Elements Organizer 2022 bug with Catalog custom location

[BJL128]

When I choose a network drive as custom location for my Catalog in Elements Organizer 2022 on Windows 10, it gives me a warning that it's not recommended, but allows me to click 'yes' to change to the network location.  However, even after clicking 'yes', it does not actually change to the network location.  I tried this in Elements Organizer 11 and it changed to the network location without any issues.  This appears to be a bug in Elements Organizer 2022.  Has anyone else had this issue?

[BJL128]

I finally found a phone number for Customer Service and called them.  There was no wait time, which was great, but the support technician was focused on explaining the drawbacks ofstoring a Catalog on a network location (and even told me that it is impossible to do) rather than acknowledging there is a software bug that needed to be fixed.  I finally gave up and ended the call since the support technician would not help resolve the actual issue.  Long story short, I found a workaround on my own by modifying the Windows Registry using the built-in RegEdit app.  In RegEdit, search for "CustomCatalogPath" (without the quotes) and change the Data (i.e., path) to whatever location you like, including network locations.  Not sure if it was necessary, but I also changed "CurrentCatalogPath" to be the same as the "CustomCatalogPath".  Ta-Da!  Now my Catalog is stored on a network location, which the support technican told me was impossible to do.  DISCLAIMER:  Modify the Windows Registry at your own risk!

[Bruce27231134rfbh]

I am having a similar issue with elements 2020 (18.2).  I find it seemingly lets me select network folder mapped to the t: drive, but when I do so it doesn't show me the catalog I know is there.

The Reg solution you mention is working OK, and issues subsequent to your note above?

Thank you.

[Henning52]

I was interested in creating a catalog that my wife and I could share. So, a) I created a new catalog on our NAS, b) I created a folder on the NAS for the fotos to be imported, and c) pointed to that folder in PSE organiser under "Settings / data" (or the like, since I use a German version of PSE 2020 / 18.0). [It is not nessessary to modify the registry!] This works just as speedy as with my local catalog--but: since PSE stores the location of your photos in the registry, this applies to ALL your catalogs! This fact makes it difficult to employ a local catalog and a NAS catalog alternatingly. It would be very wise if Adobe stored the path to the fotos somewhere in the catalog database, but this is not likely to come true in view of their reluctancy to deal with network storage!?

[MichelBParis]

Hi @BJL128 ,

Just curious:

Suppose you copy and paste a working catalog folder from your PC to somewhere on your network and you double click the catalog.pse20db in that folder copy, would the organizer open the catalog copy?

I supppose you are storing your library (the media files) as well as the catalog folder in your network?

DISCLAIMER, I don't have a network and don't want one.

[BJL128]

I tried that too, but the Catalog Manager won't actually navigate to the network location to allow you to select the Catalog stored on the network.

[MichelBParis]

I tried that too, but the Catalog Manager won't actually navigate to the network location to allow you to select the Catalog stored on the network.

By @BJL128

My suggestion was to completely ignore the catalog manager. You simply browse in the explorer to the catalog copy. Either that works as it would with a catalog folder copy on any drive or folder... or it will fail with possibly a useful error message.

I sincerely believe that storing the catalog folder on a network woud be much slower than using a folder copy on the PC itself even if the media files are on the network.

The only thing that was answered by Adobe more than ten years ago was that you could not locate the catalog folder on a NAS with Macs. I don't know if it's still true, but as you have found, it's difficult to get reliable info from Adobe directly.

[yoodlethenoodle]

Btw, I tested this as well on Elements Organizer 2022 (Elements Organizer 20.0.0.0), and I'm seeing the same issue.  So, certainly looks like a bug.  It asks you to browse for a location, which I did, and accepted the warning, but then when you click "New", it asks you to browse for a location again.

I even tried creating a symbolic link to the network folder (you can sometimes fake applications into thinking a network path is local that way), but I had the same issue.

[MichelBParis]

Btw, I tested this as well on Elements Organizer 2022 (Elements Organizer 20.0.0.0), and I'm seeing the same issue.  So, certainly looks like a bug.  It asks you to browse for a location, which I did, and accepted the warning, but then when you click "New", it asks you to browse for a location again.

I even tried creating a symbolic link to the network folder (you can sometimes fake applications into thinking a network path is local that way), but I had the same issue.

By @yoodlethenoodle

Two links for network users:

https://helpx.adobe.com/elements-organizer/using/troubleshooting-catalog-issues.html#handle_offline_...

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/networks-removable-media-photoshop.html

Edit:

A recent discussion on the Photoshop ecosystem forum

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/photoshop-cannot-save-to-local-file-s...