Migrating from Windows to mac, a disaster so far

[HarriePictureThis]

I recently got my first Macbook after years of Windows usage.

I am using Adobe Photoshop Elements Version: 21.0 (20230329.Git.m1.392a82c) arm64 Operating System: Mac OS 15.2.0

After installing the Camera Raw plugin I can only open raw files (from my Sony a6700) using Adobe Organizer. When I try to open the same file from Adobe Photoshop Elements 2023 directly, i get an error message: "cannot open this file". Again the Camera Raw plugin is installed and the same file opens without issues using Organizer.

Also, when trying to import other raw files from my sdcard using organizer i get "the file is damaged or cannot be included in Elements Organizer. This happens with some raw files, i successfully imported other raw files from my nas.

Anyone has seen this before and knows how to get around it?

Thanks!

[HarriePictureThis]

Small update: I uninstalled version 21 and installed 2025 from the app store.

Until now that seems to work fine. Meaning I can open raw files directly from photoshop en edit them.

[Glenn 8675309 · Accepted solution]

The 6500 requires at a minimum ACR 15.5- that was your problem with the error messages:  you probably hade a version below 15.5 installed- or you did not manually install ACR 15.5 into the correct location.

PSE 2025 downloads version downloads a version of ACR newer that 15.5- that's why it works in pse 2025 and your error messages go away.  I'm guessing you had ACR 14.5 installed.  

Use the following to see about ACR in PSE 2023: 

Download and install the latest Camera Raw version from https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-in-installer.html

Quit all Adobe applications.

On macOS, double-click the .dmg file to mount it.

On macOS, double-click the .pkg file to start the installer. 

Follow the on-screen instructions.

 Once installed successfully, close the installer window.

 Navigate to the following folder:

On macOS: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Plug-ins/CC/File Formats

Copy the Camera Raw plug-in (just the .8bi file) from the CC > File Formats folder that is mentioned in the above step.

Navigate to the following folder: 

On macOS: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Plug-ins/Elements<Version Number>/File Formats

Replace the existing Camera Raw plugin in Elements<Version Number> folder with the plug-in that you copied earlier.

Prior to PSE 2024 PSE used a version numbering system that made the actual version number “2 OFF” from the Product name.  FOR EXAMPLE:  pse 2021 was version 19:  pse 2022 was version 20, and pse 2023 was version 21.  THERE IS NO VERSION 22 OR 23.

[HarriePictureThis]

Thanks for the feedback, I will try to install the latest ACR and let you know.

[HarriePictureThis]

That indeed did the trick! Thank you for your help, much appreciated.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[Greg_S.]

As Glenn has explained, you did not have the correct ACR for your camera in Elements 2023.  I know nothing about Macs, but I'm guessing that what you were seeing  in the Organizer was an embedded jpeg thumbnail preview from the raw image files.  If you were to increase the the zoom level to single image view, I suspect that you would be seeing a grey generic placeholder.