Elements 19 trial issues and long-term risk of losing tags, etc

[sarab68514782]

I used Photoshop Elements 5 for many years but after a bad Windows 10 update lost everything in Organiser. I didn't think I'd go back to Photoshop but here I am trialing Elements 19 (can't find anything better!). Can anyone help me with the following questions? (below). I've tried reaching Adobe Customer Services and, after getting passed around and cut off several times, I realise that's a waste of time (completely different from my experience with ACDSee who have contacted me directly by email asking how I'm getting on with their trial and offering me discounts!).

(1) I am getting the following message when launching Elements 19 Trial: 'Online services could not be initialised. Please re-install. Press OK to continue without using online services'. So far I've just clicked on OK and carried on. I'm concerned about reinstalling in case I lose everything I've already set up in the organiser. Any advice?

(2) It's also not clear how you buy the software - there's no link on the trial. Since I've already spent time importing and organising photos, I'm concerned about losing everything. Do I just need to buy the license and then will it update automatically (without losing anything)?

(3) Not impressed with the 'Find duplicates' function - it just seems to stack similar photos, not actual duplicates. One of my earlier problems with Photoshop 5 (or Windows 10) was that it suddenly made duplicates of all my photos. I'm looking for a quick and safe way to delete thousands of duplicates.

(4) My main concern is about losing everything (tags etc) again. How do you avoid this when you change laptop or have a computer crash (e.g., due to Windows update). Previously the embedding into the metadata seemed to save tags but not folders or subfolders. What is the best practice for this? And will I be able to continue using my Elements Organiser if several years ahead I don't have a licence (e.g., Adobe ceases to produce the product).

Response to any of these questions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[MichelBParis]

sarab68514782  wrote

(4) My main concern is about losing everything (tags etc) again. How do you avoid this when you change laptop or have a computer crash (e.g., due to Windows update). Previously the embedding into the metadata seemed to save tags but not folders or subfolders. What is the best practice for this? And will I be able to continue using my Elements Organiser if several years ahead I don't have a licence (e.g., Adobe ceases to produce the product).

Response to any of these questions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Partial answer:

See that recent discussion.

Future-proofing a personal archive

The best practice is first to follow good backup practice and to move your catalogs and your media files via the catalog manager to the future storing media (which nobody knows today).

Of course, it does make sense to 'write metadata to files' on a regular basis. That way, even with lost catalogs, you'll keep the tags, captions, notes, ratings embedded in the files. You'll lose albums, stacks, version sets, creations.

Previously the embedding into the metadata seemed to save tags but not folders or subfolders.

What do you mean? embedding folders/subfolders into the metadata header of each file????

Organizer backups do save both the media files and the corresponding catalogs.

And will I be able to continue using my Elements Organiser if several years ahead I don't have a licence (e.g., Adobe ceases to produce the product).

If Adobe is no longer there, nobody can tell if you'll have a solution to recover the catalogs in a future format. If that happens, you can imagine if you have more chance to recover from current competitors?

If Adobe is stll there and decides to stop the organizer, they'll have to provide some migration solution. You have a perpetual license, so the real problem is the compatibility with future OS and hardware. The currently available solution is that Lightroom can convert your catalogs to its own format. If Lightroom is still available, you should be safe.

[sarab68514782]

Thanks. Very helpful.

[Peru Bob]

sarab68514782  wrote

(2) It's also not clear how you buy the software - there's no link on the tria

Purchase here:

Picture & Video Editor Software | Adobe Elements 2019

Since I've already spent time importing and organising photos, I'm concerned about losing everything. Do I just need to buy the license and then will it update automatically (without losing anything)?

Just buy the license. In the Editor go to Help > Activate and you can enter your serial number.

[sarab68514782]

Thanks.

[MichelBParis]

sarab68514782  wrote

(3) Not impressed with the 'Find duplicates' function - it just seems to stack similar photos, not actual duplicates. One of my earlier problems with Photoshop 5 (or Windows 10) was that it suddenly made duplicates of all my photos. I'm looking for a quick and safe way to delete thousands of duplicates.

Don't dream.

There is no miracle way to delete thousands of duplicates without a lot of efforts on your part. There are external tools which may help in finding some kinds of duplicate files on various criteria, but in the organizer, the definition of duplicates is based on the need of photographers to download new files from camera or card reader without reimporting already present files in the current catalog.

The criteria are file size in kb and the critical date_taken field. So, the main tool is to prevent creating duplicates. The second tool, necessary for photographers is to recognize visually if the files are visual duplicates. Note that file names are not a significant criteria.

So, even if you use external tools together with the organizer ones, the result will be that you'll have to decide which version in stacked duplicates is the one to keep.

My advice is to be very cautious to avoid creating duplicates. If you have issues when uploading from your cards or the camera, give some more details.

[sarab68514782]

Thanks again. It was all to do with the Windows 10 update. I was pretty certain there was no quick and easy solution but just wanted to check - before I spend hours deleting duplicates.

[KumarPrakash]

Hi,

Regarding this,

sarab68514782  wrote

(1) I am getting the following message when launching Elements 19 Trial: 'Online services could not be initialised. Please re-install. Press OK to continue without using online services'. So far I've just clicked on OK and carried on. I'm concerned about reinstalling in case I lose everything I've already set up in the organiser. Any advice?

Please follow the below steps:

a. Check Edit->Preferences->Country/Region and check if correct country is selected.

b. Go to Edit -> Preferences-> Adobe Partner Services, check if all the check boxes are ticked and also click Refresh to Manually Check for new Services.

If above two does not help, Close PSE 2019 and EO 2019, Goto below location and delete its content:

Loc: %appdata%\Adobe\Online Services

Launch the app again and try Sharing any media using the "Share" option on  top right corner EO window.

Please let me know if this helps.

Thanks

Prakash

[Paul Galbraith]

(4) My main concern is about losing everything (tags etc) again. How do you avoid this when you change laptop or have a computer crash (e.g., due to Windows update). Previously the embedding into the metadata seemed to save tags but not folders or subfolders. What is the best practice for this? And will I be able to continue using my Elements Organiser if several years ahead I don't have a licence (e.g., Adobe ceases to produce the product).

I'm also very concerned with this, and like you I've recently been trialing ACDSee as well.  Both products have their strengths and weaknesses, but in the end I've decided to stay with Photoshop Elements and I've upgraded to version 2019.  Notably I think you're less likely to lose information when using ACDSee as more of the information is stored directly in the photograph files.  But, with a little planning and care I think all your organizational efforts in PSE can also be made relatively "safe" without fear of loss.

1. If you buy the product, make sure you store your serial number in a safe place (I store mine in the same place I store all my passwords).
2. Make sure you download the "full" installation package, as sooner or later Adobe will remove the download links and you'll no longer be able to download it from Adobe.  If you have it stored in a safe place that is backed up, then you'll always be able to reinstall the program at a later time, even in the event of a complete system failure.
3. Backup your PSE catalog and photos often (the reminder feature in PSE is very helpful here).  It is possible for your catalog to corrupt (in 10 years I've had a couple scares but still haven't come across an unrecoverable situation for my catalog), so the ability to restore to a previous known good version is always a nice fallback.  Not to mention the ability to restore photos that may have gotten lost/deleted.
4. Constantly export metadata back to your photo files.  This will add keyword tags and geotag/gps info back into the photograph files themselves which can then be read & used by any other application such as ACDSee.  (Note there's no standard way as far as I know to do this for videos, so your metadata only exists in the PSE catalog.)

Good luck!