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Hi Rayo. Sorry for not responding earlier to your recent posts.
Let me review your situation and correct me if I am wrong.
- You have Elements 2019 and Elements 2023 installed on your computer.
- You have made several backups of your files and have apparently imported some of the files from your backups into your catalog. The consequence has been that you have a number of duplicate files on your computer in different folder locations and there has been no consistency in which ones have been imported into the catalog.
- You have been looking at your photos using the Folder panel tree on the left of the Organizer window. However, you cannot find some of your files there because they are in different folder locations (or drives) on your computer.
- You cannot import files because you are told that the files already exist in the catalog. This is because the Organizer cannot (normally) import duplicate files.
- However, you can find all of the files in the catalog when you do a search for them, using keyword tags or other search method.
- You now want to clean up the folder/file mess so that all of the photos are found in a single set of folders on a single drive.
- You have converted the old Elements 2019 catalog to an Elements 2023 catalog and the same duplicate folder situation exists in the converted 2023 catalog.
- You have added some new files recently because your earlier screenshots show less files than your current catalog.
- You have not yet followed the suggestion to do a backup and restore of your catalog so that the restore can place all of the photos in a single hard drive with a unified folder structure. As Michel has indicated previously, the folders that were on different drives will be placed on a single drive under a main folder with the drive's name.
At this point, I am not exactly sure what questions remain for us to answer. However, it may be helpful for you to download and install a free search utility called Everything. The software provides a much better search program than Windows and will give you a clear idea of where the duplicate files may be found. It will also help determine where all your catalog folders are located. In my screenshot below, you will see that I have searched for catalog.pse and I can view the complete path of all catalogs for every version of Elements on my computer.
If the Restore process is successful, you should have a new catalog with copies of your photos under a single parent folder. However, as Michel has noted (from memory), if the photos in your original catalog were stored on more than one drive, they will now be located on your chosen drive but will be under new sub-folders for each original drive, something like C:\New Folder\Drive D Folder\Original Folder Name and C:\New Folder\Drive E Folder\Original Folder Name.
I am not sure whether any duplicate photos will be avoided using this method. However, it is possible.
I will ping @MichelBParis again to see if he has any additional or different comments.
By @Greg_S.
I think the filtering of duplicates only happens when you download/register new files ("get files from..." where the scanned files in your drives are compared with the ones in the catalog. On the contrary the process to create a full backup scans all registered files in the catalog. If for some reasons you have already true duplicates in the catalog, they should be included in the backup folder. Same for missing files if you have not cleaned them before the backup.
I wish there were a new option in the organizer to find true duplicates in a catalog according to the two main organizer criteria: date_taken and file size in kilobytes. I suppose that would be easy to implement as it is the same process actually used to filter non duplicates. however, I understand that this might confuse a lot of typical PSE users instead of helping them!
Hello Greg.
I followed the given instructions, but the so called problem I've described before was not fixed.
This is what a did:
A Full backup of the Elements 2023 catalog.
In an external 2T hard drive:
Name of the backup file: 2023 05 17 bkup of Elements2023
I click Volver a conectar
I deleted it
I did the 2nd one.
I click Guardar copia de seguridad
The process took almost 4 hours.
I click Omitir esta vez
Then, I performed a restore of that catalog, using the Elements 2023 Organizer.
I used the same external hard drive used for the latest backup.
I click Restaurar
The link opens Google. I Click No Volver a mostrar and click Sí.
The process took almost 4 hours. This window was showed up. I click OK.
Should I install the above plugin?
Then, I click OK to THE RESTORATION WAS COMPLETE notice.
This happened:
The file stucture on left side of the screen now is difernet and my pictures are in the new location file under the new given name but unfortunatly with the same missing files all over.
After restarting the PC, this was displayed:
I will perform the Optimizar and the Reparar, and see. I´ll come back tomorrow.
I think the problem with the file structure is because you chose to restore the existing structure. Since that contains duplicate file folders, the existing problem remains. I think I would try the other option. In other words, do not check the box:
I will ping @MichelBParis to see whether he agrees with me about this.
Hi @Rayo
I am also following this discussion and trying to keep in mind all the details. The translation task is just slowing down my understanding but in the end, I can follow all your steps.
I think the problem with the file structure is because you chose to restore the existing structure. Since that contains duplicate file folders, the existing problem remains. I think I would try the other option. In other words, do not check the box:
I will ping @MichelBParis to see whether he agrees with me about this.
By @Greg_S.
I am not sure the other options would work. I'll have to make tests and come back with the results.
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