Imported 28,000 photos in Bulk & Made a Folder for Each - What Happened Here?!?

[KSLamb]

I bought Elements 2018 (previously had Version 14). I followed the directions to import photos "in bulk" into the Organizer. Something went very wrong.

First of all, it said it imported 28,000 photos. There is no way I have 28,000 photos. As far as I can tell, it may have split photos into pieces--for example, there is a photo of a kindergarten classroom, and now I seem to have separate photos of each child who is in the group photo.

Also, I now have innumerable folders, each with maybe one or perhaps two (usually duplicates) photos inside, and each with a "strange" name-->I am attaching a screenshot of a very tiny partial list of these "folders." The list goes on and on and on! (Please see screenshot)

I am very sorry I tried to update my catalog by importing in bulk (as the directions on the Adobe website say to do). My photos are a complete mess now. I don't even know what to do to try to begin fix this.

Is there any way to fix this terrible mess? I would appreciate any input. Thank you.

[KSLamb]

Now it says 35,000 photos! At that point the Organizer crashed. I'd just like to delete everything but I am afraid that I will lose my photos if I start deleting from the Organizer.

[MichelBParis]

KSLamb,

To get an idea of what has happened, we need more info.

What you are seeing is very unusual and the fact that the Organizer crashes is puzzling as well.

(You are showing the 'My Folders' view. You would have a better idea if you set the folders panel to 'Tree' view.)

When you upgrade from PSE14 to PSE2018 on the same computer, you are necessarily prompted to 'convert' the last current PSE14 catalog. You don't need to import anything. If you miss that opportunity or if you decide to create a new catalog, you can get to the 'bulk' import option.

The 'Bulk' import feature is meant to import supported media files from everywhere on your computer. It was introduced to mimic this feature in other popular organizing and sharing softwares, but in my opinion it was a very bad idea; I always advise to select yourself your master folders and import them separately.

The problem is that you find files in your 'Pictures' folders, in your files imported from the web, in any folder you created to store photos and videos. But there are also media files in other third party libraries (from Mac, Picasa etc...), from program folders, from folders containing Organizer catalogs themselves.

It looks like, you have imported such files. The 'bulk' import should ignore the files described here depending on their 'hidden' status. So we need to know your OS and OS version, why you did not simply 'convert' the catalog, if you did have other photo managing apps. We also need to know exactly if the organizer 'crashed' (description?) or simply 'froze'. A screenshot of the folders tree in 'tree' mode would help as well.

Anyway, the faulty catalog you have created is just another catalog (it does not contain any media file) and you can delete it once you have opened a new empty catalog. The old PSE14 or older catalogs are not changed either and can always be converted.

[KSLamb]

MichelBParis,

Thank you for your reply. I will try to provide the information you asked for.

1. OS and OS Version:

2. Why I did not convert during Elements 2018 installation. I did not receive a prompt to convert. I was on the phone yesterday with Adobe support because I was having trouble downloading Elements 2018. During that conversation I asked the customer support representative if I needed to uninstall Elements 14 before installing Elements 16 (2018). He told me that I had to deactivate Elements 14 by signing out of it and that would be the same as uninstalling it. So I signed out of Elements 14. Maybe that is why I did not receive a prompt to convert the Organizer catalog from Elements 14 during the installation of Elements 16--because it had been deactivated per the Adobe representative's directive.

3. Why I tried to Import in Bulk. I was looking at the Adobe website about Elements-->Learn & Support-->Get Started and one of the first articles was about doing this: Import photos and videos in Elements Organizer  Reading that article was the reason I tried to Import in Bulk (otherwise I probably wouldn't have thought of doing that).

4. Photo apps include Photos, Google Backup Photos, Screenshots, Preview, iPhoto, Embrilliance (embroidery software), ScanSnap, Creative Cloud Free Membership (there may be others)

5. I have taken some screenshots in Tree View. I have not completely expanded all of the folders. If you need additional screenshots with more expansion I would be happy to provide them.

6. Did the Organizer crash or freeze: The program quit without me making it quit. In other words, it acted as though I had shut it down when I had not done that. The screen disappeared and the icon disappeared from the dock.

7. Question: I'm not sure how I would delete the catalog. Would I click on each of the four main folders and hit the delete key? And this would not erase any of the original photos?

I hope I have provided all of the information you requested. Thank you for your help.

Marci

[99jon]

I suggest you start a new empty catlog. Then perhaps start importing smaller blocks of folders. I guess thumbnails may have been created for lots of children’s faces.

Before you begin I suggest you temporarily switch off face recognition analysis. From the organizer menu go to:

Edit >> Preferences >> Media Analysis

Uncheck the box to run face recognition automatically and click OK. You can easily re-activate this once you have assembled all of your folders & files.

To create the new catalog go to:

File >> Manage Catalogs and click the button New

Choose a name e.g MyCatalog2 and check the box for music if you want the free mp3 files for slideshows.

Then Click OK

Then choose:

File >> Get Photos & Videos >> From Files & Folders

Navigate to Pictures or another folder and press Ctrl+A (select all)

Ensure the box is checked to get photos from sub-folders and click Open

Optionally – accept all keyword suggestions to import.

[KSLamb]

99jon,

Thank you for your reply. I do think face recognition may be a factor, as I am seeing what appear to be individual photos of faces when there were no individual photos of those faces (the faces are from group shots, such as a photo of a group of kids in a classroom).

I will try the procedures you suggested. Your directions are very clear and I appreciate that.

Thank you again,

Marci

[KSLamb]

OK, I am trying to get rid of the current catalog and I haven't been able to do so. My understanding is that I need to select a folder and the use the Delete from Catalog command under EDIT. However, this option is grayed out so I can't use it. I can't proceed with other instructions without getting rid of the old catalog/folders.

I was able to find the catalog(s) on my computer.

However, I don't think I am supposed to delete them from there, right (?) or they will still appear in the Organizer program with a "missing" icon. So I need to do the deleting within the Organizer. However, I can't.

I don't think I can start a new catalog until I get rid of the old one, but I can't figure out how to get rid of it.

[99jon]

No need to delete. You are simply importing into a new catalog the files that are already in your folders. There is no duplication. The same files are referenced by every catalog.

P.S. are these images in the Photos App?  That could be a complication.

[MichelBParis]

Deleting a catalog:

You can't delete the currently used catalog. So, either you open another existing catalog or you create a new one. Then, from the menu 'manage catalogs', you browse in the catalogs list, highlight the catalog to delete and click on the 'delete' button. That deletes the catalog folder, but not the photo files.

Alternatively, you locate the catalog folder to delete (menu Help >> System Information) and delete it from your Finder.

It's clear from your screenshot that the 'bulk' import feature has imported everything in your computer, including duplicates already created by your Apple or Google apps. I don't know much about Apple libraries, but it is my understanding that you have to create duplicate files in your computer in order to avoid messing the Apple libraries. I'll leave Mac users to comment about that and to tell you which folder trees are to be imported selectively in the 'Import' command, avoiding the already duplicated files on your computer for other apps.

Importing selectively as advised by 99jon is the right thing to do now.

[99jon]

If you are using the Apple Photos App you could ignore Organizer and edit directly into the Elements Editor, saving your edits back to Photos.

Take a look at my blog article on Extensions to see if that might be relevant to your situation.

External Editors For Photos  in the App Store