Catalog location too confused

[Grace Muskokan]

When I got a new desktop computer I put my Catalog on an EHD called Seagate #2. It  now has a number of subfolders included. Is this something I need to correct? It sure doesn't look like the version I had on my laptop which was just under MY Catalog with no subfolders.

I will attach the snip of system info and also the organizer view.

Would my Catalog be better if it does not have the subfolders?

[Glenn 8675309]

Your catalogues structure is 100% on you, make it do whatever makes you wall warm and fuzzy inside.  Correct it (only from within the organizer), don't correct it, do what you like. 

Whatever changes you make only make them from within the Organizer.   Once  you go and start making changes while outside of the organizer catalogue thos images become "missing" in the catalogue.

You see all your photos?  Just stop worrying about the file structure, and your concerns go away.

[Grace Muskokan · Accepted solution]

Thank you Glenn, that reassures me. I will make a backup on a different EHD before trying to change anything.

The reason I want to change this is that some of my photos are showing under Location exactly where I want them: EHD #2 Photo Backup by Year. But for some reason others are showing location as a folder within that Catalog, a subfolder also called Backup by Year. I don't know how I did this.

My concern is that I do not want my photos stored with the Organizer I want them in that Photo Backup file on the tree.

I have written Metadata to files for the tags and albums I used. Will the tags I have attached only be saved to the photos in the Catalog subfolder?

[Glenn 8675309]

Organizer is nothing more than an old school card catalogue you would find in a library.   It contains the location of the image, it's meta data, and a small thumbnail of the image.   You just have to tell it what folders / diorectories to monitor for changes. 

You told the catalogue to monitor certain folders. That is exactely what is is doing- it's montioring those folders.   I've told mine to monitor some folders-  no reason for it, I just said "Monitor these folder" for the heck of it. 

Before you do an incremental backup, you have to do a complete backup.   Just tell organizer to do it, and go get a  cup of coffee.   For the folders I have organizer monitoring it's 45GB of data.  I have over 250GB of just images.

When you do a backup you can choose "everything"- including the photos, or just the catalogue structure.

Many users, such as myself, have our "own system" and play with organizer-  I don't care about montioring meta data or image tags- i use my own system, which works for me.


Some of the folders I have organizer monitoring.   I get a lot of "missing photos" in organizer because I'm always moving things around outside of organizer.



Make organizer do what you want.  You can alwaysy delete catalogues, and start over--- just use it (organizer) however you want.   Some users lives seem to be cosumned with "fixing organizer"- me, nope, I'd rather spend my time doing other things. 

[Grace Muskokan]

So if I understand you correctly the information in the Location section is where Organizer got the photos from? I will have to check which folders I told it to Monitor. That could be the problem.

I usuall do a complete backup but the option to just do Catalog Structure looks interesting. Thanks for pointing that out.

Can I just leave this mess and move on to sorting and deleting duds, which is what I was trying to do?

[Grace Muskokan]

On further investigation it is even worse. Files appear to be stored in subfolders of my catalog but not where I wanted them in the upper level Photos By Year folder. Instead they are nested inside subfolders of My Catalog 10 aug 2023. I made that one when I switched to having the Catalog on EHD.

So that is where Organizer got the files when I imported them?

I was trying to have the photos stored in their own Photos by Year folder but accessed by My Catalog from there. The photos still appear in their proper Photos By Year folder in Explorer. I might be using a lot of memory if I have the photos in 2 places.

Have I somehow moved or copied the files when I imported them to the Organizer?

[Glenn 8675309]

You have the same photos in two different directories.  Just sort them however you want. 



catalogues and folder  views are two different things.  You can add whatever you want to a catalogue. 

[Grace Muskokan]

Thanks for persisting with my problem. I did not have my Photo Backup by Year folder as a Watch Folder. Will add it now. And I get to remove that annoying Drive as an option.

I will try to leave the Location info alone and just continue on the process I wanted to do, look at photos in each date folder and cull .

Thanks again for your help

[Glenn 8675309]

I actually hate the organizer.   I only have it installed to help others with-- it is marginally useful.   Adobe bridge does a much bettet job.   

I'll stick to "my system" and just let windows handle things- hasn't failed me in 31 years.

[Grace Muskokan]

Thanks, I'll look into Bridge. Organizer is annoying and difficult to work with. I'm ready for a change!