Greyed out folders in Elements 2019 Organizer

Report · Apr 17, 2019

Hi,

I'm seeing the following in my Adobe Elements 2019 Organizer:

The subfolder ProgramData is greyed out, and it doesn't exist on the computer (at least, not beneath Pictures).

If I expand it, I can see:

None of the folders appear to contain imported media.

None of the right-click options are enabled for this folder, nor any relevant menu commands that would allow me to delete it.

The folder remains after I do a refresh.

How do I get rid of the ProgramData subfolder and its subfolders from the catalog?

Thanks,

Jerry

Report · Apr 17, 2019

Hi Jerry,

That shouldn't be happening, let us help make this right.

As some folders are grayed out in Photoshop Elements 2019, the reason this folder is grayed out is that it probably doesn't exist on your hard disk, which is why its context menu is also disabled. To use folders, you don't necessarily need to have it's media present in Elements Organizer.

Please have a look at this forum thread and let us know if it helps: Elements 12, delete folder is greyed out?

Regards,
Sahil

Report · Apr 18, 2019

Thanks, that thread helped a lot.. I reconnected the missing media files

with their actual location on disk (under C:\ProgramData rather than under

Pictures\ProgramData) and the greyed out folder disappeared from the

Organizer.

Result!

However, when trying to reconnect all missing files, there are 6 them files

theme1.theme ... theme6.theme still missing. these were apparently

originally in C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs\Main

Catalog\themes

I can't find them anywhere on the disk.

Jerry Niman

Jerry.Niman@gmail.com

07564 303107

Report · Apr 18, 2019

Jerry,

You have made a very good work to troubleshoot your issue.

Unfortunately, if you can't find those 6 themes files, that would mean that you'll be unable to use the slideshow features, with the only solution to reinstall PSE.

If you can create small test slideshows, that means the files are really somewhere in your computer, and it's probably not necessary to reinstall.

A few thoughts:

- if other users have similar issues, they should first look for missing files, and try to reconnect, as you did.

- The ProgramData folder should never have been under 'Pictures'. We'll never know why the catalog recorded them there.

- Those 'assets' files are used by the organizer and don't have to be in your catalogs. You can delete them from catalogs, NOT from disk...

- My advice to avoid using the 'Pictures' default location stays true. You can master your catalog better if you create your separate custom master folder.

Report · Apr 18, 2019

The ProgramData folder was created under Pictures following a system crash.

I restored the catalog from backup, and restored it to the wrong place. I

moved most of the media to the correct locations, but it left me with some

odd effects, such as this.

I have now found the menu icon under the manual browse for "reconnect all

missing files" that allowed me to delete them from the catalog, and all is

now well! No missing files to reconnect, and I can use themes for

slideshows with no problems.

The moral of this story is: If you restore a catalog from backup, MAKE SURE

YOU DO IT TO THE CORRECT LOCATION.

Thanks for your help.

Jerry Niman

Jerry.Niman@gmail.com

07564 303107

Report · Apr 17, 2019

Part of the resources necessary for working with the editor or organizer are stored in your default 'Pictures' folder together with your own imported media.

The 'ProgramData' subfolder is greyed out because it's a system folder, and you are not supposed to fiddle with the resources stored there.

A common advice is to avoid using the 'Pictures' default folder for storing your own media. I always recommend creating a master folder just under the root folder for the purpose: 'My Photos' for instance. You define that location from the Edit >> Preferences menu.

On the other hand, while the folder tree in the left panel of the organizer mimics the Explorer, there is a big difference: it only shows subfolders containing media files present in the current catalog for good reasons. If you need to check the full subfolders structure of a folder even if no files are in the catalog, then you right click on the master folder and choose 'show all subfolders'.

Report · Apr 18, 2019

The ProgramDat is greyed out because it doesn't exist on the disk, not

because it's a system folder.

Jerry Niman

Jerry.Niman@gmail.com

07564 303107