Need to make the PS Elements Organizer Folder List more Compact

[Bill Junk]

I'm primarily a Photoshop (Beta) and ACR user but for many years I've used the Photoshop Elements Organizer to catalog my large image collection.  For the last 3 years I've used the Organizer 2022 version.  It has mostly worked well, suits my needs and has a nice, compact screen layout.  Its UI is intuitive.  Once in a while it has some quirks that screw up a few entiries in the catalog, which take a trial and error approach to resolve, but so far I've had success restoring items.  I thought that if I upgraded to PSE 2025 maybe those problems would go away and that maybe performance would improve a little.

Unfortunately it seems that I was wrong, unless I've totally missed something that should be obvious.  The UI has taken a step backwards, maybe a decade or more.  The use of display real estate is terrible.  What used to be nice, compact displays of the folder lists and tags now uses twice as much space per entry as they did in the 2022 version.  The thumbnail displays look clumbsy.  Since my collection of image is large (a bit over 90K) this UI forces me to do a lot more scrolling than I had to do in the 2022 version. 

Another thing that bugs me is that it appears PSE 2025 wants to automatically sync my catalog to the Adobe Cloud.  I'm not sure that I want to do that since my catalog is rather large.  I would prefer to back up the catalog to another drive on my system.  I did not see any place in the Preferences to suppress this.  The Auto Sync portion of Preferences seems to be focussed on syncing media, which is also something that I don't need to do.  My media storage is around 4 TB now.

Fortunately I have not taken an unrecoverable path.  Unless I discover how to get back to what I enjoyed with the 2022 version I guess I'll just chalk this up to a bad purchase and remove the installation.  I doubt that I'll get an offer from Adobe to have my purchase refunded.  All of this suggest that I should start seriously looking for another way to catalog my images.  Maybe this will force me to use Lightroom, another program I don't like.  Boohoo.  A good product ruined just to be able to say that new features and improvements have been added.

[Greg_S.]

Nothing relevant to your compactness issue has been changed in the user interface between Elements 2022 and 2025.  I'm wondering if your issue in the Folders panel is because you are in the default list view rather than the tree view.  Click on the small down arrow next to the My Folders panel heading to change the view.   If that is not the case, please give us a screenshot explaining your problem visually.  (The width of the folders and tag/info panels can be changed by hovering over the side until you get a double-arrow handle to move.)

@Bill Junk said:  The thumbnail displays look clumbsy. 

Again, nothing has changed except the dark and light mode available.  Please give a screenshot to explain your comment.  Are you in Details view or Adaptive View?  Press Ctrl+D to switch between the two.  And use the View menu to change what is available in the Details view.

It also bugs me that Adobe chose to switch on upload to the Adobe Cloud by default.  This setting is in fact controlled by the Auto sync in Preferences.  Turn all of the options off there.

[Bill Junk]

Greg,

Thank you for your quick response.  Unfortunately, what you tell me leads me to have even more curiosity as to why the two version display differently on my system, Windows 11 with all updates.  Here's what I see in Organizer 2022:

Here's what I see in Organizer 2025:

Notice how the spacing is different on the left and right side panels.  It's a minor point but I like the lighter grey used in the 2022 version which give just a little bit more contrast between the image frame and the image.  These examples are using one of several small catalogs I used for a specific purpose.  This is not the catalog with 90K+ images.

    Bill

[Greg_S.]

Bill, a picture is worth a thousand words.  😉 Yes, I had forgotten about the different fonts and line spacing in the panels.  You are not the first to have commented on them.  But some see these changes for the better. 

I certainly understand what you mean about scrolling through a large catalog.  Mine is approaching 300k media items. I don't know how another catalog program would be any better than the Organizer for quick access.

I don't know if this is of any help to you, but the timeline toggle (Ctrl+L) can be helpful in getting to a particular month of images in the grid quickly.

[Bill Junk]

OK, I'll stop beating my head against the wall trying to find a way to make it look like the 2022 version.  My file storage structure is based primarily on physical location where the photos were taken.  It is very easy for me to find a specific image that I remember taking.  I just have to go to the folder associated with its loction, so a timeline based access is really not of use to me.  It would really be nice if Adobe would release a standalone cataloging program that had more customizable features than what's in the elements catalog.

[Greg_S.]

Typing the first letter of the folder place name will take you there in the My Folders panel.

[Greg_S.]

And what about place keyword tags?

[Bill Junk]

Yes, those a useful suggestions, but I find them less desirable than the situation I have in the 2022 version.  Finding based on keywords would come up against the same issue with the layout of the keyword panel.  To work consistently it would require that I always had place the location keyword on the image.  Unfortunately, that has always been the case.  So for me, the 2022 version is preferable ..... and I can use it forever.  No need to pay Adobe a reup fee every three years.  I do appreciate the time you've taken to give me some alternatives.

[Bill Junk]

And my file structure has a lot more location granularity than my keywords.

[Clearvu1]

I just installed the 2025 version of Elements and the FIRST thing I noticed was the My Folders vertical spacing and the Tags vertical spacing!  What's up with THIS? It's CRAZY!  Why was this changed? For example, I have tons of names to scroll through and it takes TWICE as long now because the spacing between each has doubled.  I looked through all the settings and can't find anything to change the view. 

Is it possible to get the layout like previous versions? I was using 2023.  

[Bill Junk]

What I do know is that in creating the 2025 version they changed the font used on the Organizer's UI.  I have the same issue as you, and at this point will continue to use the 2022 version.  

[Clearvu1]

I'm STRONGLY considering requesting a refund. I believe I have 7 days, or maybe that was a trial version. 

I have 4K monitors and it is simply stupid what has been done with the look of the columns. We should be able to adjust it to what we want. Obviously someone who thought they were wise felt spacing everything out was somehow better. Sheesh!

[Bill Junk]

I'm with you.

[William22519457kc09]

I have also been asking this question for several weeks, same non answer. Is it not possible to get a response from an actual Adobe employee/designer? As stated, the "new" retro look is too Adobe-centric. Do they ever test these changes with actual users?

[Glenn 8675309]

Changes are tested with actual users.

[Greg_S.]

@William22519457kc09 this is a user- to- user forum.  It is highly unlikely that you are going to get a response from an Adobe employee about a subjective opinion concerning the UI.  I agree with your criticism, but I'm sure there are many who do not.   And I'm guessing that only a small minority of Elements users have 4k monitors.

Over the years, I have observed that with respect to changes in the UI:

You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

[Clearvu1]

Whether one uses a 4K monitor or not, the double spacing issue still exists. Imagine reading a column of words on a Word document and instead of single spacing of each line, double spacing is used. It no longer looks tidy. There is simply too much spacing between each line. 

If I could change a setting and fix the spacing problem, I'd change it. LET THE USER DECIDE the look, especially if the look is being changed. They let the user choose between dark and light layout, so why not the spacing? 

[Bill Junk]

This is a bit off the topic but I decided to play around with the Organizer 2025 version and discovered that if I selected Help>System Info... it tells me that my OS is Windows 10 when in fact I'm running Windows 11 Pro.  Another thing about the UI is that for many releases it has not been possible to drag the window to another monitor if the window is expanded to fit fully in the display area.  One must first click the "shrink/resize" button, then the window can be moved.  The UI needs a bit of help!

[Glenn 8675309]

"One must first click the "shrink/resize" button, then the window can be moved."

  That is pretty much the way it is with all windows apps.   You can drag browser tabs to a second screen, but you can't drag apps when the are in full screen. 

[Bill Junk]

Actually it isn't.  The window that this thread appears in can be moved with or without clicking the resize button first.  As far as I can remember, the PSE Organizer is the only program I use that has this restriction.  Photoshop can be moved just by dragging.

[Glenn 8675309]

that is because it runs in a tab. I often drag tabs from one screen to another, all the time in edge.

[Clearvu1]

Bill Junk is correct. Windows can be moved whether or not in full screen mode. Dragging the window to another monitor in Photoshop Elements can't be done if it is FULL screen.

[Bill Junk]

How do we turn this discussion into a feature request?  

[Greg_S.]

I will notify the powers-that-be of this discussion.

[Clearvu1]

FYI. The spacing issue was serious enough that I requested a refund. I purchased directly from Adobe and thus why I qualified. 

Sadly, new users wouldn't notice a problem because there is nothing to compare it to.  

Guaranteed, I will be searching for screenshots of new releases to see if the spacing problem has been resolved. I can only hope it will be.