to work but when I began to add new places, I found some significant bugs:

One example is I have previously created in PSE2017 a category for USA and sub categories for the states and tags for the cities (Example: USA->Florida->Miami). The old key tags work but now when I add a new place name (USA->Florida->Key West), the data base adds a new category (USA->Florida->Key West), So I now have two categories named USA when I simply wanted to add Key West to the original hierarchy in the existing Florida sub-category.

This is just an example of one of my problems. It just seems that Map Box does not recognize the Google map hierarchy and wants to create a new one.

Another problem is that I could not create a category and tag for Havana, Cuba. Is this a  political problem or a MapBox problem?

Any help or workarounds would be appreciated.

I contacted MapBox and got an answer stating that MapBox is not compatible with Google Maps and the previous PSE map database,

.

Participant
March 7, 2019

Meg:


Drat!  You are having exactly the same problem I have with the generation of a new file structure, and Adobe told me basically the same thing Map Box support told you:  not compatible, and no plan.  Frustrating.  Thanks for getting right back!

I tried your Cuba problem, and Elements would let me see it on the map, accept it and call it 'Done', but it did not tag the pic or add it to my Place list.  Weird.  So I tried 'Bogota, Columbia', and again it did not tag the pic, but DID add Columbia to my list of Places.  Double weird.

I wish us luck, it is going to take some!