Adobe Photo Elements

Report · Oct 15, 2018

A week ago when opening Adobe Photo Elements, a screen came up and said there was an update available.

I clicked on it and it changed my version to Adobe Photo Elements 13.1. Once it rebooted A L L ---- E V E R Y O N E of my photos were G O N E!!

It's as if an entire new version of Photo Elements was downloaded and A L L --- of my hundred and hundreds of family photos, ancestry photos, trip photos, reunion photos --- have totally disappeared. There appears to be NO option in the menu to FIND these photos ----

Appreciate ANY help possible

Bruce

Oct 15, 2018

Report · Oct 15, 2018

Which operating system?

Reboot your computer. Start Photoshop Elements. Which version is shown?

Report · Oct 15, 2018

Thank you John for replying.

I am running Windows 10 64 bit. I've had the Adobe Photoshop Elements for a while. Last input was maybe two weeks ago when I added some soccer game photos in from my granddaughters team.

When I clicked on "About" this is what came up for my Adobe Photoshop Elements:

Elements Organizer 13.0.0.0

Core Version: 13.1 (20150130.m.66724)

Language Version: 13.1 (20150130.m.66724)

Current Catalog:

Catalog Name: My Catalog

Catalog Location: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs\My Catalog\

Catalog Size: 130KB

Catalog Cache Size: 134.8KB

System:

Operating System Name: Windows 8

Operating System Version: 6.3

System Architecture:

Built-in Memory: 11.9GB

Free Memory: 8GB

Important Drivers / Plug-ins / Libraries:

Microsoft DirectX Version: 9.0

Apple QuickTime Version: Not installed

Adobe Reader Version: Not installed

Adobe Acrobat Version: 11.0

CD and DVD drives:

I: (hp CDDVDW BUS: 2 ID: 2 Firmware: SH-216DB)

Odd --- it is referring to the OS as Windows 8 vice 10. I've been running 10 since about 6 months after it came out. Never experienced a problem before with Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Appreciate any advise you may have --- those missing photos are very precious to me as some also are of deceased relatives and a once in a life time trip to Scotland

Thank you for any help or suggestions

Bruce

[Personal information removed by moderator.]

Report · Oct 15, 2018

Your photos are not located in Photoshop Elements. Photoshop Elements just acts as a shortcut for viewing your photos

Your photos should still be located on your computer in the folder(s) that you saved them. Just use Windows Search to find them. Search for .jpg or whatever the file extension is.

Report · Oct 15, 2018

Thanks Bob,

But in the past whenever I opened up Adobe Photoshop Elements and clicked on the "organize" it would show ALL of my photos -

did not have to look anywhere else.

I WILL however search (again - and again) for them elsewhere on my computer. All I know is the LAST "free" Update --- made ALL of my photos that were in Adobe Photoshop Elements total disappear

Thanks for your reply

Bruce

Report · Oct 15, 2018

Bruce,

You are looking at an empty catalog.

I don't know why you changed catalogs, but there is absolutely no reason your good catalog has been deleted, no reasons either your photo files have been deleted.

Start with the menu File >> manage catalogs and look at the list of possible catalogs present on your computer.

If you see other catalogs, open them to check if they are the good one.

If you don't see other catalogs, it's possible to do a search from your explorer or finder. Search a file named "catalog.pse13db". Such files are included in a folder wich is the catalog folder. If you find one such file with a size more than 130KB (your empty file), double click on the catalog.pse13db to open the organizer with that catalog.

Anyway, you can search for the photo files themselves as indicated by Peru Bob.

Report · Oct 16, 2018

Good morning Michael,

First, thank you VERY much for your timely reply and professional guidance.

Second, I did not intentionally do anything to "change catalogs". Never saw a message to consider that --- I simply clicked on "update" when Adobe Photoshop Elements indicated there was an update available.

I agree, there was no "normal reason" for Adobe to delete my photo library. I will look into the files you suggested and see if I can discover them. I did try Peru Bob's suggestion in searching for photos --but they simply are NOT there.

Again, thank you very much for your suggestions. I will try them this morning.

FYI --When I click on Adobe Photoshop Elements, then to "Organizer" -- then "Catalog Manager" -- I am faced with three options: (1) catalog Accessible to all users; (2) catalog accessible by current user; and (3) custom location. Regardless of what I click on the My Current Catalog option to "OPEN" is grayed out --- not available. Catalog is not there.

Bruce

Report · Oct 16, 2018

Michael,

Per your suggestion I did a search of my Windows 10 "C Drive" using the

catalog.pse13db.

All I found was that file listed at 130kb!

C;/program data/Adobe/Elements organizer/catalogs/my Date modified 10/15/18.

Bruce

Report · Oct 16, 2018

I wonder if you are a victim of a bad (now recalled) Windows 10 update:

New Windows 10 update deleted my files - Microsoft Community

Report · Oct 16, 2018

Thanks Peru Bob.

Believe I escaped that fiasco --- last update I received was Win 10 Ver 1803 X64bit Kb4426219. I believe the October Massive update has a different "kb" number; but certainly your suggestion of the Microsoft October Update could be an issue to consider.

I'm searching for an old external drive I used for backup --- perhaps I can recover my photos from that.

Thanks much for your persistence in helping

Bruce

Report · Oct 16, 2018

Also, this has been my first experience with the Adobe Forum and I must say I've very pleased with the help that has come forward.

Bruce