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Question

How to import all files, including duplicates, in Organizer

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
November 27, 2016
1 reply
2833 views

Hi,

I have installed the Photoshop Elements 15 for testing. The first impression is great, but the organizer is somehow unusable for me and makes the whole package unusable. My folders are typically organized like that: the folder of a holiday has subfolders: originals, nice, hdr_sources, ...

In this way, of course some pictures are duplicated (by purpose). E.g. in the hdr_sources there are all pictures for making an HDR. So at least one of them may also be in 'nice' or other folders. The same is true for panoramics etc.

The organizer does not import duplicates, which might be a good idea, if someone starts from scratch. But why is there no option to import duplicates, if someone really wants to?

I have two questions:

1. Is there really no option to import duplicates?

2. Is there an easy way to exclude some subfolders manually from importing?

Hope, someone can help.

Uwe

This topic has been closed for replies.

MichelBParis

Legend

uweb62415820 wrote:
I have two questions:
1. Is there really no option to import duplicates?

Uwe,

No, no option for that. The catalog based management of the organizer is precisely made for people who don't want to duplicate their files on their drives.

You don't need to duplicate files on your computer to manage the files for different purposes. That's the big penalty of using a folder tree management system. With the organizer (or Lightroom for instance) your files don't need to be duplicated on drive for different purposes. The same physical file can be used in different albums, projects and tag hierarchies.

By the way, duplicates for organizer are files with the same size in kilobytes and date taken. Files with the same filename are not duplicates if they are different on one of those criteria. So, renaming would not help. Saving them (or exporting them) with a different jpeg compression would work...

2. Is there an easy way to exclude some subfolders manually from importing?

Not exactly, but you can import folder by folder, any folder being imported with all its own subfolders.

U

uweb62415820Author

Participating Frequently

Hi,

and many thanks for the (unfortunately sad) answer. I do not like programs that are not flexible enough to handle my needs or at least to deal with existing solutions.

I do see the advantage of virtual albums or cataloges, but also the disadvantage: If the program crashes or if I am not happy with prices or poor developments in future, I loose all my information put in the cataloge when I move to another program.

The second problem is: If I have a folder with all pictures and a subfolder with the nice ones and a subfolder with the ones with trees etc., how do I get this Information into the Organizer? It would be great to have the option to import them, automatically recognize duplicates and assist in removing from disk, but preserving the information (like in tags, ratings, etc.).

I fear, Adobe lost me as a customer ;-(.

But again, thanks for the answer!

Uwe

MichelBParis

Legend

I do see the advantage of virtual albums or cataloges, but also the disadvantage: If the program crashes or if I am not happy with prices or poor developments in future, I loose all my information put in the cataloge when I move to another program.

Not if you 'write metadata to files'.

The second problem is: If I have a folder with all pictures and a subfolder with the nice ones and a subfolder with the ones with trees etc., how do I get this Information into the Organizer?

The answer is in the way you can assign keywords (tags) to all files in a folder or simply in selected files in a single step. You can also use albums ('collections' in older Elements versions or Lightroom).

The second problem is: If I have a folder with all pictures and a subfolder with the nice ones and a subfolder with the ones with trees etc., how do I get this Information into the Organizer? It would be great to have the option to import them, automatically recognize duplicates and assist in removing from disk, but preserving the information (like in tags, ratings, etc.).

In the organizer, just like in Lightroom, 'import' may be confusing: it is not a synonym of 'download'. When you 'get' pictures, they may be downloaded from a camera or card reader (implies downloading, copying) or you may simply register, index the information, location of the file and exif data, tags, ratings, captions, notes...

You can include a given physical files in several 'albums' for several purposes. That does not duplicate the file on the drive. That keeps the latest state of info available for each use of the file, which is not the case when you duplicate (copy) physical files.

Remember that you are free to also 'write metadata to files', which is used to make the information available to other softwares or simply as a redundant safety.

I fear, Adobe lost me as a customer ;-(.

That' your choice, you can choose a browser instead of a catalog organizing software.

For instance Adobe Bridge ... (yes you dont need to subscribe to the Cloud for that).

I am not sure you have considered my previous answers:

If you really want to fool the organizer to create duplicates, export the copies elsewhere using a different jpeg compression. They won't be recognized as duplicates since their size will different. That will keep the metadata if 'you write metadata...'

You can import folder by folder (each imported folder with its children subfolders).

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